RURAL RESPONSES TO EARLY URBANISM - BRONZE-AGE HOUSEHOLD AND VILLAGE ECONOMY AT TELL EL-HAYYAT, JORDAN

Temporal and spatial patterns of faunal, floral, and ceramic depositio n reveal several aspects of household and village economy at Tell el-H ayyat, Jordan. Hayyat was a modest farming hamlet (0.5 ha) with 100-15 0 inhabitants, which was occupied in six major phases between ca. 2100 and 1500 B.C. This timespan covers the entire Middle Bronze Age, comm only considered the heyday of early urbanism in the southern Levant. E thnographic and ancient historical examples of agrarian villages in sw Asia include settlements administered by crown or temple estates, hel d as private property by elite families or absentee landlords, or owne d collectively by resident villagers. Data drawn from Tell el-Hayyat P hases 5, 4, and 3 (dating to Middle Bronze IIA and IIB) suggest some c hanges toward a commercially-oriented rural economy, as might be antic ipated for villages held by institutional or private estates. Most of the Hayyat data, however, suggest trends toward enhanced economic auto nomy, as expected for a collectively owned community. Tell el-Hayyat e xemplifies the economic resilience of Levantine villages in the face o f developing Middle Bronze Age town and city life.