From Villages to Empires in Ancient Mesopotamia

The goal of the course is to provide students with a long-term perspective on the change and continuity of Mesopotamian societies between the late Epipalaeolithic and the Iron Age (ca 11000-300 BCE). Topics include fundamental themes of Near Eastern archaeology such as sedentism, animal and plant domestication, power ideology, urbanization, state formation, and social stratification, as well as key archaeological sites, material culture and technology.