Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2423802 in Books
• Published on: 1989-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 478 pages

Customer Reviews

Upon This Foundation - The Ubaid Reconsidered
This collection of papers is probably the best single source for an up to date overview of the Ubaid Period of early Mesopotamia. When one considers that in some ways the earliest periods of Mesopotamian Culture are not typically a best seller it's understandable that this book should garner such excitement. The recent Gulf War has had a severe impact on research in the region and hopefully we will see more significant papers published, however outside of Michael Roaf's landmark Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia this collection rates as a good cross-over book. It is written by scholars doing active research but the writing style is not the typical site report. Also, each paper is followed up by a question and answer interview with the author conducted by a panel of experts. If you're doing research on the Ubaid Period this tome is a must read. Although one of the papers is in French, the interview with the author is in English. i recommend this book to anyone interested in ancient near east studies or comparative research of the temporal frameswork involved in the articles. For the professional researcher/scholar the names of the authors are very well known, and for the novice this book sets a good begininning of your journey through ancient Mesopotamia. The bibliography itself is a testament to the experience and qualifications of the authors which is also quite handy for additional research information on specific sites. The articles range from the brief non-illustrated type to the profusely illustrated site report from Michael Roaf's work at Tell Madhhur.