#  ASOR 2009 

 



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**ASOR Annual Meeting, November 18-21, 2009, New Orleans**  
**Settlement and Society in the Ancient Near East**   
Chairs: Jesse Casana (University of Arkansas) and Jason Ur (Harvard University)   
  
*Session Abstract*: This session aims to present archaeological case studies in which settlement patterns and studies of ancient land-scapes shed light on social, economic, and political aspects of ancient Near Eastern societies. The session will encourage studies which focus on the archaeology of regions or the interaction between sites and their hinterlands. Methodologically, we envision papers drawing on field survey and remote sensing, historical geography, and assessments of excavated remains across large regions. The geographic frame will be broad as well, extending beyond the Levant and Mesopotamia to include Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, the southern Caucasus, and the Iranian plateau. We intend to seek participants who adopt an anthropological perspective and who will present their research in a manner that will facilitate comparison and discussions.

**SESSION I**

**Settlement Pattern in Uvda Valley, Southern Negev Desert**  
Uzi Avner, Ben-Gurion University & Arava Institute

**Early Holocene Climate, Erosion and the Transition from Valley Bottom to Upland Farming**   
J. Brett Hill, Hendrix College

**Tombs, Temples, Towns, Hinterlands: Explaining the Eccentricities of South Arabian Landscapes**  
Michael Harrower, Cotsen Institute, UCLA, and Joy McCorriston, The Ohio State University

**From Lagoon Coast to Foothills, an Evolution of Settlement Patterns Lighting Cultural and Economic Changes: The Case of the Province of Ja’alan (Sultanate of Oman) in the Third Millennium B.C.**   
Jessica Giraud, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, and Serge Cleuziou, University of Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne

**Site Formation at Saruq al-Hadid, Dubai and Implications for Environmental Change in Southeastern Arabia**  
Jason Herrmann, University of Arkansas

**On the Frontiers of Empire: Excavations at Oglanqala, Azerbaijan, 2008-2009**   
Lauren Ristvet, University of Pennsylvania, Veli Bax?aliyev, National Academy of Sciences, Azerbaijan, and Safar A?urov, National Academy of Sciences, Azerbaijan

**SESSION II**

**Bronze and Iron Age Agriculture in the Near East**  
Alexia Smith, University of Connecticut, and Natalie D. Munro, University of Connecticut

**Settlement Pattern Structure in the Highlands and Lowlands of Southern Mesopotamia**   
Carrie Hritz, Pennsylvania State University

**Early Urbanization along the Middle Euphrates River Valley**   
Andrea Ricci, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

**Hellenistic Settlement Patterns in the Syrian Middle Euphrates**   
Noam Rifkind, Boston University

**More is Different: Late Chalcolithic Settlement Patterns around Tell Brak, Syria**  
Eric Rupley, University of Michigan, and Henry T. Wright, University of Michigan