The history of the Ancient Near East covers a huge chronological frame, from the first pictographic texts of the late 4th millennium to the conquest of Alexander the Great in 333 BC. During these millennia, different societies developed in a changing landscape where sheep (and their wool) always played an important economic role. The 22 papers presented here explore the place of wool in the ancient economy of the region, where large-scale textile production began during the second half of the 3rd millennium. By placing emphasis on the development of multi-disciplinary methodologies, experimentation and use of archaeological evidence combined with ancient textual sources, the wide-ranging contributions explore a number of key themes. These include: the first uses of wool in textile manufacture and organization of weaving; trade and exchange; the role of wool in institutionalized economies; and the reconstruction of the processes that led to this first form of industry in Antiquity. The numerous archaeological and written sources provide an enormous amount of data on wool, textile crafts, and clothing and these inter-disciplinary studies are beginning to present a comprehensive picture of the economic and cultural impact of woollen textiles and textile manufacturing on formative ancient societies.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword and Acknowledgements
• Wool Economy in the Ancient Near East and the Aegean
• Chapter 1: Bronze and Iron Age Wools in Europe
• Chapter 2: The Expansion of Sheep Herding and the Development of Wool Production in the Ancient Near East: An Archaeozoological and Iconographical Approach
• Chapter 3: Sheep, Wool and Textile Production. An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Complexity of Wool Working
• Chapter 4: The Archaeology of Wool in Early Mesopotamia: Sources, Methods, Perspectives
• Chapter 5: Lambs of the Gods. The Beginnings of the Wool Economy in Proto-Cuneiform Texts
• Chapter 6: The Value of Wool in Early Bronze Age Mesopotamia. On the Control of Sheep and the Handling of Wool in the Presargonic to the Ur III Periods (c. 2400 to 2000 BC)
• Chapter 7: Wool in the Economy of Sargonic Mesopotamia
• Chapter 8: From Weighing Wool to Weaving Tools. Textile Manufacture at Ebla during the Early Syrian Period in the Light of Archaeological Evidence
• Chapter 9: Some Aspects of the Wool Economy at Ebla (Syria, 24th Century BC)
• Chapter 10: Making Textiles at Arslantepe, Turkey, in the 4th and 3rd Millennia BC. Archaeological Data and Experimental Archaeology
• Chapter 11: Wool Economy in the Royal Archive of Mari during the Šakkanakku Period
• Chapter 12: All Wool and a Yard Wide. Wool Production and Trade in Old Babylonian Sippar
• Chapter 13: Wool Trade in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria According to Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian Texts
• Chapter 14: Wool in Anatolia in the Old Assyrian Period
• Chapter 15: Wool Economy in Minoan Crete before Linear B. A Minimalist Position
• Chapter 16: Wool in the Nuzi Texts
• Chapter 17: Wool Production and Economy at Ugarit
• Chapter 18: Sheep Rearing, Wool Production and Management in Mycenaean Written Documents
• Chapter 19: Mycenaean Wool Economies in the Latter Part of the 2nd Millennium BC Aegean
• Chapter 20: Wool, Hair and Textiles in Assyria
• Chapter 21: “If you have a sheep, you have all you need”. Sheep Husbandry and Wool in the Economy of the Neo-Babylonian Ebabbar Temple at Sippar
• Chapter 22: Fabrics and Clothes from Mesopotamia during the Achaemenid and Seleucid Periods: The Textual References