Essays On The Late Prehistory Of The Arabian Peninsula

This book provides the first extensive coverage of the archaeology of the Arabian peninsula from c. 9000 to 800 BC. Providing a wealth of detail on the environmental and archaeological record, it argues that this ancient region was in many ways very different from the surrounding states in Egypt and Mesopotamia. It examines the adaptation of humans to Arabia's environment and the eventual formation of a unique society that flourished for millennia.

This book, first published in 2007, offered the first and only summary of decades of archaeological research in the Oman Peninsula. The original eleven chapters are expanded and enhanced in this new edition by a number of new ‘windows’, written by a new generation of scholars, in order to include more recent research and interpretations.

Examines the many ways water has contributed to power structures in the past, with insights for contemporary water management. Water, an essential resource in all cultures, is at the heart of human power structures. Utilizing a diverse range of theoretical perspectives, the contributors to Water and Power in Past Societies provide a broad introduction to the archaeology of water-related power structures. The studies herein explore the long history of water politics in human society, offering new insights into the power structures and inequalities surrounding irrigation systems, the collection of rainwater as a component of ancient industrial production, and sea water as a facilitator of communication, trade, and aggression. In addition to examining the role of different types of water in creating power relationships, the volume presents case studies from a variety of climatic regions, ranging from the very dry to the tropical. This geographical breadth facilitates cross-cultural comparison, making Water and Power in Past Societies an essential resource for instructors and students of the archaeology of water. Finally, in addition to reaching conclusions with significant implications for archaeologists and anthropologists, the volume has real contemporary relevance, often drawing explicit parallels with issues of current and future water management. Emily Holt is Research Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York.

Reports on excavations at the prehistoric site Ras Al-Hamra RH-5, located in the Qurum area of Muscat. The site dates from the late 5th to the end of the 4th millennia BC and comprises an accumulation of superimposed food discards deriving from continuous and repeated subsistence activities such as fishing, collecting shells, hunting and herding.

This volume examines the earliest production and exchange of copper and its alloys in the Persian Gulf, a major metal supply route for the Bronze Age societies of Western Asia. Weeks addresses the geological and technological background to copper production in southeastern Arabia and contextualizes evidence for major fluctuations in prehistoric copper production. The core of the volume contists of compositional and isotopic analyses. The relationship between specialized copper production, exchange, and the development of social complexity in early Arabia is examined, and the author addresses the broader archaeological issue of the Bronze Age tin trade, which linked vast areas of Western Asia, from the Indo-Iranian borderlands to the Aegean, in the third millennium BC.

The Sumerian World explores the archaeology, history and art of southern Mesopotamia and its relationships with its neighbours from c.3,000 - 2,000BC. Including material hitherto unpublished from recent excavations, the articles are organised thematically using evidence from archaeology, texts and the natural sciences. This broad treatment will also make the volume of interest to students looking for comparative data in allied subjects such as ancient literature and early religions. Providing an authoritative, comprehensive and up to date overview of the Sumerian period written by some of the best qualified scholars in the field, The Sumerian World will satisfy students, researchers, academics, and the knowledgeable layperson wishing to understand the world of southern Mesopotamia in the third millennium.