The Caucasus and Mesopotamia from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age: Beyond the Story of the Flood

Author/Contributor(s):	Marro, Catherine
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press and Assessment
Date:	01/31/2027
Binding:	Paperback
Condition:	NEW

Highland communities have seldom attracted the attention of archaeologists working in south-western Asia, perhaps because these are usually considered as backward tribes living on the margin of brilliant civilizations. Refuting this view, Catherine Marro argues that mountain societies were actively involved in the dynamics that shaped both the Caucasus and Mesopotamia from the fifth millennium bce onwards. Drawing on the research of anthropologist James Scott, she deconstructs the paradigms generally used in Near-Eastern archaeology, and emphasizes notions such as interaction, codependence or mobility to analyse the relationships between Mesopotamia and its hilly periphery. She interprets the rift that formed between Bronze Age highland societies and their Mesopotamian neighbours as an expression of highland resistance to the threats from lowland city-states that were engaged in a quest for slaves and precious metals. By marshalling the latest data produced in the field of Caucasian archaeology over the last twenty years, this book unveils the long-lasting ties linking the Caucasus to Mesopotamia that are illustrated in the Biblical story of the Flood.