Editing Canaan (section)

=== Culture ===
{{Further|Canaanite languages|Canaanite religion}}
[[File:Enthroned deity MET DP137934.jpg|upright|thumb|Enthroned deity; 14–13th century BC; bronze and gold foil; height: 12.7 cm; [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] (New York City)]]
According to archaeologist Jonathan N. Tubb, "[[Ammon]]ites, [[Moabites]], [[Israelites]], and Phoenicians undoubtedly achieved their own cultural identities, and yet ethnically they were all Canaanites", "the same people who settled in farming villages in the region in the 8th millennium BC."<ref name="JonTubb" />{{rp|13–14}}

There is uncertainty about whether the name "Canaan" refers to a specific [[ancient Semitic-speaking peoples|Semitic-speaking ethnic group]] wherever they live, the homeland of this ethnic group, a region under the control of this ethnic group, or perhaps any combination of the three.

Canaanite civilization was a response to long periods of stable climate interrupted by short periods of [[climate change (general concept)|climate change]]. During these periods, Canaanites profited from their intermediary position between the ancient civilizations of the Middle East—[[Ancient Egypt]], [[Mesopotamia]] ([[Sumer]], [[Akkadian Empire|Akkad]], [[Assyria]], [[Babylonia]]), the Hittites, and [[Minoan Crete]]—to become city-states of merchant princes along the coast, with small kingdoms specializing in agricultural products in the interior. This polarity, between coastal towns and agrarian hinterland, was illustrated in [[Canaanite mythology]] by the struggle between the storm god, variously called [[Teshub]] ([[Hurrian]]) or [[Baal|Ba'al Hadad]] ([[Semitic languages|Semitic]] [[Amorite]]/[[Aramean]]) and [[Yam (god)|Ya'a, Yaw, or Yam]], god of the sea and rivers. Early Canaanite civilization was characterized by small walled market towns, surrounded by peasant farmers growing a range of local [[horticulture|horticultural products]], along with commercial growing of [[olive]]s, [[grape]]s for wine, and [[pistachio]]s, surrounded by extensive [[grain]] cropping, predominantly [[wheat]] and [[barley]]. Harvest in early summer was a season when [[transhumance]] [[nomadism]] was practised—shepherds staying with their flocks during the wet season and returning to graze them on the harvested stubble, closer to water supplies in the summer. Evidence of this cycle of agriculture is found in the [[Gezer calendar]] and in the biblical cycle of the year.

Periods of rapid climate change generally saw a collapse of this mixed Mediterranean farming system; commercial production was replaced with [[subsistence agricultural]] foodstuffs; and transhumance [[pastoralism]] became a year-round nomadic pastoral activity, whilst tribal groups wandered in a circular pattern north to the Euphrates, or south to the Egyptian delta with their flocks. Occasionally, tribal chieftains would emerge, raiding enemy settlements and rewarding loyal followers from the spoils or by tariffs levied on merchants. Should the cities band together and retaliate, a neighbouring state intervenes or should the chieftain suffer a reversal of fortune, allies would fall away or intertribal feuding would return. It has been suggested that the Patriarchal tales of the Bible reflect such social forms.<ref>{{cite book |last=Van Seters |first=John |year=1987 |title=Abraham in Myth and Tradition |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=9781626549104}}</ref>

Since 3100 BC, most Canaanites, particularly those that lived on the land that is now Israel/Palestine, lived in walled settlements in the plains and coastal regions. These settlements were surrounded by mud-brick fortifications and agricultural hamlets, which the inhabitants relied on for food.{{sfn|Shahin|2005|p=4}}{{efn-lr|The independent Canaanite city-states of the early Bronze Age (3000–2200 BC) were situated mostly in plains or coastal regions, surrounded by defensive walls built of mud brick and guarded by watchtowers. Most of the cities were surrounded by agricultural hamlets, which supplied their food needs {{harv|Shahin|2005|p=4}}.}} In the 2nd millennium BC, urban Canaanite elites ruled over rural and pastoral areas. The material culture of the city-states was relatively uniform.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Agranat-Tamir |first1=Lily |last2=Waldman |first2=Shamam |last3=Martin |first3=Mario A.S. |last4=Gokham |first4=David |last5=Mishol |first5=Nadav |last6=Eshel |first6=Tzilla |last7=Cheronet |first7=Olivia |last8=Rohland |first8=Nadin |last9=Mallick |first9=Swapan |last10=Adamski |first10=Nicole |last11=Lawson |first11=Anne Marie |last12=Mah |first12=Matthew |last13=Michel |first13=Megan |last14=Oppenheimer |first14=Jonas |last15=Stewardson |first15=Kristin |date=2020 |title=The Genomic History of the Bronze Age Southern Levant |journal=Cell |volume=181 |issue=5 |pages=1146–1157 |doi=10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.024 |pmid=32470400 |pmc=10212583 }}</ref> New burial customs were implicitly influenced by a belief in the afterlife.{{sfn|Shahin|2005|p=4}}{{sfn|Ember|Peregrine|2002|p=103}}

