Routledge Agency and Identity in the Ancient Near East: New Paths Forward (Approaches to Anthropological Archaeology)

Product Description 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. About the Author Sharon R. Steadman is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at SUNY Cortland and Director of the Brooks Museum at the college. She is the author of numerous articles on ceramics, architecture, and interregional interaction analysis studies in Anatolia, and is currently writing a book on The Archaeology of Religion and is co-editor of the Handbook on Anatolian Studies to be published at Oxford University Press. She is the Field Director of the A adur Hoyuk excavations on the north central Anatolian plateau, and has worked in Turkey since 1989, and in the Middle East since 1983. Jennifer C. Ross is an Associate Professor of Art and Archaeology at Hood College. She is an Assistant Director of the A adur Hoyuk excavations in Turkey, and has published articles on topics ranging from ideology and representation in Mesopotamia to metallurgical technologies in the Near East. Her current research is on the intersection of technology with social transformation at the dawn of urbanism in Mesopotamia.