Shechem (Tell El-Balatah)

As the first comprehensive study of fortification systems and defensive strategies in the Levant during the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1900 to 1500 B.C.E.), Walled up to Heaven is an indispensable contribution to the study of this period and of early warfare in the ancient Near East. Although archaeologists and ancient historians alike have discussed a variety of theories regarding the origin and cultural significance of the construction of earthen ramparts during the Middle Bronze Age, only this work addresses these questions in detail. In a tour de force, Burke traces the diachronic evolution and geographic distribution of the architectural features and settlement strategies connected with the emergence of Middle Bronze Age defenses in the Levant. By synthesizing historical and archaeological data from Mesopotamia and Egypt as well as the Levant, he reveals the interconnectedness of the Near Eastern world during the first half of the second millennium to an extent not recently considered. The result is a detailed employment of cognitive, social, and dirt archaeology to reconstruct the political, social, military, and cultural implications of the construction of monumental defenses and the development of defensive networks during the period of Amorite hegemony in the Levant.

Based on author's Ph.D. dissertation: The Architecture of Defense: Fortified Settlements of the Levant during the Middle Bronze Age (2004). Ph.D. Dissertation. Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago.

This paper discusses the Middle Bronze IIC compound at Tel Shechem/Tell Balatah. First, it discusses Wall A (the Cyclopean Wall) and presents new data supporting the view that it was a core-wall incorporated in the earthen fills of the compound and not a massive fortification wall. Second, it discusses the character of the compound, arguing that it was an unfortified, sacred compound centered on the Tower Temple. Published in Israel Exploration Journal 69, 2019, pp. 1-19.

O sítio de Tell Balâṭah,identificado como a cidade bíblica de Siquém, oferece importantes achados para a reconstrução histórica do Israel Norte, desde o período formativo, até o governo diádoco na Palestina. Este artigo, a partir da confluência e divergência entre registros históricos, textos bíblicos, cultura material e iconográfica, pretende oferecer uma introdução ao seu estudo e auxiliar na interpretação dos textos que perfaçam a história israelita, de- monstrando a relação analógica que se estabeleceu entre Siquém e o Reino de Israel Norte.