A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East

A comprehensive and authoritative overview of ancient material culture from the late Pleistocene to Late Antiquity Features up-to-date surveys and the latest information from major new excavations such as Qatna (Syria), Göbekli Tepe (Turkey) Includes a diverse range of perspectives by senior, mid-career and junior scholars in Europe, USA, Britain, Australia, and the Middle East for a truly international group Includes major reviews of the origins of agriculture, animal domestication, and archaeological landscapes Includes chapters dealing with periods after the coming of Alexander the Great, including studies of the Seleucid, Arsacid, Sasanian, Roman and Byzantine empires in the Near East, as well as early Christianity in both the Levant and Mesopotamia Fills a gap in literature of the Ancient Near East, dealing with topics often overlooked, including ethical and legal issues in antiquities markets and international scholarship

D. T. Potts is the Edwin Cuthbert Hall Professor of Middle Eastern Archaeology at The University of Sydney. He is the author of The Archaeology of Elam (1999), Excavations at Tepe Yahya, Iran, 1967-1975, Volume III: The Third Millennium (2001), Mesopotamia, Iran and Arabia from the Seleucids to the Sasanians (2010) and founding editor of the journal Arabian Archaeology & Epigraphy.

Section Possible authors.Intro (geography, climate, topography, hydrology) T.J. Wilkinson (Durham) .Part I: The framework.Introduction Potts Antiquarianism, copying, collecting M. Garrison (Trinity University) Early excavations (pre-1914) N. Chevalier (Paris) Foundations of antiquities departments A. Mousavi (Los Angeles) .(Ottoman, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria [Mandate period], Israel, Iran, Gulf states) Working in the region today: Regulations, political conflicts and agendas R. Eichmann (Berlin) The illicit trade in ancient Near Eastern antiquities O. Muscarella (New York) .Part II: Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Hunters and Gatherers.Introduction Potts Levant I. Kuijt (Notre Dame) Zagros K. Abdi (Dartmouth) Arabian peninsula H.-P. Uerpmann (T8bingen) Anatolia K. Schmidt (German Arch Inst) .Part III: Developments in farming, animal husbandry and technology.Introduction Potts Cereal domesticates (wheat, barley, millets, rice) G. Willcox (CNRS) Fruits, legumes and vegetables M. Tengberg (Univ. of Paris) Animals J. Peters (Munich) Lithic industries S. Rosen (Beersheva) Irrigation J.N. Postgate (Cambridge) Ceramic production C.A. Petrie (Cambridge) Metallurgy L.R. Weeks (Nottingham) Glass W. Reade (Sydney) Basketry (reed), wood, bitumen and other organic materials F. Pedde (Berlin) Stone carving (vessels, architectural ornamentation) M. Roaf (Munich) Jewellery and seal production (stamp seals, cylinder seals, beads, pendants) K. Limper (Los Angeles) Watercraft R. Carter (Durham) .Part IV: Varieties of early village and town life.Introduction Potts The Northern Levant K. Bartl (Damascus) The Southern Levant E. Banning (Toronto) Northern Mesopotamia P. Akkermans (Leiden) Anatolia J. Ur (Harvard) Southern Mesopotamia R. Matthews (London) The Arabian Peninsula P. Drechsler (T8bingen) The Iranian Plateau B. Helwing (Berlin) Southwestern Iran A. Moghaddam (Tehran) .Volume II.Part V: Bronze Age cities of the plains and the highlands.Introduction Potts Cities of Southern Mesopotamia J. Ur (Harvard) Cites of Northern Mesopotamia C. Reichel (Chicago) Cities of Anatolia N. Marchetti (Rome) Cities of Iran C. Thornton (Philadelphia) Cities of the Northern Levant Cities of the Southern Levant T. Harrison (Toronto) Cities of Southern Arabia I. Gerlach (Sana'a) .Part VI: The archaeology of empire.Introduction Potts The Akkadian Empire G. Schwarz (Baltimore) Northern, Eastern and Southern Neighbours of the Near Eastern empires C. Demos (Berkeley) The Ur III Empi