Figurines, Scarabs and Stratigraphy: Some Reflections on the Archaeological Correlation between Syro-Palestine, Mesopotamia and Egypt during the Middle Bronze Age
Nicolò Marchetti

The detailed relative stratigraphy of north Syrian sites, estabilished in recent years mainly through fieldwork at Ebla, allows a correlation between this area on the one hand and Mesopotamia and Palestine on the other, whereas the recent Italo-Palestinian excavations at Jericho also add a small, though significant piece of evidence to the vast body of Egypto-Palestinian relations. Clay figurines and seals concur, in addition to pottery criteria, to the goal of synchronization: a summary of some new scientific results by the Roman School of Near Eastern Archaeology is presented and an evaluation of the adherence of data to existing alternative Mesopotamian absolute chronologies is offered.