From the Editors

As editors, we are both saddened and privileged to present Professor María Eugenia Aubet’s landmark publication on Early Bronze Age Tyre. Professor Aubet passed on February 17 of this year. She was Chair Emerita in prehistory at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, where she spent over three decades investigating Phoenician interactions with other communities and the Phoenician diaspora in the western Mediterranean. In addition to her very informative article, this issue contains additional explorations of ancient Levantine sites that we hope will serve as a fitting tribute to her work.The issue begins with a moving celebration of her life written by her former student Dr. Francisco J. (Paco) Núñez, who is now at the University of Warsaw and is the current co-director of the Lebanese-Spanish-Polish Archaeological Project in Tyre. In consultation with Professor Aubet’s sister, María José Aubet, Dr. Núñez also assisted during the final stages of preparing the manuscript for publication following Professor Aubet’s death. In her article, “The Early Bronze Age in Tyre,” Professor Aubet presents the results of a recent reexcavation at the acropolis of Tyre that uncovered several Early Bronze Age occupation levels and the foundation of a strategic transit harbor on the site at the beginning of Early Bronze III—or perhaps even earlier. These insights into one of the earliest periods of this city’s remarkably long life have led to a much more informed assessment concerning the role of Tyre as a port of transit in the third millennium BC when trade between this region and Egypt started to intensify.The culture of another renowned ancient people of the Levantine coast, the Philistines, is explored in an article by A. Fantalkin, E. Itkin, O. Chesnut, M. Mazis, M. Lorenzon, L. Bouzaglou, T. Eshel, and J. Sharvit entitled “Iron Age Remains from Ashdod-Yam.” Evidence from this site, which is located on the southern coastal plain of Israel, indicates that after several centuries its immigrant population had become well assimilated, as demonstrated by their use of local and regional ceramic and building traditions. This continuing interplay between local and global traditions strongly suggests that there was an intricate web of overseas trade and cultural affiliations that positioned Ashdod-Yam strongly within the larger Mediterranean economy of the time.Adding to our knowledge about the early occupation of what became one of the largest cities of the southern Levant, J. Ross, S. Albaz, H. J. Greenfield, and A. M. Maeir present the results of their analysis of “Ceramic Platters at Early Bronze Age Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath.” By integrating petrographic analysis with a detailed inspection of surface features and an alternative imaging technique, they were able to create a holistic picture of the production sequence for these hallmark vessels. Their investigations introduce new evidence adding to the larger discussion of commensality and economy during this formative period in the city’s development and cast further light on the development of early urban societies in the southern Levant in general. Book reviews in this issue cover volumes on agricultural innovation in the ancient world, the site of ancient Gordion, and the economy and politics of Archaic Greece.