Meant as a homage to the memory of Robert McCormick Adams and born out of a conference organized at the University of Bologna to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of his book (1966), the volume brings together contributions by scholars tackling ancient urbanism from different regions and theoretical perspectives aiming at providing elements that could enhance cross-cultural dialogue and cross-fertilization between various theoretical and methodological approaches. The book opens with a theoretical contribution to notions such as cooperation, collective action, and social networks, followed by an essay providing a view of Teotihuacan urbanism based on a new understanding of its corpus of mural paintings. As for the near eastern side, the outreach of the Late Uruk culture outside southern Mesopotamia is evaluated vis-a-vis the emergence of Late Chalcolithic elites tackled through an analysis of large-scale resources distribution networks. The implications of surface surveys for studying early Syro-Mesopotamian urbanism are discussed in the framework of two newly designed field projects, while the specific subject of water management is reviewed through a study case in Central Asia. Finally, Adams’ contributions between 2000 and 2012 are set into perspective and the volume closes with a complete bibliography of Robert McCormick Adams, highlighting his amazing contribution to many research areas and especially to the study of ancient urbanized landscapes.weiterlesen