The MB IIA period in the southern Levant may be divided into four broad developmental phases using a ceramic typology based on the ceramic repertoire of Tel Aphek. Using this typology, it is possible to determine each site's place within the developmental sequence of the MB IIA in Canaan. An examination of each site's relative founding dates then make it possible to analyze settlement distribution patterns chronologically throughout the period.

Examination of these site distribution patterns shows that settlement started along the coast, primarily in the north of Canaan, and progressed inland and southward throughout the MB IIA. This pattern of site placement most closely fits that of a dendritic system, in which settlement develops asymmetrically, often bounded by geographical considerations such as river systems, around a major settlement located at one end of the system, rather than in its center. The development of such a system also implies an unequal distribution of economic power, in which the primary settlement - in the case of MB IIA Canaan usually a coastal or port site - is able to control the resources and economy of the entire system.

Analysis of the ceramics from southern Levantine sites indicates that these dendritic networks developed gradually during the course of the MB IIA in Canaan. As each individual network formed, resources from the interior of Canaan could be funneled along the east-west wadi systems to the major coastal sites, which in turn then were able to interact with other systems and other polities linked to the international world of the eastern Mediterranean, such as Middle Kingdom Egypt. By the end of the MB IIA period in Canaan, analysis of this pattern of site development together with the MB IIA ceramic typology indicates that settlement was located in all regions of Canaan, with the exception of the Negev, setting the stage for rise of the powerful urban city states of the later MB IIB/C period.