Shaping Global History Narratives of the Southern Levant
»Shaping Global History Narratives of the Southern Levant: Lessons Learned from Tall Hisban and the Madaba Plains Region in Jordan«
Øystein LaBianca | Andrews University
The presentation will explore the challenges involved with shaping global history narratives of the past that bridge micro (local) and macro (global) perspectives. Drawing on his experience working at Tall Hisban and the Madaba Plains Region in Jordan, the author will share lessons learned in his quest to span this gap. Examples of approaches to bridging micro-macro-perspectives will be illustrated with reference to various methodological and interpretive lenses, such as zooarchaeology, food systems, environmental studies, Great and Little Traditions, and the concepts of the Great Acceleration and Anthropocene. Ultimately, the author argues for the relevance of archaeology in not only advancing global history but also understanding the accumulative impact of the human eco-engineering activities that have led to the planet's current climate crisis. The presentation aligns with themes discussed in the publication Levantine Entanglements: Cultural Productions, Long-Term Changes, and Globalizations in the Eastern Mediterranean (2021).