Agency theory examines the relationship between individuals or groups when one party is doing work on behalf of another. 'Agency and Identity in the Ancient Near East' offers a theoretical study of agency and identity in Near Eastern archaeology, an area which until now has been largely ignored by archaeologists. The book explores how agency theory can be employed in reconstructing the meaning of spaces and material culture, how agency and identity intersect, and how the availability of a textual corpus may impact on the agency approach. Ranging from the Neolithic to the Islamic period, 'Agency and Identity in the Ancient Near East' covers sites located in Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and Israel. The volume includes contributions from philology, art, history, computer simulation studies, materials science, and the archaeology of settlement and architecture.

Agency theory examines the relationship between individuals or groups when one party is doing work on behalf of another. 'Agency and Identity in the Ancient Near East' offers a theoretical study of agency and identity in Near Eastern archaeology, an area which until now has been largely ignored by archaeologists. The book explores how agency theory can be employed in reconstructing the meaning of spaces and material culture, how agency and identity intersect, and how the availability of a textual corpus may impact on the agency approach. Ranging from the Neolithic to the Islamic period, 'Agency and Identity in the Ancient Near East' covers sites located in Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and Israel. The volume includes contributions from philology, art, history, computer simulation studies, materials science, and the archaeology of settlement and architecture.

Provides a broad view of the history and current state of scholarship on the art of the ancient Near East This book covers the aesthetic traditions of Mesopotamia, Iran, Anatolia, and the Levant, from Neolithic times to the end of the Achaemenid Persian Empire around 330 BCE. It describes and examines the field from a variety of critical perspectives: across approaches and interpretive frameworks, key explanatory concepts, materials and selected media and formats, and zones of interaction. This important work also addresses both traditional and emerging categories of material, intellectual perspectives, and research priorities. The book covers geography and chronology, context and setting, medium and scale, while acknowledging the diversity of regional and cultural traditions and the uneven survival of evidence. Part One of the book considers the methodologies and approaches that the field has drawn on and refined. Part Two addresses terms and concepts critical to understanding the subjects and formal characteristics of the Near Eastern material record, including the intellectual frameworks within which monuments have been approached and interpreted. Part Three surveys the field’s most distinctive and characteristic genres, with special reference to Mesopotamian art and architecture. Part Four considers involvement with artistic traditions across a broader reach, examining connections with Egypt, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean. And finally, Part Five addresses intersections with the closely allied discipline of archaeology and the institutional stewardship of cultural heritage in the modern Middle East. Told from multiple perspectives, A Companion to Ancient Near Eastern Art is an enlightening, must-have book for advanced undergraduate and graduate students of ancient Near East art and Near East history as well as those interested in history and art history.

Selves Engraved on Stone explores the ways in which multiple aspects of identity were constructed through the material, visual, and textual characteristics of personal seals from ancient Mesopotamia and Syria in the latter half of the 2nd millennium BCE.

This volume assembles more than 30 articles focusing on the visual, material, and environmental arts of the Ancient Near East. Specific case studies range temporally from the fourth millennium up to the Hellenistic period and geographically from Iran to the eastern Mediterranean. Contributions apply innovative theoretical and methodological approaches to archaeological evidence and critically examine the historiography of the discipline itself. Not intended to be comprehensive, the volume instead captures a cross-section of the field of Ancient Near Eastern art history as its stands in the second decade of the twenty-first century. The volume will be of value to scholars working in the Ancient Near East as well as others interested in newer art historical and anthropological approaches to visual culture.

The recent years have seen an upswing in studies of women in the ancient Near East and related areas. This volume, which is the result of a Danish-Japanese collaboration, seeks to highlight women as actors within the sphere of the religious. In ancient Mesopotamia and other ancient civilizations, religious beliefs and practices permeated all aspects of society, and for this reason it is not possible to completely dissociate religion from politics, economy, or literature. Thus, the goal is to shift the perspective by highlighting the different ways in which the agency of women can be traced in the historical (and archaeological) record. This perspectival shift can be seen in studies of elite women, who actively contributed to (religious) gift-giving or participated in temple economies, or through showing the limits of elite women’s agency in relation to diplomatic marriages. Additionally, several contributions examine the roles of women as religious officials and the language, worship, or invocation of goddesses. This volume does not aim at completeness but seeks to highlight points for further research and new perspectives.

The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia is a unique blend of comprehensive overviews on archaeological, philological, linguistic, and historical issues at the forefront of Anatolian scholarship in the 21st century. Anatolia is home to early complex societies and great empires and was the destination of many migrants, visitors, and invaders. The offerings in this volume bring this reality to life as the chapters unfold nearly ten thousand years (ca. 10,000-323 BCE) of peoples, languages, and diverse cultures who lived in or traversed Anatolia over these millennia. The contributors combine descriptions of current scholarship on important discussion and debates in Anatolian studies with new and cutting edge research for future directions of study. The 54 chapters are presented in five separate sections that range in topic from chronological and geographical overviews to anthropologically-based issues of culture contact and imperial structures and from historical settings of entire millennia to crucial data from key sites across the region. The contributers to the volume represent the best scholars in the field from North America, Europe, Turkey, and Asia. The appearance of this volume offers the very latest collection of studies on the fascinating peninsula known as Anatolia.