In the Neighborhood of the Defeated: Urban Analysis of the Provincial Town at Neo-Assyrian Dan

Abstract

Assyria’s desire for global domination was marked by the empire’s ideological conception of a “superior” center and an “inferior” periphery. The creation of the Neo-Assyrian provincial system during the 8th–7th centuries b.c.e. was intended to bring order and stability to a chaotic frontier and to create new realities for colonizers and colonized alike. Nevertheless, upon conquering new regions imperial ambitions were reined in by considerations of ecology, demographics, and politics. While the “colonial geography” of the Assyrian empire is often studied from textual, visual, and historical perspectives, it is also marked by distinct material culture expressions that are often explored from a technical point of view. Being one of the main foci of Assyrian imperial expansion, the southern Levant constitutes an ideal case study for investigating material culture manifestations of Assyrian imperial influence on conquered territories. An extensively explored site, the rich archaeological evidence from Tel Dan in the Hula Valley (Stratum Ib) provides a unique opportunity to explore imperial policies of deportation and resettlement in the face of geopolitical forces, as well as Assyrian impact on the everyday life of indigenous populations and recently arrived deportees.