The ongoing discussion on the nature of the organization of Early Bronze Age settlements and their social structure in an intensely settled part of the southern Levant (independent 'city-states' vs 'neither cities nor states') calls for data on which to base our understanding of shared economic patterns and regional connections. Here, we report the results of our macrobotanical investigation of the Early Bronze Age III (2,680–2,600 cal BCE) levels at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfī/Gath, a large fortified settlement in central Canaan. A dense residential neighborhood was sampled at high resolution for a multi-faceted analysis of plant use in order to address its economic strategies and regional relationships. The resulting rich and diverse plant assemblage enables reconstruction of the diversity of agriculture, fuel sources, land use practices, mobility, and connectivity. Results of the study provide, for the first time, direct botanical evidence for the structural patterns of an intensive localized agro-pastoral economy and enable comparative analysis of the regional diet. Moreover, the results shed light on rare yet continuous long-distance plant dispersal and human mobility across biogeographical boundaries within the southern Levant.

在南部黎凡特南部一个人口稠密的地区（独立的“城市国家”与“既不是城市又不是国家”）中，关于青铜时代早期定居点的组织性质及其社会结构的持续讨论要求我们提供数据作为基础了解共同的经济模式和区域联系。在这里，我们报告了在迦南中部的一个大型强化定居点泰勒·埃法菲（Gath）地区，对青铜时代III早期（公元前2,680–2,600 cal BCE）水平进行宏观植物学调查的结果。为了解决其经济战略和区域关系，对一个密集的居民区进行了高分辨率采样，以进行植物使用的多方面分析。由此产生的丰富多样的植物组合可以重建农业，燃料来源，土地使用方式，移动性和连通性。研究结果首次为集约化局部农牧经济的结构模式提供了直接的植物学证据，并使区域饮食的比较分析成为可能。此外，研究结果揭示了黎凡特南部罕见但连续的长距离植物扩散和人类跨生物地理边界的流动性。