Jonathan N. Tubb
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By: University of Oklahoma Press
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Very Interesting to Read! 5 out of 5 stars.
16 of 17 people found this review helpful.
The book begins with coverage of Canaanite beginnings in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic Periods (8500-3300 bce) and continues through the Late Iron Age (900-539 bce). It does conclude with a synopsis of Canaanite connections to Phoenicians subsequent Carthaginian ties concluding with the close of the third Punic War. The bulk of the detail of Canaanite culture, however, is provided for the periods between 8500 bce and 539 bce. The author (Jonathan N. Tubb)has directed the British Museum's excavations at Tell es-Sa'idiyeh in present-day Jordan since 1985 and is curator of Syria-Palestine within the Western Asiatic Department of the British Museum.
Tubb provides easy-to-read details of ancient international trading systems between the Canaanites and other culture groups from the Egyptians and Mycenaeans to Indus River Valley peoples. Though based primarily on archeological evidence to infer Canaanite culture habits, the book also objectively takes into account many historically accurate aspects from written records both Biblical and secular.
Extra-cultural influences upon the Canaanites are inferred through changing burial techniques (particularly Canaanite shaft tombs), architecture, and to a lesser extent, pottery styles. Evidence from archeological sites in Persia and Egypt show how widespread trade was even at such an early time in ancient history.
Pieces of the archeological puzzle are fit together with historical written records to show when and where new culture groups began to settle in the region and what eventually became of the Canaanites. The power vacuum left after the fall of the Egyptian empire allowed for expansion of new groups such as the Sea Peoples from southwestern Anatolia and the Aegean that settled in the Gaza area (of whom included the Philistines), and the Hebrews who eventually established the Kingdom of Israel around the Jordan River in Judea and Samaria. The author posits that the Israelites were in fact a sub-set of Canaanite culture and many parallels are drawn in the book on this point.
I found the book to be very informative and easy to follow. There are both color and black and white photos of Canaanite artifacts and sites in the book that really help to bring about a better understanding of the text you read. A very informative and enjoyable book!
Editorial Review:
This volume explores the ancient population of the Western Levant (Israel, Transjordan, Lebanon and coastal Syria), examining the development of its distinctive yet indigenously based culture from the early farming communities of the eighth millennium BC to the fragmention of its socio-cultural ideals in the latter half of the first millennium. Jonathan Tubb stresses the demographic continuity of Canaanite civilization, portraying events such as the imposition of Egyptian imperial rule or the development of historical Israel as episodic interruptions, the impact of which was minimized by a characteristic and enduring assertion of identity. He also looks at the role of the Canaanites within the context of the ancient Mediterranean, examining their interactions with neighbouring countries and the effects these contacts had on the material culture of Canaan in particular and the Near East in general.
