Middle Bronze Age II Palestine: Its Settlements and Population
- Title
- Middle Bronze Age II Palestine: Its Settlements and Population
- Date
- 1986
- Is Part Of
- Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
- Volume
- 261
- Pages
- 73-90
- Language
- eng
- ISSN
- 0003-097X
- Short Title
- Middle Bronze Age II Palestine
- Abstract
- The population density of ancient settlements according to modern ethnoarchaeological data, and supported by archaeological data, was about 250 persons per hectare. An inventory of all known MB IIA and IIB settlements (130 in the earlier phase and 337 in the latter) was compiled, estimating their size and forming an approximate estimate of the population of Western Palestine for those periods. On the basis of the coefficient proposed here and other considerations, the authors believe the population during MB IIA was about 100,000 and in MB IIB, 140,000. In comparison, the population during EB II-III was 150,000 (Broshi and Gophna 1984) and 1,000,000 during the Roman-Byzantine periods (Broshi 1980). Quantification of the data also permits interesting conclusions concerning some aspects of the geography of settlement in this period, including spatial distribution and distribution of settlements by size.
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