This volume presents the results of three seasons of excavations at
Chogha Bonut, Lowland Susiana, in the modern-day province of Khuzestan,
southwestern Iran. Susiana was a major contributor to the cultural
development of the ancient Near East and, thanks to more than a century
of archaeological investigation, it is also the best known region in the
entire area. Excavations at numerous sites, but primarily at Susa and
Chogha Mish in Susiana, have provided a long sequence of archaeological
phases that span some 8,000 years, from early prehistoric times to the
early Islamic period. The initial phases of the colonization of Susiana
by early farmers, however, remained unknown until a series of
excavations at Chogha Bonut pushed the earliest period of occupation of
Susiana to the aceramic phase, ca. 7200 BC. The results of these
excavations add to the already rich picture of cultural development in
the region, the initial chapter of human adaptation in the early phases
of village life in the Near East.