Identity, Diversity & Contact

Book excerpt: This volume presents peer-reviewed contributions based on papers first presented at the biennial International Congress 'The East' (ICE). Dedicated to the archaeology and history of a region that spans from the Southern Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean, via the Near and Middle East, the Persian Gulf, and the Caucasus, across to Central Asia, Pakistan, and Xinjiang, the ICE series encourages the publication of research that cuts across not just geographical and chronological boundaries, but also the borders that exist between disciplines. The first ICE Conference chose as its theme 'Identity, Diversity, and Contact', and the papers drawn together in this volume comprise several sub-topics, including evolution and resilience, movement, mobility, and migration, long distance and the longue duree, and cultural and economic contacts.