Nomads, Tribes, and the State in the Ancient Near East

Nomads, Tribes, and the State in the Ancient Near East PDF Author: University of Chicago. Oriental Institute
Publisher: Oriental Inst Publications Sales
ISBN: 9781885923615
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
For decades, scholars have struggled to understand the complex relationship between pastoral nomadic tribes and sedentary peoples of the Near East. The Oriental Institute's fourth annual post-doc seminar (March 7-8, 2008), Nomads, Tribes, and the State in the Ancient Near East, brought together archaeologists, historians, and anthropologists to discuss new approaches to enduring questions in the study of nomadic peoples, tribes, and states of the past: What social or political bonds link tribes and states? Could nomadic tribes exhibit elements of urbanism or social hierarchies? How can the tools of historical, archaeological, and ethnographic research be integrated to build a dynamic picture of the social landscape of the Near East? This volume presents a range of data and theoretical perspectives from a variety of regions and periods, including prehistoric Iran, ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, seventh-century Arabia, and nineteenth-century Jordan.

The Development of Pre-State Communities in the Ancient Near East

The Development of Pre-State Communities in the Ancient Near East PDF Author: Diane Bolger
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1842178377
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
This book explores the dynamics of small-scale societies in the ancient Near East by examining the ways in which particular communities functioned and interacted and by moving beyond the broad neo-evolutionary models of social change which have characterised many earlier approaches. By focusing on issues of diversity, scale, and context, it considers the ways in which economy, crafts, technology, and ritual were organised; the roles played by mortuary practices and households in the structure and development of ancient societies; and the importance of agency, identity, ethnicity, gender, community and cultural interaction for the rise of socio-economic complexity. The contributors to this volume are well-known archaeologists in the field of Near Eastern studies; all are currently engaged in fieldwork or research in Cyprus, the Levant, or Turkey. The variety and depth of the research they present here reflect the richness of the archaeological record in the 'cradle of civilisation' and convey the vibrancy of current interpretive approaches within the field of Near Eastern prehistory today.

Nomads in the Middle East

Nomads in the Middle East PDF Author:
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521816297
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description


Archaeozoology of the Near East

Archaeozoology of the Near East PDF Author: Marjan Mashkour
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 178297847X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 501

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Book Description
This two part volume brings together over 60 specialists to present 31 papers on the latest research into archaeozoology of the Near East. The papers are wide-ranging in terms of period and geographical coverage: from Palaeolithic rock shelter assemblages in Syria to Byzantine remains in Palestine and from the Caucasus to Cyprus. Papers are grouped into thematic sections examining patterns of Palaeolithic and Neolithic subsistence in northern Mesopotamia, Anatolia and the Iranian plateau; Palaeolithic to Neolithic faunal remains from Armenia; animal exploitation in Bronze Age urban sites; new evidence concerning pastoralism, nomadism and mobility; aspects of domestication and animal exploitation in the Arabian peninsula; several case studies on ritual animal deposits; and specific analyses of patterns of animal exploitation at urban sites in Turkey, Palestine and Jordan. This important collection of significant new work builds on the well-established foundation of previous ICAZ publications to present the very latest results of archaeozoological research in the prehistory of this formative region in the development of animal exploitation.

Mobile Pastoralism and the Formation of Near Eastern Civilizations

Mobile Pastoralism and the Formation of Near Eastern Civilizations PDF Author: Anne Porter
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521764432
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
This book explores the roles of mobile and sedentary members of the ancient world in ancient Mesopotamia.

Society and the Individual in Ancient Mesopotamia

Society and the Individual in Ancient Mesopotamia PDF Author: Laura Culbertson
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 1501517651
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
This book provides an overview of social life in ancient Mesopotamia, bringing together leading experts to survey key social domains of daily life as well as major non-dominant social groups. It serves as a point of entry to the current research in this field.

