Connectivity in Antiquity: Globalization as a Long-Term Historical Process

184 Pages·2014·5.521 MB·English

by  Øystein S. LaBianca, Sandra Arnold Scham

Connectivity in Antiquity
Approaches to Anthropological Archaeology

Series Editor: Thomas E. Levy, University of California, San Diego

Editorial Board:
Guillermo Algaze, University of California, San Diego
Paul S. Goldstein, University of California, San Diego
Joyce Marcus, University of Michigan

This series recognizes the fundamental role that anthropology now plays in archaeology
and also integrates the strengths of various research paradigms that characterize archae-
ology on the world scene today. Some of these different approaches include ‘New’ or
‘Processual’ archaeology, ‘Post-Processual’, evolutionist, cognitive, symbolic, Marxist,
and historical archaeologies. Anthropological archaeology accomplishes its goals by
taking into account the cultural and, when possible, historical context of the material
remains being studied. This involves the development of models concerning the forma-
tive role of cognition, symbolism, and ideology in human societies to explain the more
material and economic dimensions of human culture that are the natural purview of
archaeological data. It also involves an understanding of the cultural ecology of the
societies being studied, and of the limitations and opportunities that the environment
(both natural and cultural) imposes on the evolution or devolution of human societies.
Based on the assumption that cultures never develop in isolation, anthropological
archaeology takes a regional approach to tackling fundamental issues concerning past
cultural evolution anywhere in the world.

Forthcoming titles in the series:

Archaeology, Anthropology and Cult
The Sanctuary at Gilat, Israel
Edited by: Thomas E. Levy

Hunter-Gatherers of the Southern California Coast
Edited by: Brian F. Byrd

Dawn of the Metal Age
Jonathan Golden

Israel’s Ethnogenesis
Settlement, Interaction, Expansion and Resistance
Avraham Faust

New Approaches to Old Stones
Recent Studies of Ground Stone Artifacts
Edited by: Yorke M. Rowan & Jennie Ebeling

Structured Worlds
The Archaeology of Hunter-Gatherer Thought and Action
Edited by: Aubrey Cannon
Connectivity in Antiquity

Globalization as a Long-Term Historical Process

Edited by Øystein S. LaBianca and
Sandra Arnold Scham
First published 2006 by Equinox, an imprint of Acumen
Paperback edition published 2010

Published 2014 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© Øystein S. LaBianca, Sandra Arnold Scham and contributors 2006

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by
any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.

Notices
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or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom
they have a professional responsibility.

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British Library Cataloguing-in -Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 84553 947 4 (paperback)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Connectivity in antiquity : globalization as a long-term historical
process / edited by Øystein Sakala LaBianca and Sandra Arnold Scham.
p. cm. -- (Approaches to anthropological archaeology)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-904768-13-X
1. Civilization, Ancient. 2. Economic history--To 500. 3.
Commerce--History--To 500. 4. Economic history--Medieval, 500-1500. 5.
Commerce--History--Medieval, 500-1500. 6. Mediterranean
Region--Antiquities. 7. Middle East--Antiquities. I. LaBianca, Øystein
Sakala. II. Scham, Sandra Arnold. III. Series.
CB311.C75 2004
382'.09'02--dc22
2004013027

Typeset by ISB Typesetting, Sheffield
Contents

List of Contributors vii

Introduction—Ancient Network Societies 1

Section One: The ‘Space of Flows’ in Antiquity 7

Introduction to Section One 8

Grand Narratives, Technological Revolutions and the Past:
Deep-Time Studies of Metallurgy and Social Evolution in the
Eastern Mediterranean 10
Thomas E. Levy

Emerging State Connectivity: Dynamic Urban and Economic
Growth in Fourth and Third Millennium BCE West Syrian Societies 26
William Collins

Trade Pulsations, Collapse and Reorientation in the Ancient World 32
William R. Thompson

Section Two: Cognitive Globalization in History 59

Introduction to Section Two 60

The Globalizing Effects of ‘Hajj’ in the Medieval and Modern Eras 62
Bethany J. Walker

Connectivity: Transjordan during the Persian Period 75
Paul J. Ray, Jr.
vi CONNECTIVITY IN ANTIQUITY
Organic Globalization and Socialization 93
Sheldon Lee Gosline

Section Three: Antiquity and the Power of Identity 113

Introduction to Section Three 114

Connectivity in the Longue Durée:
Hadrami Muslims in an Indian Ocean World 117
Leif Manger

Perceptions of Antiquity and the Formation of
Modern Resistance Identities 132
Sandra Arnold Scham

Foreign Self and Familiar Other:
The Impact of ‘Global’ Connectivity on New Kingdom Egypt 139
Jenny Cashman

Nothing New Under the Sun? 158
Manuel Castells

Index 168
List of Contributors

Jenny Cashman is a research student at Lincoln College, Oxford.

