A Archaeology of Syria-Palestine Louise Steel Faculty of Humanities, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Lampeter, Ceredigion, UK Introduction The archaeology of Syria-Palestine (Fig. 1) reveals a complex mosaic of interconnecting cul- tures with close relations to the ancient civiliza- tions of Egypt and Mesopotamia, as well as with the surrounding cultures of the East Mediterra- nean, during the Bronze and Iron Ages (mid-fourth/third-mid first millennium BCE). As such Syria-Palestine was the ultimate contact sit- uation, a place where individuals from very dif- ferent social and material worlds interacted closely, sharing ideas and knowledge. The region was home to some of the earliest known fortified towns and cities; in the north these were literate from the mid-3 millennium BC, and texts from sites such as Ebla and Mari provide us with a unique insight into international politics, local religious practices, and social organization. Given the strategic position of Syria-Palestine, it was inevitably witness to countless military cam- paigns and successive empires between the late fourth and first millennium BC, indeed continuing down to the present day. Detailed and increasingly sophisticated archaeological exploration and interpretation continues to shed light on Bronze and Iron Age settlement allowing a more nuanced understanding of the lives of the ancient commu- nities in the region. Definition Syria-Palestine (also commonly referred to as the Levant) comprises the region of southwest Asia bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, the Amuq plain to the north, the Sinai desert to the south, and the upper reaches of the Euphrates river to the east. It can be subdivided into a number of smaller regional entities according to geography and external influences. The two main areas of the northern Levant comprise coastal Syria, lying between the Mediterranean Basin and the Orontes River, and the uplands of inland Syria, between the Orontes and the Euphrates. The Barada river rising in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains watered the Damascus Oasis (al-Ghūṭah) – a large and fertile tract of land supporting settlement from at least the second millennium BC. To the south of the oasis is the basaltic region of Hawran, separating Syria from Transjordan. In antiquity the northern Levant (Syria) fell within the cultural and political orbit of Mesopotamia. The central area of the Levant (modern-day Lebanon) is a narrow coastal strip, the homeland of the Phoenicians; this is bounded to the east by the Lebanon mountains, the Beqaa valley, and further east by the Anti- Lebanon mountains. The southern Levant is © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 C. Smith (ed.), Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_3240-1