PAUL ZIMANSKY

Professor (Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1980)

Curriculum vitae

Email: paul.zimansky@stonybrook.edu

Interests: Ancient Near East, Ancient Imperialism, Archaeology

My general research concerns are early empires and states of the ancient Near East, particularly how governing institutions influenced the social and economic behavior of their inhabitants. My work makes use of both cuneiform documentation and archaeological evidence. Over four decades I have investigated city forms, private houses, and domestic assemblages in Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. My dissertation and much of my subsequent research have been devoted specifically to the Iron Age kingdom of Urartu in eastern Anatolia, where I participated in excavations at Bastam, Iran (1975-78) and Ayanis, Turkey (1997-2009). Another focus has been on southern Mesopotamia in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE where I co-directed excavations with Elizabeth Stone (Stony Brook Anthropology), particularly at the celebrated southern Mesopotamian city of Ur from 2015-2019.