Ricerc@Sapienza

The Early Bronze IVB (EB IVB, c. 2300-2000 BC) pottery horizon of Western Inland Syria has been object of intense study for decades, and it is well known, being attested at a large number of sites spanning east-west from the Orontes Valley to the Jabbul. However, until less than a decade ago, internal periodization of this period was possible only by referring to Hama, the only site that had provided a long EB IVB stratigraphic and ceramic sequences excavated in the 1930s.

The non-urban Early Bronze IV period is crucial for the understanding of cycles of formation, collapse, and regeneration of urban societies in the Southern Levant during the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. However, issues in archaeological periodization hinder the investigation of socio-cultural dynamics and socio-economic developments. This article will analyse the evidence from Jordan in the regional context and review issues in past and present periodization schemes for the Southern Levantine EB IV, in order to discuss how bridging the gap between stratigraphy and absolute chronology may

In the historical-archaeological sequence of Ebla, Early Bronze IVB (ca. 2300-2000 BC) corresponds
to the late Early Syrian period, i.e., the time-span between the destruction of the Early
Bronze IVA (ca. 2450-2300 BC) settlement and societal regeneration in the period of the Amorite
dynasties of the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2000-1600 BC).
While the site’s name is mentioned in texts from southern Mesopotamia, dating from the last
century of the 3rd millennium BC, which attest to Ebla’s role in inter-regional trade and exchange