@article{ad157571d60a4ee9adbdf37f9276ddaf,
title = "2 Assessing the Politics of Neo-Assyrian Agriculture",
abstract = "In this paper, political ecology informs a study of agriculture under the Neo-Assyrian empire. Rather than examining cultivation solely as an economy of subsistence practices, this work considers agrarian laborers, activities, and resources as participants in wider political processes of empire-building. Both material and discursive manipulations of agriculture are discussed in order to demonstrate the ways in which rulers of Neo-Assyria instituted agricultural colonization in Upper Mesopotamia for political gain. An archaeobotanical case study from the provincial capital of Tu{\v s}han is then presented to provide a closer look at the impact of these agro-politics on the people and lands in the provinces of the empire. Plant use studies from Tu{\v s}han capture the flow of power through agricultural practice, emphasize the Neo-Assyrian monarchy's rhetorical use of agriculture in strategies of imperialism, and, significantly, reveal the shortcomings of the empire's agrarian program.",
keywords = "Agriculture, Archaeobotany, Imperialism, Neo-Assyria, Political ecology",
author = "Rosenzweig, {Melissa S.}",
note = "Funding Information: I would like to thank the editors of this issue—John Millhauser, Christopher Morehart, and Santiago Juarez—for inviting me to participate in the 2013 AAA session that inspired this volume, and for giving me the opportunity to elaborate on my findings here. This piece was written while enjoying the hospitality, support, and resources of the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research in Jerusalem as a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow. The National Geographic Society (9290-13), the National Science Foundation (BCS-1039150), the American Schools of Oriental Research, and the American Research Institute in Turkey generously funded the research underpinning this article. John MacGinnis, Timothy Matney, and Jason Ur graciously supplied data and images for this paper. Christina Tenison kindly volunteered her time to produce Figure a. Thanks also go to John MacGinnis and two anonymous reviewers who read the manuscript and provided thoughtful critique and suggestions. Finally, the studies presented in this paper would not have been possible without the collaboration and dedicated work of Timothy Matney, the entire Ziyaret Tepe archaeological team, and the people of the local village of Ziyaret Tepe, Turkey. Funding Information: I would like to thank the editors of this issue—John Millhauser, Christopher Morehart, and Santiago Juarez— for inviting me to participate in the 2013 AAA session that inspired this volume, and for giving me the opportunity to elaborate on my findings here. This piece was written while enjoying the hospitality, support, and resources of the Al-bright Institute for Archaeological Research in Jerusalem as a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow. The National Geographic Society (9290-13), the National Science Foundation (BCS-1039150), the American Schools of Oriental Research, and the American Research Institute in Turkey generously funded the research underpinning this article. John MacGinnis, Timothy Matney, and Jason Ur graciously supplied data and images for this paper. Christina Tenison kindly volunteered her time to produce Figure 2.2a. Thanks also go to John MacGinnis and two anonymous reviewers who read the manuscript and provided thoughtful critique and suggestions. Finally, the studies presented in this paper would not have been possible without the collaboration and dedicated work of Timothy Matney, the entire Ziyaret Tepe archaeological team, and the people of the local village of Ziyaret Tepe, Turkey. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 by the American Anthropological Association",
year = "2018",
doi = "10.1111/apaa.12106",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "29",
pages = "30--50",
journal = "Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association",
issn = "1551-823X",
publisher = "Wiley-VCH Verlag",
number = "1",
}