Daniel Potts is a NY University Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and History and a prolific author of articles and studies on Mesopotamia in the broad sense of the word, thus also the region called ‘Elam’ or ‘Anshan’. It’s what nowadays is the Southwest of Iran, with a mixed geography of lowlands and highlands (particularly the Zagros mountains and the western part of the Iranian plateau). Potts shows how the history of this region was very interconnected with that of Mesopotamia, at least beginning from the 4th millennium BCE. His focus is on archaeological finds and written material, all very meticulously looked at, often quite in detail. In a way this is a great synthesis, but the level of detail is such that this is not for the average reader. Given the date of publication, 1999, this could also be a bit outdated, but – given the international isolation of Iran since 1979 – very few new material has been excavated, so this still could be a good state of affairs. More in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6030643742. ( )