During the periods of the collapse of [[Akkadian Empire]] in [[Mesopotamia]] and the [[First Intermediate Period of Egypt]], the Hyksos invasions and the end of the Middle Bronze Age in Assyria and Babylonia, and the Late [[Bronze Age collapse]], trade through the Canaanite area would dwindle, as Egypt, Babylonia, and to a lesser degree [[Assyria]], withdrew into their isolation. When the climates stabilized, trade would resume firstly along the coast in the area of the [[Philistines|Philistine]] and Phoenician cities. As markets redeveloped, new trade routes that would avoid the heavy tariffs of the coast would develop from [[Kadesh Barnea]], through [[Hebron]], [[Lachish]], [[Jerusalem]], [[Bethel]], [[Samaria (ancient city)|Samaria]], [[Shechem]], [[Shiloh (biblical city)|Shiloh]] through [[Galilee]] to [[Jezreel (city)|Jezreel]], [[Tel Hazor|Hazor]], and [[Tel Megiddo|Megiddo]]. Secondary Canaanite cities would develop in this region. Further economic development would see the creation of a third trade route from [[Eilath]], [[Timna]], [[Edom]] ([[Mount Seir|Seir]]), [[Moab]], [[Ammon]], and thence to the Aramean states of [[Damascus]] and [[Palmyra]]. Earlier states (for example the Philistines and [[Tyrians]] in the case of [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]] and [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Samaria]], for the second route, and Judah and Israel for the third route) tried generally unsuccessfully to control the interior trade.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thompson |first=Thomas L. |year=2000 |title=Early History of the Israelite People: From the Written & Archaeological Sources |publisher=Brill Academic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RwrrUuHFb6UC |access-date=9 October 2018|isbn=978-9004119437 }}</ref>

Eventually, the prosperity of this trade would attract more powerful regional neighbours, such as [[Ancient Egypt]], [[Assyria]], the Babylonians, [[Persia]]ns, [[Ancient Greeks]], and [[Ancient Rome|Romans]], who would control the Canaanites politically, levying tribute, taxes, and tariffs. Often in such periods, thorough overgrazing would result in a climatic collapse and a repeat of the cycle (e.g., [[PPNB]], [[Ghassulian]], [[Uruk]], and the [[Bronze Age]] cycles already mentioned). The fall of later Canaanite civilization occurred with the incorporation of the area into the [[Greco-Roman]] world (as [[Iudaea]] province), and after [[Byzantine]] times, into the [[Umayyad Caliphate]]. [[Western Aramaic]], one of the two [[lingua franca]]s of Canaanite civilization, is still spoken in a number of small Syrian villages, whilst [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] [[Canaanite language|Canaanite]] disappeared as a spoken language in about 100&nbsp;CE. A separate [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]]-infused [[Eastern Aramaic]] is still spoken by the existing [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] of [[Iraq]], [[Iran]], northeast Syria, and southeast [[Turkey]].

[[Tel Kabri]] contains the remains of a Canaanite city from the Middle [[Bronze Age]] (2000–1550 BC). The city, the most important of the cities in the Western [[Galilee]] during that period, had a palace at its center. Tel Kabri is the only Canaanite city that can be excavated in its entirety because after the city was abandoned, no other city was built over its remains. It is notable because the predominant extra-Canaanite cultural influence is [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]]; Minoan-style frescoes decorate the palace.<ref>{{cite web |title=Remains Of Minoan-Style Painting Discovered During Excavations Of Canaanite Palace |work=ScienceDaily |date=7 December 2009 |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091109121119.htm |access-date=9 October 2018 |archive-date=4 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204090444/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/134292 |url-status=live }}</ref>