Manuel Castells is Professor of Sociology and Professor of City and Regional Planning at the
University of California, Berkeley.

William Collins is Professor at California State University and Doctoral Candidate, Department of
Near Eastern Archaeology, University of California, Berkeley.

Sheldon Lee Gosline is Associate Professor of Egyptology and Director of the Hieratic Font Project,
History Department, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China.

Øystein S. LaBianca is Professor of Anthropology and Senior Director, International Development
Program, at Andrews University, Michigan.

Thomas E. Levy is Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Director of the Judaic Studies
Program at the University of California, San Diego.

Leif Manger is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen.

Paul J. Ray, Jr. is the Director of Publications, Institute of Archaeology, Andrews University.

Sandra Arnold Scham is Lecturer and Research Development Specialist, Department of Anthro-
pology, University of Maryland and Coordinator, Negev Bedouin Identity Project, Howard
University.

William R. Thompson is Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, Bloomington and
President-elect of the International Studies Association.

Bethany J. Walker is Assistant Professor of Middle East History at Grand Valley State University in
Allendale, Michigan.
Page Intentionally Left Blank
Introduction—Ancient Network
Societies

The dream of the enlightenment, that reason and science would solve the problems of humankind, is
within reach… There is no eternal evil in human nature. There is nothing that cannot be changed by
conscious, purposive social action, provided with information and supported by legitimacy. If people
are informed, active and communicate throughout the world; if business assumes its social responsi-
bility; if the media become the messengers rather than the message; if political actors react against
cynicism, and restore belief in democracy; if culture is reconstructed from experience; if humankind
feels the solidarity of the species throughout the globe; if we assert intergenerational solidarity by
living in harmony with nature; if we depart for the exploration of our inner self, having made peace
among ourselves. If all this is made possible by our informed, conscious, shared decision, while there
is still time, maybe then we may, at last, be able to live and let live, love and be loved.

Thus did Manuel Castells end the final volume of his masterwork The Rise of the Network Society.
As we edit this volume, during what seems to be a dawning of a new phase of globalization where
the initial promise of solidifying human bonds throughout the world seems to have been replaced
by the wide and rapid dissemination of destructive technology, the ‘dream of the enlightenment’
seems more elusive than ever. Western politicians and political writers assure us that technology is
still the key—the more ‘connected’ societies are, according to a recent interview with Thomas
Barnett of the US Naval War College, the less danger they pose to world peace. He goes on to say,
‘Show me where globalization is thick with network connectivity, financial transactions, liberal
media flows, and collective security, and I will show you regions featuring stable governments,
rising standards of living, and more deaths by suicide than murder.’ This is what he calls the ‘new
security paradigm that shapes this age’ (Barnett 2004).
Disregarding the implication in this pronouncement that world peace is synonymous with online
banking, there is, in fact, some comfort to be gained from the knowledge that the ties that bind
societies together, which postmodernists have been wont to dismiss as Western hegemonic control,
can augur well for global stability. It is also obvious that Barnett, whether he acknowledges the debt
or not, has been strongly influenced by Castells—who may well become the most imitated and
unwittingly referenced theorist of the millennium.
Is this, however, a ‘new’ paradigm, as Barnett suggests, or do those who have a sense of déjà vu
about these ideas, stretching back to the first historical imperialist enterprises, have a valid point?
The answers to this query are as varied as the disciplines that have been strongly influenced by
Castells’ work. Communications specialists and students of modern politics and international affairs
will inevitably stress the essential modernism of The Network Society and argue that adding the
dimension of the past to Castells’ body of theory, would unnecessarily obfuscate some of the
author’s essential premises. His work is, after all, meant to be uber-historical and so firmly rooted in
postmodernity and the information technology revolution that it appears to exist beyond time as
well as physical space. Further, throughout the three volumes, the author suggests that each
phenomenon he describes in such detail is distinct from anything that might have gone before.
Nevertheless, students of the past including historians, archaeologists, social anthropologists and
political scientists who take the long view tend to agree with the writer of Ecclesiastes that ‘there is