Correlates of Complexity is a tribute to Diederik J.W. Meijer as a scholar, archaeologist, and friend, by an international group of scholars from Britain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Syria, Turkey, and the USA, on the occasion of his 65th birthday.
The contributions range from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, with articles on cylinder seals, architecture, nomadism, art, Old Assyrian and Ugaritic texts, economic and cultural history, and include case studies from Armenia, Greece, Turkey, Syria, and Palestine.
A general aspect, reflected in several papers, concerns the rise and articulation of complex societies in the ancient Near East, a topic which has been at the centre of Meijer’s research interests throughout his career. Another prominent aspect addressed in this volume is the modern relevance of the ancient Near East. Several papers deal with the social reworking of data on the ancient Near East, its relevance for modern economic theory, and heritage management.
Authors: Peter M.M.G. Akkermans, Merel Brüning, Akemi Kaneda, John Bintliff , Dominique Collon, Ben Claasz Coockson, Theo De Feyter, Jan Gerrit Dercksen, Bleda S. Düring, Jesper Eidem, Uwe and Brigitte Finkbeiner, Gerrit van der Kooij, Hartmut Kühne, Michel Al-Maqdissi, Eva Ishaq, Paolo Matthiae, Joan Oates, Ferhan Sakal, Wilfred H. van Soldt, Folkert van Straten, Klaas R. Veenhof, David Warburton, and Arne Wossink.
Researchers and students of the ancient Near East will find much of interest in the collection of essays by an international group of both junior and established scholars.