The late 7th and 6th centuries B.C. were a period of tremendous upheaval and change in ancient western Asia, marked by the destruction of the Assyrian Empire, the rise and collapse of the Neo-Babylonian state, and the stunning ascent of what was to become the Achaemenid Persian Empire, the largest polity the world had yet seen. Of the major cultural entities involved in these far-reaching events, Elam has long remained the least understood. The essays contained in this book are part of a continuing reassessment of the nature and significance of Elam in the early 1st millennium B.C., with a focus on the relationship between “Elamite” culture of the Neo-Elamite period and the emerging “Persian” culture in southwestern Iran in the 7th and 6th centuries B.C. The conception of this volume goes back to the 2003 meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research that took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where two sessions were dedicated to the rich cultural heritage of ancient Iran. It was also the first time that Iranian archaeology was represented at ASOR since the Iranian Revolution. This volume contains 14 contributions by leading scholars in the discipline, organized into 3 sections: archaeology, texts, and images (art history). The volume is richly illustrated with more than 200 drawings and photographs.

This volume is a tribute to the career of Professor Mirjo Salvini on the occasion his 80th birthday, composed of 62 papers written by his colleagues and students. The majority of contributions deal with research in the fields of Urartian and Hittite Studies, the topics that attracted Prof. Salvini most during his long and fruitful career.

Primarily based on the genetic findings, backed by the archeological, historical, linguistic facts and testimonies of the ancient scholars, historians, and geographers, this work brings a fresh perspective into a stagnated view of the Turkic nations and their past. The book has an abundance of new discoveries about many historical facts and artifacts, including the Median text of the Behistun inscription, the ancient Armenians and their Phrygian language, the origins of Alexander the Great, Hercules, and Achilles, the participants of the Trojan War. The research provides an extensive analysis of the ancient Turkic alphabet in comparison to 19 other ancient scripts, and puts in full display Turkic symbols, called Tamga, detected worldwide from Gobekli Tepe to Native American artifacts, and discusses the true architects of the Kurgan culture that became a worldwide cultural phenomenon. CONTENTS: Preface. VOLUME 1. Chapter I. §1. The biblical origins of the Turkic nations. §2. The ancient Turkic nation of Az and the biblical land of Uz. §3. The biblical Tyrians and the Medes are the ancient Turks. §4. The Turkic origin of the biblical Hittites, the Kheta, the Khitai of Central Asia and China. §5. The Akkadians, the Sumerians, the Susians, the Kassites, the Caanites – the Turkic nations of biblical proportions. §6. The biblical Philistines' ties to the Turkic nations. Chapter II. §1. The Turkic pedigree of the Arian nations. §2. The Turkic origin of Odin–the god of all gods. §3. Troy, the same as Asgard–the ancient land of the Turks. §4. The Turkic nations— Az, Asir, Azeri, and Azerbaijanis. §5. The striking similarities between the Germanic and Turkic peoples. Chapter III. §1. The Tatars and the Mongols are closely related to each other Turkic nations. §2. The genetic research that established the Turkic forefather of a billion humans worldwide. Chapter IV. §1. The Medes and Media. §2. The Turkic names of the Median cities with the capital of Media–Agbatana. §3. The nations and tribes of Media. §4. The Turkic names of the Medes. §5. The Median language of Turkic origin–the analysis based on the Behistun inscription. §6. 65 grammatical pointers, attesting that Median was a Turkic language. Chapter V. §1. The Scythians and Scythian tribes. §2. The primary Scythian tribes, located in Scythia. §3. The As tribe and its derivatives. §4. The Sacai and their derivative tribes. §5. The Parthians, the Bactrians, and their subsidiary tribes. §6. The Huns. §7. The Sarmatai and the Sarmatian tribes, including the Turcae. §8. The Getai family. §9. The Celts, the Gauls, the Iberians, and the Germanic tribes. §9-1. The Celtic, the Iberian, the Kelto-Scythian tribes and nations. §9-2. The Gauls, aka the Galliae, aka the Galli. §9-3. The Germanic tribes. §10. The Thracians. VOLUME 2. §11. The Trojan nations. §11-1. The Dardanii and the Illyrian tribes. §11-2. The Teucri and their derivatives. §11-3. The Leleges and their derivatives. §11-3-1. 45 grammatical pointers, attesting that Etruscan was a Turkic language. §11-4. The Phrygians and their derivative tribes. §11-4-1. The lexico-grammatical similarities between the Phrygian and the Turkic languages. §11-4-2. 37 grammatical pointers, attesting that Phrygian was a Turkic language. §11-4-3. The Phrygian tribes: the Berecyntes, Cerbesii, Peloponnesians, Dorians, Leucadians, Lacedemonians, Armenians. §11-5. The Pelasgi and their posterity. §11-5.1. Pelasgian cities and districts. §11-5.2. Pelasgian origins of Theseus, Hercules, Achilles, and Alexander the Great. §11-5-3. Pelasgian mythology and pantheon of gods. §11-5-4. The Turkic word Tatar or Tartar, used by the Greeks, Romans, Hittites, Armenians. §11-6. The Solymi, Milyae, Termilae, Lycians, Xanthioi, Aphneii. §11-7. The Paphlagonians, Cauconians, Mariandyni, Ligues, Matienoi, Cappadocians, Heneti. §11-8. The Halizones, Chalybes, Armenochalybes, Amazones. §11-9. The Cilicians, or Hypachaeans, Tracheiotae, Pisidians, Selgeis, Sagalasseis, Clitae. §11-10. The DNA results connect the Trojans, the Scythians, the Etruscans, the Turrenians, the Pelasgians to the Turkic nations. Chapter VI. The ancient Turkic alphabet and its close similarity to the Pelasgian, Lydian, Lycian, Phrygian, Carian, Etruscan, Scythian scripts. Chapter VII. §1. The ancient Turkic tamgas. §2. The political tamgas, indicating statehood, the level of independence of a state, and its subjects. §3. The religious tamgas, indicating mystical, magical, spiritual signs. §4. The tamgas, indicating military and state attributes. §5. The tamgas, representing nature and animals. Chapter VIII. §1. The Turkic Nations in the Americas. §2. The names of the Native American Tribes that have a Turkic origin. §3. Religion and the kurgan building culture of the Native Americans. §4. The geographical names of Turkic origin in the Americas. §5. The Turkic etymology of the Mayan vocabulary. §6. The Native American words of Turkic origin. §7. The Turkic tamgas, petroglyphs and Native American artifacts.