Pots and People? Insights into Overlooked Connections between Western Anatolia and the Coast of Lebanon in the Second Half of the 3rd Millennium BCE

In this article, we expand our previous re-evaluation of the ceramic assemblages from the coast of Lebanon focusing on the stretch of time between ca. 2600 and 2000 BCE and argue that certain vessel shapes betray connections with the ceramic traditions and drinking behaviours attested in western Anatolia and the eastern Aegean in the same timespan. Such evidence may mirror direct contacts between these areas taking root at the time of increasing urbanism in Lebanon, as well as in the eastern Aegean and western Anatolia. Building on these insights, we analyse these connections through the lenses of interregional connectivity, human residential mobility, and communities of practice, bringing into the assessment also the evidence for cultic activities at important and most likely harbour sites on the northern coast of Lebanon. This way, it is possible to shed light on overlooked connections between Lebanon, western Anatolia, and the eastern Aegean that may have important implications for understanding overland and maritime interregional contacts in the se cond half of the 3rd millennium BCE.