Canaanites (Peoples of the Past) [Hardcover]

The book begins with coverage of Canaanite beginnings in the Neolithic and Chalcolithic Periods (8500-3300 bce) and continues through the Late Iron Age (900-539 bce). It does conclude with a synopsis of Canaanite connections to Phoenicians subsequent Carthaginian ties concluding with the close of the third Punic War. The bulk of the detail of Canaanite culture, however, is provided for the periods between 8500 bce and 539 bce.

The author (Jonathan N. Tubb)has directed the British Museum's excavations at Tell es-Sa'idiyeh in present-day Jordan since 1985 and is curator of Syria-Palestine within the Western Asiatic Department of the British Museum.

Tubb provides easy-to-read details of ancient international trading systems between the Canaanites and other culture groups from the Egyptians and Mycenaeans to Indus River Valley peoples. Though based primarily on archeological evidence to infer Canaanite culture habits, the book also objectively takes into account many historically accurate aspects from written records both Biblical and secular.

Extra-cultural influences upon the Canaanites are inferred through changing burial techniques (particularly Canaanite shaft tombs), architecture, and to a lesser extent, pottery styles. Evidence from archeological sites in Persia and Egypt show how widespread trade was even at such an early time in ancient history.

Pieces of the archeological puzzle are fit together with historical written records to show when and where new culture groups began to settle in the region and what eventually became of the Canaanites. The power vacuum left after the fall of the Egyptian empire allowed for expansion of new groups such as the Sea Peoples from southwestern Anatolia and the Aegean that settled in the Gaza area (of whom included the Philistines), and the Hebrews who eventually established the Kingdom of Israel around the Jordan River in Judea and Samaria. The author posits that the Israelites were in fact a sub-set of Canaanite culture and many parallels are drawn in the book on this point.

I found the book to be very informative and easy to follow. There are both color and black and white photos of Canaanite artifacts and sites in the book that really help to bring about a better understanding of the text you read. A very informative and enjoyable book!

After reading "Archaeology of the Land of the Bible" by Amihai Mazar and "Who were the Early Israelites and Where did they come from?" by William Dever, it seemed to me that this book on the Canaanites would be a useful complement to these two works. It was published relatively recently (1998) as part of the "Peoples of the Past" series, and I felt that the author has sufficient scholarly credentials for it to be reasonably objective. It is a fairly short book (160 pages) and its primary focus is on the archaeological and written evidence of the peoples of the land of Canaan from the earliest the period c 8500BCE up to the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great in 332BCE.

As with other informative books on archaeology about "The Land of the Bible", there is an introductory chapter which reviews basic assumptions, and this is important because it lets the reader know in advance where the author is coming from. In this chapter, the author defines the ancient land of Canaan as covering the modern states of Israel, Jordan, and Parts of Syria and that the evidence presented in his book demonstrates a population continuity such that the Canaanites known to the writers of the biblical texts are to be seen as the same people who settled in farming villages in the 8th millenium, and that these peoples spoke a Semitic language whose closest modern relatives would be Syriac and Hebrew

The findings from the major archaeological sites up to the end of the Bronze Age are described in Chapters 2 to 5:

Chapter 2: Prehistory: The Neolithic and Chalcolithic Periods (8500 to 3300BC)

Chapter 3: The Early Bronze Age and the Rise of Urbanism (3300 to 2400BC)

Chapter 4: Economic Recession: The Early Bronze IV Interlude (2400 to 2000BC)

Chapter 5: The Middle Bronze Age and the Hyksos (2000 to 1550BC)

Chapter 6: The Imposition of Empire: The Late Bronze Age (1550 to 1150BC)

After reading Chapters 2 and 3, I realized that the author was covering much of the same ground as Dr Mazar in his book "Archaeology of the Land of the Bible". So from then on I read the two books in parallel, which was a useful comparative exercise. While there are some differences in emphasis, Dr Mazar provides considerably more detail, is more analytical about the archaeological evidence and very careful about his conclusions. Professor Tubbs, on the other hand, has a more interpretative approach which becomes clear, for example, in his analysis of the Hyksos Dynasties of Egypt (Dynasties 15-17). He considers this era to have been an imposition on Egypt of the Canaanite civilization which was probably directed by an aristocratic elite of non-Semitic people known as the Maryannu and Hurrians, who seem to have infiltrated and integrated into the Semitic population of Syria during the beginning of the 2nd millenium BC.

Chapters 7 to 10 deal with the invasions of Egypt and Canaan by the Sea Peoples and the rise, division, and destruction of the kingdoms of Israel

Chapter 7: Sea Peoples and Egypto-Canaan

Chapter 8: The Early Iron Age and the Rise of Israel (1150 to 900BC)

Chapter 9: The Late Iron Age (900 to 539BC)

Chapter 10: The Persian Period (539 to 332BC)

I found the discussion on the origin, invasion, and settlement of the Sea peoples to be most interesting, since I have yet to find a book which adequately covers that particular event. In Chapters 8 to 10, however, the descriptions seem to rely more on the biblical texts than on the archaeological evedence, although the author does present fairly detailed descriptions of the excavations at the important site of Tell es-Sa'idiyeh with which he has first hand knowledge. This is a site on the E side of the Jordan valley about 30 km east of Samaria, the capital of later kings of the northern kingdom of Israel.

The final chapter entitled "The Canaanite legacy: the Greeks, Romans, Phoenicians and beyond" briefly covers the return of the Exiles, the Hasmonean (Maccabean) monarchy, and the fortunes of the last Canaanites - the Phoenicians of the Lebanon, and their North African colony of Carthage - before those people were absorbed into the main stream of the Roman dominated Mediterranean civilization.

The maps showing major sites at the beginning of the book, and the photographs, particularly the colour plates, were quite helpful, while the notes, chronological chart, books for further reading, and the index at the end of the book were less so. In summary, I found Prof. Mazar's book to be generally more informative, although Prof. Tubbs does provide some interesting insights on the topics which are more completely covered in his book. I do think, though, that his book provides a good introductory overview on this subject, but if you are interested in detail, then I would recommend Mazar's book. For my part I am quite happy to have both!

This is an informative, balanced work that will reward an archeology student or patient layman with a fuller understanding of the Canaanite culture/structure. This includes how the cities of Canaan interacted with their neighbors (particularly Egypt), the infiltration of the various "Sea Peoples", Hebrew/Israelite conquest and control, as well as what Canaan gave to the world (the basis of our alphabet), and finally insight into Canaanite culture's powerful Phoenician/Carthaginian descendents.

Canaanites relies primarily on archaeological data. This is both a strength and a weakness since it removes much of the speculative Biblical interpretations (and many agenda.) While the archaeological finds are interesting, they are most interesting when placed into a recognizable historical context and that most often means Biblical, Egyptian or Ugarit type texts. The author often fails to provide this historical context until late in a chapter or in the book, instead leaving the reader to slog through the list of stratum, dates, and Tells looking for a familiar landmark. The work is well written, but for those unfamiliar with the sites and geology/terrain, the book demands a considerable learning curve to be appreciated.

The crucial early summary of Canaan and Canaanites is lost or fragmented among the discussion of how to approach and interpret the archaeology.

Unless one is already intimately familiar with the geology of the Levant, a geographic atlas map is a necessary companion. The two small outline maps provide a fine list of sites, but little else to guide the reader through the geographical text.

Despite the above criticisms, I recommend this book to anyone seeking a balanced, archaeological approach to Canaan's history and peoples, but be cautioned that this is not a work suited for skimming. The author's reasoning and approach to various issues appear sound.