Archaeologists have noted a network of small, rural sites in the area around Ashkelon, Israel. These sites that surround the urban center first appeared in the first millenium B.C. in a period called Iran Age II. At this time Ashkelon was a contested zone between the Egyptian and Assyrian empires. This project will look at the role of large competing empires in shaping the urban/rural system in peripheral areas. The student will test a model that shows how external economic and political control shapes a regional settlement pattern. The student will also, through an intensive site survey and excavation, attempt to understand how this system changed over time.
