Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of plates
- List of tables
- Preface and acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Note on transliteration and dating systems
- 1 Elam: what, when, where?
- 2 Environment, climate and resources
- 3 The immediate precursors of Elam
- 4 Elam and Awan
- 5 The dynasty of Shimashki
- 6 The grand regents of Elam and Susa
- 7 The kingdom of Susa and Anshan
- 8 The Neo-Elamite period
- 9 Elam in the Achaemenid empire
- 10 Elymais
- 11 Elam under the Sasanians and beyond
- 12 Conclusion
- References
- Index
12 - Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of plates
- List of tables
- Preface and acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Note on transliteration and dating systems
- 1 Elam: what, when, where?
- 2 Environment, climate and resources
- 3 The immediate precursors of Elam
- 4 Elam and Awan
- 5 The dynasty of Shimashki
- 6 The grand regents of Elam and Susa
- 7 The kingdom of Susa and Anshan
- 8 The Neo-Elamite period
- 9 Elam in the Achaemenid empire
- 10 Elymais
- 11 Elam under the Sasanians and beyond
- 12 Conclusion
- References
- Index
Summary
The history and archaeology of Elam are marked by the intermittent reconfiguration of the entity which we call by that name. Although continuities can be observed, there is as much if not more evidence of transformation and disjuncture. This chapter considers the archaeological and historical trajectory of Elam in the light of discussions in the field of history which have emphasized both long-term continuities and short-term cycles. It also looks at the problem of centre and periphery within Elam, between Elam and her neighbours, and in the study of Elam vis-à-vis Mesopotamia in modern scholarship. The topic of ethnogenesis, introduced at the beginning of this study, is again broached, while the question is asked, whether the foregoing study should be classified as history or archaeology? Finally, some suggestions are made which might impact on the enhancement of Elamite studies, and topics for further work are touched upon.
Beginning with the first references to Elam in the written record of the mid-third millennium BC, we have surveyed between three and four thousand years of Elamite history and archaeology. Along the way, a host of detailed issues have been explored. Many of the more salient points have been brought together in the summary tables provided in Chapters 3 through 11, and these should serve the reader as a ready reference to the main features of Elamite archaeology and history.
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- Information
- The Archaeology of ElamFormation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State, pp. 434 - 444Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999