Palace-Clan Relations in the Bronze and Iron Ages Levant: Textual and Material Approaches

Recent studies have demonstrated that ancient Near Eastern societies considered themselves as part of one social fabric, divided not by mode of life or place of residence, but according to traditional associations of kin. Kinship relations appear to maintain their essential integrity over long periods of time, even within complex political organizations. In the past it was common to view state formation as an evolutionary process – from tribe to state – during which former kinship relations...