Bleda S. Düring – författare

Throughout history, a large portion of the world's population has lived under imperial rule. Although scholars do not always agree on when and where the roots of imperialism lie, most would agree that imperial configurations have affected human history so profoundly that the legacy of ancient empires continues to structure the modern world in many ways. Empires are best described as heterogeneous and dynamic patchworks of imperial configurations in which imperial power was the outcome of the complex interaction between evolving colonial structures and various types of agents in highly contingent relationships. The goal of this volume is to harness the work of the "next generation" of empire scholars in order to foster new theoretical and methodological perspectives that are of relevance within and beyond archaeology and to foreground empires as a cross-cultural category. This book demonstrates how archaeological research can contribute to our conceptualization of empires across disciplinary boundaries.

The Assyrian Empire was the first state to achieve durable domination of the Ancient Near East, enduring some seven centuries and, eventually, controlling most of the region. Yet, we know little about how this empire emerged from a relatively minor polity in the Tigris region and how it managed to consolidate its power over conquered territories. Textual sources, often biased, provide a relatively limited source of information. In this study, Bleda S. Düring examines the rich archaeological data of the early Assyrian Empire that have been obtained over the past decades, together with the textual evidence. The archaeological data enable us to reconstruct the remarkably heterogeneous and dynamic impact of the Assyrian Empire on dominated territories. They also facilitate the reconstruction of the various ways in which people participated in this empire, and what might have motivated them to do so. Finally, Düring''s study shows how imperial repertoires first developed in the Middle Assyrian period were central to the success of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

The Assyrian Empire was the first state to achieve durable domination of the Ancient Near East, enduring some seven centuries and, eventually, controlling most of the region. Yet, we know little about how this empire emerged from a relatively minor polity in the Tigris region and how it managed to consolidate its power over conquered territories. Textual sources, often biased, provide a relatively limited source of information. In this study, Bleda S. Düring examines the rich archaeological data of the early Assyrian Empire that have been obtained over the past decades, together with the textual evidence. The archaeological data enable us to reconstruct the remarkably heterogeneous and dynamic impact of the Assyrian Empire on dominated territories. They also facilitate the reconstruction of the various ways in which people participated in this empire, and what might have motivated them to do so. Finally, Düring''s study shows how imperial repertoires first developed in the Middle Assyrian period were central to the success of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Turkey’s northern edge is a region of contrasts and diversity. From the rugged peaks of the Pontic mountains and hidden inland valleys to the plains and rocky alcoves of the Black Sea coast, this landscape shaped and was shaped by its inhabitants’ ways of life, their local cultural traditions, and the ebbs and flows of land-based and maritime networks of interaction. Between 2009 and 2011, an international team of specialists and students of the Cide Archaeological Project (CAP) investigated the challenging landscapes of the Cide and Şenpazar districts of Kastamonu province. CAP presents the first systematic archaeological survey of the western Turkish Black Sea region. The information gathered by the project extends its known human history by 10,000 years and offers an unprecedented insight into the region’s shifting cultural, social and political ties with Anatolia and the Circumpontic. This volume presents the project’s approach and methodologies, its results and their interpretation within period-specific contexts and through a long-term landscape perspective.