Gambash, G. (2021), ‘Continuity beyond Change: Mediterranean Connectivity in the Ancient Southern Levant,’ in J. Kamlah and A. Lichtenberger (eds.), The Mediterranean Sea and the Southern Levant, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 99-120.

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


Band 48



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und
ERMANN
M
ICHAEL
N
IEMANN







2021
Harrassowitz Verlag · Wiesbaden
In Kommission



 









lmungen und für die



 




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Table of Contents
Introduction
and

 ............................................1
Concepts


World of the Old Testament ......................................



’s Views on
Interconnected  ....................


Bronze Age ..................................................


 ..............................................


 ..................................................121



Destruction .................................................141

 .................

 ............. 

VI


 .....................

  and

 ........................................ 
  .............................................. 
 ............................................. 
Elisabeth Yehuda,

Continuity beyond Change
Mediterranean Connectivity in the Ancient Southern Levant
By Gil Gambash
Maritime activity existed along the coasts of the Mediterranean since time im-
memorial. While economic exploitation of marine resources would have been
commonplace in hunter-gatherer societies throughout the region, the coasts
of the Levant oer the earliest representations of sedentary based maritime
mobility and connectivity, as well as persistent orientation towards progress
and innovation throughout time, particularly on the technological front. Yet
the area does not feature prominently in regional histories of the Mediterra-
nean, from  to  and , perhaps as a result of ancient
local societies’ preference to make do with coast-skirting sailing and natural
anchorages 1. This article aims to supply an overview of the nature of coastal
facilities which served the Southern Levant, and oer an initial analysis of
their habitual basic capacities and lack of sophistication on the one hand, and
the enhanced connectivity they managed to support on the other hand.
Numerous researches have been dedicated to the more famous harbours
of the Southern Levant, yet smaller anchorages, more improvised and less
articial, were oered little attention until recently, and a synthesized ana-
lysis of the entire maritime picture throughout time and space had rarely been
attempted, basing itself, when it was, mostly on the larger harbours and on
technological innovations which oer a semblance of constant progress 2. A
thorough holistic appraisal is no doubt in order, especially in light of new re-
levant discoveries made through recent decades along the coasts of Israel, and
given the developing academic debate on the nature of Mediterranean routine
in antiquity.
Among other things, this debate has been according growing weight to
shallow natural anchorages, small ships, and improvised coast-skirting routes.
More attention is now addressed to the exibility shown by ancient seamen
in sailing beyond the dates of an allegedly rigid sailing season, and despite
the challenges presented by night-time, deep-sea navigation, and an adverse
1 E. g.  2013;  2013.
2  1985b; 1995a.