Subsistence and Settlement in a Marginal Environment

The volume reports the results of four seasons of excavation at Tell es-Sweyhat, an Early Bronze Age urban center located on the margins of the dry-farming zone in Syria. A goal of the project has been to integrate traditional archaeological methods and the applied sciences. Results to date suggest that the site, though several kilometers from the Euphrates River, was well-situated for exploiting upland pastures. Geomagnetic mapping reveals details about the internal site structure. Archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, and geomagnetic mapping, complemented by a substantial pottery study, regional survey, stratigraphic analysis, and discussion of the newly discovered cemetery provide the basis for understanding this inhospitable area.