The dissertation and the connected data sets are the result of the Zerqa Triangle Survey carried out in the Jordan Valley (Jordan) between 2004 and 2006. This project was carried out at Leiden University within the scope of the NWO-funded project 'Settling the Steppe. The archaeology of changing societies in Syro-Palestinian drylands during the Bronze and Iron Ages'. This dissertation attempts to answer the question why people settled in this dry region time and again and how they were able to create a livelihood here.