Problems in the Study of Elamite Kinship

Problems in the Study of Elamite Kinship

Recorded: March 6, 2020
Event: The Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series

by Daniel Potts (New York University)

Problems in the Study of Elamite Kinship

The third lecture relies largely on evidence from Susa, first considering the nature of the site’s population and then turning to filiation, descent, and the difference between classificatory and descriptive kinship terminology; the evidence of patronymics and propatronymics; descent and succession to high office; the avunculate and the significance of the ‘sister’s son;’ matrilinearity; and the levirate.

About the Speaker

Daniel Potts is Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and History in the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) at New York University. He received his AB (1975) and PhD (1980) in Anthropology from Harvard University, specializing in Near Eastern archaeology. He taught previously at the Freie Universität Berlin (1981-86), the University of Copenhagen (1980-81, 1986-1991) and the University of Sydney (1991-2012), where he held the Edwin Cuthbert Hall Chair of Middle Eastern Archaeology. His main areas of interest are greater Iran, Mesopotamia, and the Persian Gulf, and as a field archaeologist he has conducted numerous excavations, among others in Iran and Turkey. He is a Corresponding Member of the German Archaeological Institute and ISMEO (Associazione Internazionale di Studi sul Mediterraneo e l’Oriente), and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.