With National Science Foundation support Dr. Glenn Schwartz and his colleagues will conduct two seasons of field research at the archaeological site of Umm el-Marra, located in the Aleppo region of Syria. The site consists of a large Bronze Age tell comprising ca. 25 hectares within an enclosure wall with three discernible gates and an "acropolis" ca. 100 meters in diameter located in the central part of the site. Dr. Schwartz's previous work has indicated a cultural sequence which spans the Bronze Age and contains overlying Hellenistic and Roman remains. Umm el-Marra has been identified as the ancient city of Tuba which is mentioned in early written archives. The research will focus on the Early and Middle Bronze Age, between ca. 2,500 and 1,600 BC.
While archaeologists have tended to view cultural development in unilineal terms and (correctly) noted a progression in the Middle East and other areas from small egalitarian villages to socially stratified chiefdoms to civilizations, states and empires the process is not, in fact, so simple. Complex entities rise, fall and appear again and, over short time periods, a cyclic model can be most appropriate. Umm el-Marra documents such a cycle, a complex stratified society, followed by a "collapse" succeeded by another slightly different complex entity. Dr. Schwartz wishes to understand this process. Several collapse theories have been proposed and the most prominent of which invoke either climatic deterioration and local resource exploitation as causes. Likewise several theories attempt to explain regeneration. Dr. Schwartz and his collaborators will excavate three broad areas which date to each of the stages under consideration. On the basis of distribution of dwellings and artifacts within and among they it will be possible to reconstruct both environment and social organization.
This research is important for several reasons. It will provide a more realistic model of how societies develop and change over time. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists and assist in training students who will participate in the field research.
