Elamite and Achaemenid Settlement on the Deh Luran Plain: Towns and Villages of the Early Empires in Southwestern Iran

Together with Early Settlement and Irrigation on the Deh Luran Plain, this volume reports on the findings of an extensive archeological survey conducted in 1969 in the Deh Luran region of western Iran, providing insights into the history of agriculture and animal husbandry, traffic and trade along the ancient Achaemenid road that connected Susa to Sardis in western Anatolia, and the use of the region as seasonal pasture by various tribes of what are now Iraq and Iran. The earlier volume dealt with the region's better-known prehistory, while this volume brings the findings up to Achaemenid times, covering roughly between 2550 to 325 BCE. The volume contains chapters on research design and methods, ceramic phase indicators in surface assemblages, the archaeological sites and their interpretation, early historic settlement patterns, water management from the Later Early Dynastic period to the Achaemenid period, textual documentation of the Deh Luran Plain, and general conclusions. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)