Results of the 2001 Kerak Plateau Early Bronze Age Survey / Two Early Alphabetic Inscriptions from the Wadi El-Hol

This article presents the results from the 2001 research project combining surface surveys and limited test excavations at eight Early Bronze Age settlement sites on the Kerak Plateau. The team collected data to determine the suitability of these sites for a future, multi-year research project, and to assess the applicability of an alternative perspective for reconstructing the nature of the earliest walled towns in the southern Levant. Aside from documenting the state of preservation, the proposed research sought to evaluate propositions about the nature of the chronological development of urbanism within the region, the relationship between environmental and ecological zones and the scale of urban settlements in the region. The manuscript is the editio princeps of two early alphabetic inscriptions discovered by John and Deborah Darnell along the Farshut Road, Wadi el-Hol, near Luxor, Egypt. The work includes photographs, drawings and discussions of the inscriptions, together with a discussion of the source of the signs and significance of the find.Chesson, Meredith S. is the author of 'Results of the 2001 Kerak Plateau Early Bronze Age Survey / Two Early Alphabetic Inscriptions from the Wadi El-Hol ', published 2006 under ISBN 9780897570718 and ISBN 0897570715.