Plants and Humans in the Ancient Near East: Roots of Multispecies Connections

The volume explores the multifaceted relationships between humans and plants in the ancient Near East through an interdisciplinary dialogue between archaeology, Assyriology, archaeobotany, paleoecology, history of religions, art history, and Environmental Humanities. Moving beyond anthropocentric perspectives that reduce plants to passive resources, the volume investigates vegetal agency and the active role of plants in shaping landscapes, symbolic systems, ritual practices, social identities, and artistic representations.