An empirical multivariate approach to urban squares in the ancient Near East

This paper outlines a theoretical framework and an empirical method for interpreting ancient Near Eastern urban squares based on their material remains. It offers a review of the state of the art, a preliminary survey of the evidence and the blueprint for an archaeological approach that integrates different sources and multiple descriptive variables to explore the changing relationships between public spaces, material culture and social practices. Configurational, architectural and archeological parameers are presented and used to identify neighbourhood squares, ceremonial squares and market squares in the long-term archaeological record of the pre-classical Levant, based on a sample of 97 sites. The squares of the ancient Near East are thus revealed as a unique and diverse laboratory to study the ancient use of space for collective purposes.