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.