Time table

Week-by-Week Summary

I.          INTRODUCTION

EARLY FARMERS AND VILLAGERS - THE NEOLITHIC

AND CHALCOLITHIC PERIODS

1. 9^th January 2012:          Introduction: course organization and objectives

Geography, environment, and social elements of the ancient    Near East

Early villages in the ‘fertile crescent'

2.      16^th January 2012:        Neolithic life in Anatolia

                                    The Neolithic of Iran

3.      23^rd January 2012:        Neolithic and Chalcolithic societies in the Levant

Early settlements in Mesopotamia

II.         CITIES, STATES, AND EARLY EMPIRES - THE BRONZE AGE

1. 30^st January 2012:        The ‘rise of civilization' in Mesopotamia

The Sumerians and their contemporaries

1. 6^th February 2012:        Early empires and states

Bronze Age civilizations in the Levant

13^th - 17^th February 2012 READING WEEK

1. 20^th February 2012:      British Museum visit

1. 27^th February 2012:      The Middle and Late Bronze Age in Mesopotamia and beyond

The Hittites of Anatolia

1. 5^th March 2012:           The end of the Bronze Age in the Near East

Current field projects and research in the Near East

III.       EMPIRES IN CONFLICT - THE IRON AGE

1. 12^th March 2012:         Assyria 1 - the early empire

Assyria 2 - the late empire

1. 19^th March 2012:         Anatolia and the Levant in the Iron Age

                                    Iron Age Iran and beyond - the Achaemenid empire

Lecturers:

All lectures will be by Dr. Mark Altaweel