Near Eastern Tribal Societies During the Nineteenth Century

Near Eastern Tribal Societies During the Nineteenth Century PDF Author: Eveline van der Steen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317543475
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
This volume provides an in-depth study of tribal life in the Near East in the 19th century, exploring how tribes shaped society, economy and politics in the desert, as well as in villages and towns. Until the First World War Near Eastern society was tribally organized. Particularly in the Levant and the Arabian peninsula, where the Ottoman empire was weak, large and powerful tribes such as Anaze, Beni Sakhr and Shammar interacted and competed for control of the land, the people and the economy. The main sources for this study are travel accounts of 19th century adventurers and explorers. Their travels, on horseback, on camel or on foot opened a fascinating window on a world with an ideology that was fundamentally different from their own, often Victorian background. One chapter is dedicated to oral traditions in the region, from heroic epics to short poems, which lets the tribes and tribe members themselves speak, giving a voice to the tribal frame of mind. Evidence of tribal organization as a driving force in society can be found in documents and sometimes in the archaeological record from the Bronze Age onwards. While a straight comparison between ancient and subrecent tribal communities is fraught with difficulties and must be treated with caution, a better understanding of 19th century tribal ethics and customs provides useful insights into the history and the power relations of a more distant past. At the same time it may help us understand some of the underlying causes for the present conflicts afflicting the region.

Constituent, Confederate, and Conquered Space

Constituent, Confederate, and Conquered Space PDF Author: Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110370298
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
The Mittani empire is one of the most enigmatic political structures in Mesopotamian history. Reconstructing the emergence and the organisation of this state, whose territory encompassed Upper Mesopotamia touching the Levant and the piedmont plains of the Zagros in the East at the height of its power, is exceedingly difficult. Cuneiform specialists, archeologists and historians discuss the Mittani state with regard to modes of spatial organisation co- and preexisting in the region.

Challenging Climate Change

Challenging Climate Change PDF Author: Arne Wossink
Publisher: Sidestone Press
ISBN: 9088900310
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
Throughout history, climate change has been an important driving force behind human behaviour. This archaeological study seeks to understand the complex interrelations between that behaviour and climatic fluctuations, focussing on how climate affected the social relations between neighbouring communities of occasionally differing nature. It is argued that developments in these relations will fall within a continuum between competition on one end and cooperation on the other. The adoption of a particular strategy depends on whether that strategy is advantageous to a community in terms of the maintenance of its well-being when faced with adverse climate change. This model will be applied to northern Mesopotamia between 3000 and 1600 BC. Local palaeoclimate proxy records demonstrate that aridity increased significantly during this period. Within this geographical, chronological, and climatic framework, this study looks at changes in settlement patterns as an indication of competition among sedentary agriculturalist communities, and the development of the Amorite ethnic identity as reflecting cooperation among sedentary and more mobile pastoralist communities.

The Desert Origins of God

The Desert Origins of God PDF Author: Juan Manuel Tebes
Publisher: Special volume of Entangled Religions 12/2 (Center for Religious Studies, Ruhr-Universität Bochum)
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
This special issue publishes most of the contributions of a three-day workshop of the Käte Hamburger Kolleg "Dynamics in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe" held on July 2019 at the Center for Religious Studies, Ruhr University Bochum. It seeks to explore and contextualize the configuration of the varied desert cultic practices from the southern Levant and northern Arabia during the Late Bronze/Iron Ages that may have contributed to the emergence of the Yahwistic cult. By this it raises also crucial questions on the early history of the Israelite and Judean religions in the first millennium BCE. Recent archaeological excavations in the Negev, southern Transjordan and Hejaz and new interpretations of old epigraphic and iconographic evidence are rapidly changing the biblical-based paradigm of the interactions between the desert cults and the Iron Age Levantine religions. Cultural contacts and the entanglement of religious networks are paramount for the understanding of this early history. Recent archaeological, iconographic and epigraphic studies of the Southern Levant contribute to the question of the emergence and early development of a Yahwistic religion. The issue adopts an interdisciplinary approach, assessing textual, archaeological, as well as epigraphic and iconographic data.