New Research on the Emergence of States in Mesopotamia

Henry Wright

Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan & Curator of Near Eastern Archaeology, Museum of Anthropology

Dr Wright has spent a number of years doing fieldwork in the mountains and lowlands of Southern Iran studying the development of the first state administrations and urban economies between 4500 B.C.and 2500 B.C, and in Madagascar working with paleoecologists on research concerning Madagascar’s unusual ecosystems. Wright continues research today on Early Mesopotamia, in Turkey and Syria . He is affiliated with the Santa Fe Institute for the study of complex systems, is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and is a MacArthur fellow.