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 also founding editor of the journal Arabian Archaeology & Epigraphy.

• VOLUME I List of Illustrations xList of Tables xviiNotes on Contributors xviiiPreface xxviiiMaps xxxiiI The Framework 11 Introduction to Geography, Climate, Topography, and Hydrology 3T.J. Wilkinson2 Antiquarianism, Copying, Collecting 27Mark B. Garrison3 Early Excavations (pre-1914) 48Nicole Chevalier4 The Foundations of Antiquities Departments 70Peter Magee5 The Political Dimension of Archaeological Practices 87Reinhard Bernbeck6 The Antiquities Trade and the Destruction of Ancient Near Eastern Cultures 106Oscar White MuscarellaII Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Hunters and Gatherers 1257 The Levant 127Alan H. Simmons8 Anatolia 144Klaus SchmidtIII Developments in Farming, Animal Husbandry, and Technology 1619 The Beginnings of Cereal Cultivation and Domestication in Southwest Asia 163George Willcox10 Fruit-Growing 181Margareta Tengberg11 Animals in the Ancient World 201Benjamin S. Arbuckle12 Fish and Fishing 220D.T. Potts13 Lithic Industries During the Holocene Period 236Steven A. Rosen14 Irrigation 261Ariel M. Bagg15 Ceramic Production 279Cameron A. Petrie16 Metallurgy 295Lloyd Weeks17 Glass 317Wendy Reade18 Textiles 336Irene Good19 Watercraft 347R.A. CarterIV Varieties of Early Village and Town Life 37320 The Northern Levant 375Karin Bartl21 The Southern Levant 396E.B. Banning22 Northern Mesopotamia 415Stuart Campbell23 The Late Epipaleolithic, Neolithic, and Chalcolithic of the Anatolian Plateau, 13,000–4000 BC 431Douglas Baird24 Southern Mesopotamia 466Joan Oates25 The Arabian Peninsula 485Philipp Drechsler26 The Iranian Plateau 501Barbara Helwing27 Southwestern Iran 512Abbas MoghaddamV Bronze Age Cities of the Plains and the Highlands 53128 Southern Mesopotamia 533Jason Ur29 Northern Mesopotamia 556Timothy Matney30 The Anatolian Plateau 575Christoph Bachhuber31 Iran 596Christopher P. Thornton32 The Northern Levant 607Hermann Genz33 The Southern Levant 629Timothy P. HarrisonVOLUME IIList of Illustrations xList of Tables xiiMaps xiiiVI The Archaeology of Empire 64734 The Akkadian Period: Empire, Environment, and Imagination 649Augusta McMahon35 The Caucasus and the Near East 668Adam T. Smith36 Central Asia, the Steppe, and the Near East, 2500–1500 BC 687Michael D. Frachetti and Lynne M. Rouse37 The Ur III, Old Babylonian, and Kassite Empires 706Marlies Heinz38 The Hittite Empire 722Trevor Bryce39 Elam: Iran’s First Empire 740Javier Álvarez-Mon40 India’s Relations with Western Empires, 2300–600 BC 758Gregory L. Possehl41 Levantine Kingdoms of the Late Bronze Age 770Peter Pfälzner42 Neo-Hittite and Phrygian Kingdoms of North Syria and Anatolia 797Ann C. Gunter43 North Arabian Kingdoms 816Arnulf Hausleiter44 Egypt and the Near East 833Thomas Hikade45 The Assyrian Heartland 851Friedhelm Pedde46 The Assyrians Abroad 867Bradley J. Parker47 The Urartian Empire 877Alina Ayvazian48 Iron Age Western Anatolia: The Lydian Empire and Dynastic Lycia 896Christopher H. Roosevelt49 The Neo-Babylonian Empire 914Heather D. Baker50 The Achaemenid Heartland: An Archaeological-Historical Perspective 931Wouter F.M. Henkelman51 The Achaemenid Provinces in Archaeological Perspective 963Lori Khatchadourian52 The Seleucid Kingdom 984Lise Hannestad53 The Arsacid (Parthian) Empire 1001Stefan R. Hauser54 Roman Rule in the Near East 1021Bettina Fischer-Genz55 The Red Sea and Indian Ocean in the Age of the Great Empires 1041Steven E. Sidebotham56 Byzantium in Asia Minor and the Levant 1060Basema Hamarneh57 The Sasanian Empire: An Archaeological Survey, c.220–AD 640 1076Ali Mousavi and Touraj Daryaee58 Christianity in the Late Antique Near East 1095Cornelia Horn and Erica C.D. HunterAbbreviations 1113References 1117Index 1380

“To that end, the companion may be regarded as a successful contribution for students of Near Eastern archaeology, offering a copious amount of good quality material in two volumes that presents current state of knowledge about Near Eastern cultures from early prehistory to late antiquity.”  (Ancient West & East, 1 November 2015)