Potts D.T. The Archaeology of Elam. Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. – 522 p. – (Cambridge World Archaeology).
ISBN: 0-511-03831-3 eBook (Adobe Reader)
ISBN: 0-521-56358-5 hardback
ISBN: 0-521-56496-4 paperbackFrom the middle of the third millennium BC until the coming of Cyrus the Great, southwestern Iran was referred to in Mesopotamian sources as the land of Elam. A heterogenous collection of regions, Elam was home to a variety of groups, alternately the object of Mesopotamian aggression, and aggressors themselves; an ethnic group seemingly swallowed up by the vast Achaemenid Persian empire, yet a force strong enough to attack Babylonia in the last centuries BC. The Elamite language is attested as late as the Medieval era, and the name Elam as late as 1300 in the records of the Nestorian church. This book examines the formation and transformation of Elam’s many identities through both archaeological and written evidence, and brings to life one of the most important regions of Western Asia, re-evaluates its significance, and places it in the context of the most recent archaeological and historical scholarship.List of platesPreface and acknowledgementsNote on transliteration and dating systemsElam: what, when, where?
Environment, climate and resources
The immediate precursors of Elam
Elam and Awan
The dynasty of Shimashki
The grand regents of Elam and Susa
The kingdom of Susa and Anshan
The Neo-Elamite period
Elam in the Achaemenid empire
Elymais
Elam under the Sasanians and beyond