Interest and fascination in Achaemenid Persia has burgeoned in recent years. It is time for a major new appraisal of the glorious civilization founded by Cyrus the Great and continued by his successors, the Great Kings Darius I, Xerxes and Artaxerxes I. This volume offers precisely that: a sustained and comprehensive overview of the field of Achaemenid studies by leading scholars and experts. It discusses all aspects of Achaemenid history and archaeology between 550 BCE and 330 BCE, and embraces the whole vast territory of the Persian Empire from North Africa to India and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf. Topics covered in this title include aspects of Achaemenid religion, administration, material culture, ethnicity, gender and the survival of Achaemenid traditions. The publication of the book is an event: it represents a watershed not only in better appreciation and understanding of the rich and complex cultural heritage established by Cyrus, but also of the lasting significance of the Achaemenid kings and the impact that their remarkable civilization has had on wider Persian and Middle Eastern history.

Interest and fascination in Achaemenid Persia has burgeoned in recent years. It is time for a major new appraisal of the glorious civilization founded by Cyrus the Great and continued by his successors, the Great Kings Darius I, Xerxes and Artaxerxes I. This volume offers precisely that: a sustained and comprehensive overview of the field of Achaemenid studies by leading scholars and experts. It discusses all aspects of Achaemenid history and archaeology between 550 BCE and 330 BCE, and embraces the whole vast territory of the Persian Empire from North Africa to India and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf. Topics covered in this title include aspects of Achaemenid religion, administration, material culture, ethnicity, gender and the survival of Achaemenid traditions. The publication of the book is an event: it represents a watershed not only in better appreciation and understanding of the rich and complex cultural heritage established by Cyrus, but also of the lasting significance of the Achaemenid kings and the impact that their remarkable civilization has had on wider Persian and Middle Eastern history. First published by I.B.Tauris in association with the Iran Heritage Foundation

CONTENTS: Abdol Rauh Yaccob, British policy on Arabia before the First World War: an internal argument; Adrian G. Parker &. Jeffrey I. Rose, Climate change and human origins in southern Arabia; Alexandrine Guerin & Faysal Abdallah al-Na'imi, Nineteenth century settlement patterns at Zekrit, Qatar: pottery, tribes and territory; Anthony E. Marks, Into Arabia, perhaps, but if so, from where?; Audrey Peli, A history of the Ziyadids through their coinage (203- 442/818-1050); Aurelie Daems & An De Waele, Some reflections on human-animal burials from pre-Islamic south-east Arabia (poster); Brian Ulrich, The Azd migrations reconsidered: narratives of 'Amr Muzayqiya and Malik b. Fahm in historiographic context; Christian Darles, Derniers resultats, nouvelles datations et nouvelles donnees sur les fortifications de Shabwa (Hadramawt); Eivind Heldaas Seland, The Indian ships at Moscha and the Indo-Arabian trading circuit; Fabio Cavulli & Simona Scaruffi, Stone vessels from KHB-1, Ja'lan region, Sultanate of Oman (poster); Francesco G. Fedele, Wadi al-Tayyilah 3, a Neolithic and Pre-Neolithic occupation on the eastern Yemen Plateau, and its archaeofaunal information; Ghanim Wahida, Walid Yasin al-Tikriti & Mark Beech, Barakah: a Middle Palaeolithic site in Abu Dhabi Emirate; Jeffrey I. Rose & Geoff N. Bailey, Defining the Palaeolithic of Arabia? Notes on the Roundtable Discussion; Jeffrey I. Rose, Introduction: special session to define the Palaeolithic of Arabia; Julie Scott-Jackson, William Scott-Jackson, Jeffrey Rose & Sabah Jasim, Investigating Upper Pleistocene stone tools from Sharjah, UAE: Interim report; Krista Lewis & Lamya Khalidi, From prehistoric landscapes to urban sprawl: the Masn'at Maryah region of highland Yemen; Michael J. Harrower, Mapping and dating incipient irrigation in Wadi Sana, Hadramawt (Yemen); Mikhail Rodionov, The jinn in Hadramawt society in the last century; Mohammed A.R. al-Thenayian, The Red Sea Tihami coastal ports in Saudi Arabia; Mohammed Maraqten, Women's inscriptions recently discovered by the AFSM at the Awam temple/Mahram Bilqis in Marib, Yemen; Nasser Said al-Jahwari & Derek Kennet, A field methodology for the quantification of ancient settlement in an Arabian context; Remy Crassard, The "Wa'shah method": an original laminar debitage from Hadramawt, Yemen; Saad bin Abdulaziz al-Rashid, Sadd al-Khanaq: an early Umayyad dam near Medina, Saudi Arabia; Ueli Brunner, Ancient irrigation in Wadi Jirdan; Vincent Charpentier & Sophie Mery, A Neolithic settlement near the Strait of Hormuz: Akab Island, United Arab Emirates; Vincent Charpentier, Hunter-gatherers of the "empty quarter of the early Holocene" to the last Neolithic societies: chronology of the late prehistory of south-eastern Arabia (8000-3100 BC); Yahya Asiri, Relative clauses in the dialect of Rijal Alma' (south-west Saudi Arabia); Yosef Tobi, Salom (Salim) al-Sabazi's (seventeenth-century) poem of the debate between coffee and qat; Zaydoon Zaid & Mohammed Maraqten, The Peristyle Hall: remarks on the history of construction based on recent archaeological and epigraphic evidence of the AFSM expedition to the Awam temple in Marib, Yemen

