Period Introduction
The End of an Age
Period: Middle Bronze I
AFS Chronology: 2065—1900 BC
Standard Chronology: 2150—2000 BC

Places:

  • Stratum XIV of Megiddo
  • Ur
  • Jericho

Artifacts:

  • Victory Stele of Naram-Sin
  • Priest-King of Mohenjo-daro
  • Dilmun Seals
  • Barbar Ware
  • Fenestrated Eye Axe
  • Ur III Cylinder Seals

Architecture:

  • Barbar Temple
  • Ziggurat of Ur
  • Shaft Tombs of Jericho
  • Mastaba of Mereruka

Literature:

  • Lions of Urkesh
  • The Flood Tablet
  • The Lament for Sumer and Ur
  • Weld-Blumdell Prism

Technologies:

  • The construction of Ziggurats
  • Developments in writing and literacy

Political and cultural events:

  • The decline of urbanism in Canaan and Syria
  • The expansion of Guti, Hurrian and Amorite tribes
  • The First Intermediate Period in Egypt
  • The Fall of Ur

Chronology of the MB I

PeriodStandard ChronologyAFS ChronologyComments
Chalcolithic / Early Bronze I4500-2900 BC3500-2700 BC
  • Predynastic - Protodynastic periods (Egypt)
  • Uruk - Jemdet Nasr periods (Mesopotamia)
  • Ghassulian culture (Southern Levant)
  • Megiddo XX - XIX (Southern Levant)
Early Bronze II2900-2650 BC2650-2500 BC
  • Early Dynastic I-II (Mesopotamia)
  • Dynasties I-II (Egypt)
  • Megiddo XVIII-XVII (Southern Levant)
Early Bronze III2650-2300 BC2500-2150 BC
  • Early Dynastic III (Mesopotamia)
  • Dynasties III-V (Egyptian Old Kingdom)
  • Megiddo XVI - XV (Canaan)
  • Early Dilmun (Persian Gulf)
  • Early Harappan (Indus Valley)
Early Bronze IV2300-2150 BC2150-2000 BC
  • Akkadian period (Mesopotamia)
  • Egyptian Dynasty VI (Late Old Kingdom)
  • Mature Harappan period (Indus Valley)
  • Qala'at al-Bahrain City II (Persian Gulf)
Middle Bronze I2150-2000 BC2000-1850 BC
  • Guti, Lagash II, and Ur III period (Mesopotamia)
  • Egyptian First Intermediate Period
  • Jericho Shaft Tombs
  • Megiddo Stratum XIV

Map of the Ancient Near East

EB IV—MBI  

Last modified: March 13, 2025