Norman Yoffee is author of Myths of the Archaic State: Evolution of the Earliest Cities, States, and Civilizations (Cambridge, 2005); Professor Emeritus, Departments of Near Eastern Studies and Anthropology, University of Michigan; Senior Fellow, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University. He has taught at the University of Arizona, the University of Sydney, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Oxford, and the Free University of Berlin. He is the author or editor of 13 books, over 100 articles and reviews, and more than 200 invited lectures in 33 US universities and in 22 foreign countries. He holds an honorary degree (Doctor of Letters) from La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. He is also Editor of the Cambridge World Archaeology series (28 volumes).

• 1. Introduction: a history of the study of early cities Norman Yoffee and Nicola Terrenato; Part I. Early Cities as Arenas of Performance: 2. Ancient Egyptian cities: monumentality and performance John Baines; 3. The dedicated city: meaning and morphology in classic Maya urbanism Stephen Houston and Thomas G. Garrison; 4. Southeast Asian urbanism: from early city to classical state Miriam Stark; 5. Cities as performance John Baines, Miriam Stark, Thomas G. Garrison and Stephen Houston; Part II. Early Cities and Information Technologies: 6. Urbanization and techniques of communication: the case of the rise of the southern Mesopotamian city of Uruk during the fourth millennium BCE Hans Nissen; 7. Writing and the city in early China Wang Haicheng; 8. Reading early Maya cities: interpreting the role of writing in urbanization Danny Law; 9. Inka administration in Tawantinsuyu by means of the knotted-cords Gary Urton; 10. Writing and record-keeping in early cities Danny Law, Wang Haicheng, Hans Nissen and Gary Urton; Part III. Early Urban Landscapes: 11. Tiwanaku urban origins: distributed centers and animate landscapes John W. Janusek; 12. Mesopotamian cities and urban process, 3500–1600 BCE Geoff Emberling; 13. Teotihuacan: an early urban center in its regional context Sarah C. Clayton; 14. Urban landscapes: transforming spaces and reshaping communities Geoff Emberling, Sarah C. Clayton and John W. Janusek; Part IV. Early Cities and the Distribution of Power: 15. Ancient South Asian cities in their regions Carla M. Sinopoli; 16. Greek cities in the first millennium BCE Ian Morris and Alex R. Knodell; 17. Different cities: Jenne-jeno and African urbanism Roderick J. McIntosh; 18. The distribution of power: hierarchy and its discontents Carla M. Sinopoli, Roderick J. McIntosh, Ian Morris and Alex R. Knodell; Part V. Early Cities as Creations: 19. Baghdad, an imperial foundation (CE 762–836) Françoise Micheau; 20. Jerusalem: capital city created in stone and in imagination Ann E. Killebrew; 21. City of earth and wood: New Cahokia and its material-historical implications Timothy Pauketat, Susan M. Alt and Jeffery D. Kruchten; 22. Imagined cities Timothy R. Pauketat, Ann E. Killebrew and Françoise Micheau; Part VI. Early Imperial Cities: 23. Neo-Assyrian capital cities: from imperial headquarters to cosmopolitan cities Adelheid Otto; 24. Mexico-Tenochtitlan: origin and transformations of the last Mesoamerican imperial city Gerardo Gutiérrez; 25. The archetypal imperial city: the rise of Rome and the burdens of empire Nicola Terrenato; 26. Imperial cities Nicola Terrenato, Gerardo Gutiérrez and Adelheid Otto; 27. Conclusion: early cities and the evolution of history: the meaning of early cities Norman Yoffee.