This volume forms the second of four projected volumes on the results of the British excavations carried out at seven sites between September 1985 and June 1986 in the Zammar Region of the Eski Mosul Dam Salvage Project. The first volume, dealing with the first six excavated sites, has already appeared. The third volume, on the pottery, and the fourth, covering the small finds and specialist studies, are in preparation. This volume deals with the single site of Tell Abu Dhahir, treated at greater length because it was excavated more extensively, with most periods represented by significant remains. The early modern remains are of particular importance, for the village was abandoned in modern times, allowing more through excavation.

Contents: 1) Coastal prehistory in the southern Red Sea Basin, underwater archaeology, and the Farasan Islands (Geoff Bailey, Abdullah AlSharekh, Nic Flemming, Kurt Lambeck, Garry Momber, Anthony Sinclair & Claudio Vita-Finzi); 2) Chronologie et evolution de l'architecture a Makaynun: la formation d'un centre urbain a l'epoque sudarabique dans le Hadramawt (A. Benoist, O. Lavigne, M. Mouton & J. Schiettecatte); 3) A preliminary study on the materials employed in ancient Yemeni mummification and burial practices (summary) (Stephen A. Buckley, Joann Fletcher, Khalid Al-Thour, Mohammed Basalama & Don R. Brothwell); 4) From Safer to Balhaf: rescue excavations along the Yemen LNG pipeline route (Remy Crassard & Holger Hitgen); 5) Pastoral nomadic communities of the Holocene climatic optimum: excavation and research at Kharimat Khor al-Manahil and Khor al-Manahil in the Rub al-Khali, Abu Dhabi (Richard Cuttler, Mark Beech, Heiko Kallweit, Anja Zander & Walid Yasin Al-Tikriti); 6) Flip the coin. Preliminary results of compositional EDX analyses on south-east Arabian coins from ed-Dur (Umm al-Qaiwain, UAE) (Parsival Delrue); 7) Spreading the Neolithic over the Arabian Peninsula (Philipp Drechsler); 8) Water and waste in mediaeval Zabid, Yemen (Ingrid Hehmeyer); 9) Tribal links between the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle Euphrates at the beginning of the second millennium BC (Christine Kepinski); 10) Rare photographs from the 1930s and 1940s by Yihye Haybi, a Yemenite Jew from Sana: historical reality and ethnographic deductions (Ester Muchawsky-Schnapper); 11) Stargazing in traditional water management: a case study in northern Oman (Harriet Nash); 12) Al Qisha: archaeological investigations at an Islamic period Yemeni village (Audrey Peli & Florian Tereygeol, Al-Radrad (al-Jabali): a Yemeni silver mine, first results of the French mission (2006) (Lynne S. Newton); 13) A biographical sketch of Britain's first Sabaeologist: Colonel W.F. Prideaux, CSI (Carl Phillips & St J. Simpson); 14) The Arabian Corridor Migration Model: archaeological evidence for hominin dispersals into Oman during the Middle and Upper Pleistocene (Jeffrey Rose); 15) Ceramic production in mediaeval Yemen: the Yadgat kiln site (Axelle Rougeulle); 16) The word slm/snm and some words for "statue, idol" in Arabian and other Semitic languages (Fiorella Scagliarini); 16) "Transformation processes in oasis settlements in Oman" 2005 archaeological survey at the oasis of Nizwa: a preliminary report (Juergen Schreiber); 17) Middle Palaeolithic - or what? New sites in Sharjah, UAE (Julie Scott-Jackson, William Scott-Jackson & Sabah Jasim); 18) Rites and funerary practices at Rawk during the fourth millennium BC (Wadi 'Idim, Yemen) (T. Steimer-Herbet, J-F. Saliege, T. Sagory, O. Lavigne & A. as-Saqqaf, in collaboration with M. Mashkour & H. Guy); 19) The sources on the Fitna of Masud b. Amr al-Azdi and their uses for Basran tribal history (Brian Ulrich); 20) The beads of ed-Dur (Umm al-Qaiwain, UAE) (An De Waele); 21) Aspects of recent archaeological work at al-Balid (Iafar), Sultanate of Oman (Juris Zarins); 22) Towards a new theory: the state of Bani Mahdi, the fourth imamate in Yemen (Ahmad b. Umar al-Zaylai).

Stone containers have been made and used in the Middle East for over eleven millennia where they pre-dated the invention of pottery and were widely traded. The appearance or properties of the stone helped govern how stone vessels were valued or used and many classes were strictly utilitarian, being used for storage, cooking or lighting. Others were decorated and at times they were considered valuable exotica, particularly in regions far removed from their source areas. The subject of stone vessels is attracting growing attention but this is the first attempt to bring together different approaches to the study of softstone vessels, particularly but not exclusively those carved from varieties of chlorite, and covering all periods from prehistory to the present.