The Early Bronze Age III represents a period of remarkable urban growth and prosperity in southwestern Canaan. Within this territory, the major site was then Tel Yarmuth, to judge by its dimensions, the nature and length of its sequence, and the character and monumental size of its remains. This site offers actually a measure of the maximum economic and socio-political development attained in this region during the third millennium B.C.E. It is a paradigmatic site which can serve to illustrate the process of urbanization and state emergence during the Early Bronze Age in the southern Levant at large.
 
The goal of this lecture is to assess the scope and character of the exceptional development of Tel Yarmuth during this period and to evaluate it against the background of its south Canaanite hinterland, which experienced drastic changes at the same time.