In this presentation, new NINO Postdoc Fellow Diederik Halbertsma will examine the relationship between monumental architecture and interpretations of social complexity in the Iron Age Southern Levant. Focusing on early Iron Age fortified sites in the Wadi al-Mujib region (in modern-day Jordan), which are often linked to the “Early Moabite Kingdom” hypothesis, it reassesses the assumption that monumental fortifications necessarily signal centralised political authority, such as that of a kingdom. Labour-cost studies conducted on the archaeological site of Khirbet al-Mudayna al-‘Aliya – one of these early Iron Age Wadi al-Mujib sites – illustrate how the presence of casemate wall fortifications, commonly taken as markers of early statehood, can be reinterpreted when considering local autonomy, construction logistics, and community-scale social dynamics.

By applying collective action theory and labour cost analysis, Dr Halbertsma argues that small communities could independently construct monumental fortifications without external, centralised organisation. Instead, monumental building projects might have functioned as arenas of cooperation, creating both physical defences and social cohesion. This re-framing challenges conventional state-formation models in Levantine archaeology and emphasizes the need to consider alternative pathways of social organisation, including grassroots cooperation and heterarchy, in understanding early Iron Age societies.

Diederik Halbertsma is NINO Postdoctoral Fellow 2025-2027.

Practical information

The lecture will be held as an in-person and online event.

• date: Thurday 9 October 2025
• time: 16.00-17.00 hrs, drinks afterwards in the LIAS Common Room
• venue: Leiden University, Herta Mohr building, room 1.80, and online via Zoom
• admission: free – no registration for in-person attendance; register to attend via Zoom.
• main language: English