Crawford H. (ed.) The Sumerian World

Routledge, 2013. — 659 p. — (Routledge Worlds). — ISBN 978–0–415–56967–5The Sumerian World explores the archaeology, history and art of southern Mesopotamia and its relationships with its neighbours from c.3000 to 2000 BC. Including material hitherto unpublished from recent excavations, the articles are organised thematically using evidence from archaeology, texts and the natural sciences. This broad treatment will also make the volume of interest to students looking for comparative data in allied subjects such as ancient literature and early religions.
Providing an authoritative, comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the Sumerian period written by some of the best-qualified scholars in the field, The Sumerian World will satisfy students, researchers, academics and the knowledgeable layperson wishing to understand the world of southern Mesopotamia in the third millennium.
Harriet Crawford is Reader Emerita at UCL’s Institute of Archaeology and a senior fellow at the McDonald Institute, Cambridge. She is a specialist in the archaeology of the Sumerians and has worked widely in Iraq and the Gulf. She is the author of Sumer and the Sumerians (second edition, 2004).Chronological framework for fourth millennium southern Mesopotamia.
Historical phases and kings of the third millennium BC.
Introduction (Harriet Crawford).
The Background.
Physical geography (Jennifer R. Pournelle).
Hydraulic landscapes and irrigation systems of Sumer (Tony J. Wilkinson).
Sumerian agriculture and land management (Magnus Widell).
The end of prehistory and the Uruk period (Guillermo Algaze).
The Sumerian language (Graham Cunningham).
History and chronology (Nicole Brisch).
Sumerian Society: The Material Remains.
Patterns of settlement in Sumer and Akkad (Jason Ur).
The organisation of a Sumerian town: the physical remains of ancient social systems (Elizabeth C. Stone).
Public buildings, palaces and temples (Marlies Heinz).
Kings and queens: representation and reality (Claudia E. Suter).
The Sumerian sacred marriage: texts and images (Kathleen McCaffrey).
In the service of the gods: the ministering clergy (Joan Goodnick Westenholz).
Systems of Government.
Democracy and the rule of law, the assembly and the first law code (Marc Van De Mieroop).
Administrators and scholars: the first scribes (Jon Taylor).
Calendars and counting (Tonia Sharlach).
Seals and sealings in the Sumerian World (Holly Pittman).
Life and Death.
Everyday life in Sumer (Paul Collins).
Women and agency: a survey from Late Uruk to the end of Ur III (Julia M. Asher-Greve).
A note on Sumerian fashion (Lamia al Gailani Werr).
Sumerian and Akkadian industries: crafting textiles (Rita P. Wright).
Death and burial (Helga Vogel).
Sumerian mythology (Benjamin R. Foster).
The Neighbours.
Trade in the Sumerian World (Harriet Crawford).
North Mesopotamia in the third millennium BC (Augusta McMahon).
Cultural developments in western Syria and the middle Euphrates Valley during the third millennium BC (Lisa Cooper).
Sumer, Akkad, Ebla and Anatolia (Christoph Bachhuber).
The Kingdom of Mari (Jean-Claude Margueron (translated by Harriet Crawford).
Ebla (Frances Pinnock).
The Ends of the Sumerian World.
Iran and its neighbors (C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky).
The Sumerians and the Gulf (Robert Carter).
Mesopotamia, Meluhha, and those in between (Christopher P. Thornton).
Egypt and Mesopotamia (Alice Stevenson).
Postscript.
The Mesopotamian marshlands: a personal recollection (Azzam Alwash).