Fertile Crossroads

<p>The southern Levant linked the major powers of the ancient Near East. More often than not the peoples of this land were politically and economically dominated by greater kingdoms and empires. However during the transition between the Iron I and Iron II periods (late 11th to early 9th centuries bce) imperial control diminished and local leadership emerged. <em>Fertile Crossroads</em> explores how despite the lack of large-scale institutional support throughout the ancient world small-scale leaders persisted in long-distance interactions and established the foundations for Iron Age polities.</p><p></p><p><em>Fertile Crossroads</em> critically examines the most direct evidence of these developments through historical and anthropological approaches to intercultural interaction and social change. Despite challenging disparities between historical literary and archaeological sources this book demonstrates that interactions (including diplomacy commerce competitive emulation and aggression) were taking place within the southern Levant and with its more distant neighbors such as Egypt Arabia Phoenicia Cyprus and even the Aegean. In this new application of interaction models to a synthesis of evidence <em>Fertile Crossroads</em> shows how small-scale exchange had a significant impact on sociopolitical changes in the region particularly in terms of shifts in elite networks territories group identities and political power.</p>