This book is an in-depth treatment of the antecedents and first fluorescence of early state and urban societies in the alluvial lowlands of Mesopotamia over nearly three millennia. The author´s approach is explicitly anthropological. It explores the ways people of different genders and classes contributed and responded to change in political,economic and ideological realms. The interpretations are based on studies of regional settlement patterns, fauna remains, artifact distributions and activity patterning, iconography, texts, and burials.