The Middle East: The Cradle of Civilization

A richly illustrated history of the ancient Middle East exploring the rise of the world’s earliest civilizations through archaeology, art, and historical research.

The Middle East: The Cradle of Civilization synthesizes the latest research and information from a range of disciplines to tell the compelling story, from the Neolithic period through to the Arab conquest, of how a group of linguistically disparate, nomadic tribes responded to specific social, economic, and environmental factors to form the world’s first complex societies.

his is an authoritative, detailed, and accessible story, divided into six easily navigable parts, arranged chronologically, and then into chapters exploring the history, religion, political, and social organization, art, science, and architecture of the peoples of the region. The text is illustrated with more than 500 superb full color images―artifacts, artworks, statues, reliefs, buildings, and landscapes―as well as six detailed maps, which bring the region's dramatic past vividly to life.

510+ illustrations

Dr. Stephen Bourke is research associate at the University of Sydney. He currently directs Sydney University excavations at Pella in Jordan, and has written and contributed to over seventy archaeological publications over the last thirty-five years.