New Perspectives on Middle Bronze Age Rural Cultic Architecture in the Southern Levant A Case Study from a Late Middle Bronze Age Temple near el-Weleǧe (al-Walajah), West of Jerusalem

Temples of the 2^nd mill. B.C.E. have been uncovered in many different contexts throughout the Southern Levant. This article addresses some fundamental issues with the accepted architectural definitions and categorizations of these temples, raising questions regarding the relationship between urban and rural cultic architecture. To explore these topics, a Middle Bronze Age (MB hereafter) rural temple, excavated west of Jerusalem in 2010 – 2011 near el-Weleǧe (al-Walajah), will serve as a test case. The analysis of the temple, which includes a bipartite structure and courtyard surrounded by a témenos wall, emphasizes that while the temple resembles the general form of contemporary rectangular and symmetrical temples, there are nuanced architectural variations present as well, particularly the presence of freestanding piers. This study concludes that while there does appear to have been a general template for MB temple architecture, there was also a great deal of diversity and regional variation within the temple form.