Social Complexity in Northern Jordan in the First Millennium BCE: Assessing Settlement Patterns Through Archaeological Survey and Excavation

This open access investigation of Northern Jordan in the first millennium BCE offers invaluable insights into the mechanisms of social complexity, showing how communities adapted to their environments, negotiated power and interacted with their neighbours.The Iron Age Levant is a pivotal epoch in human history, representing a crucial phase in the evolution of complex societies.This era witnessed the emergence of new political structures, economic systems and cultural expressions that have had a lasting impact on subsequent civilizations.With the focus on Northern Jordan, a region much less studied than the surrounding areas of Israel and Syria, the case studies of Tell Ya’moun and Tell Al-assara present the most recent archaeological excavations and surveys from fortified settlement sites and their surroundings. Individual chapters discuss topics such as observations on architecture; the results of different types of scientific analyses; and detailed analyses of specific artefacts such