PREFACE

This volume is the result of a two-day seminar held at the Oriental Institute at the University of chicago on March 7-8, 2008. it was an honor and a pleasure to organize the seminar as a postdoctoral fellow at the Oriental Institute, which has been associated with decades of groundbreaking research on Near eastern tribes and nomads. One might draw a direct line from the Braidwood’s work on pastoral and agricultural communities along the “hilly flanks” of the Fertile Crescent, to Michael Rowton’s famous papers on enclosed nomadism and dimorphic chiefdoms, to Robert McC. Adams’ work on the Mesopotamian frontier, to that of six of the contributors to this volume who hold Ph. D.s from the University of Chicago. All that work played a part in revolutionizing the way we understand the role of nomads and tribe-state interaction in Near Eastern history. I hope that this volume marks a further step forward along a research path that the Oriental Institute has been instrumental in paving.

I am grateful for the enthusiasm and dedication with which all of the participants approached the conference and am thankful for the help of Steve Camp, Chris Woods, Seth Richardson, McGuire Gibson, Adam T. Smith, David Schloen, and the entire faculty and staff of the Oriental Institute, who were more than welcoming, and graciously offered practical and intellectual support that contributed to shaping this volume. Mariana Perlinac and Kaye Oberhausen provided vital help organizing the seminar and keeping me sane throughout. Thomas Urban, Leslie Schramer, and Katie L. Johnson guided me through the publication process with patience and humor. I am especially grateful to Gil Stein, whose interest, encouragement, and input have been enormously constructive.

Finally, Sonya Edelman has been more supportive, helpful, patient, and inspiring than she knows.

Seminar Participants, from left to right. Front row: Jeffrey Szuchman, Bertille Lyonnet, Daniel Fleming, Anne Porter, Anatoly Khazanov, Robert Ritner, Thomas Barfield.

Back row: frank Hole, steven rosen, Eveline van der steen, Hans Barnard, Benjamin saidel, Thomas Levy, David schloen.