Settlement in the Upper Orontes Valley from the Neolithic to the Islamic Period: an Instance of Punctuated Equilibrium

This paper presents the main developments in settlement organization in the Orontes Valley around the modern city of Homs from the Neolithic through to the Islamic period. Data drawn from ten seasons of fieldwork undertaken by the project “Settlement and Landscape Development in the Homs Region, Syria (1999-2010)” are used to delineate the main developments in settlement distribution and organization in each of three contrasting landscape units. Settlement change over time in each unit is considered in terms of its possible relationship to political and economic developments at a wider regional scale.