Daniel Potts: Kith and Kin, Tribe, and State in Ancient Iran
The 2020 Biennial Ehsan Yarshater Lecture Series honored guest lecturer is Professor Daniel Potts.
The 2020 Yarshater Lecture Series will be held in the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA in Fowler A222. The lectures will take place at 4:00pm on March 2, 4, 6, 9, and 11, 2020.
Overview
Kinship and the organization of family structure, both conceptually and corporeally, is a cornerstone of all societies. When studying ancient worlds, however, a nuanced understanding of kith and kinship practices can easily escape the modern scholar. Archaeological indication of kinship patterns is oftentimes either absent from an excavation, or, when such evidence does exist, is difficult to interpret. Textual evidence may proliferate from many ancient societies, but the tasks of deciphering and reconstructing the minutiae of family and community connections can be equally challenging. Such is the situation in ancient Iran. This series of lectures will investigate both archaeological and philological evidence for kith and kinship ties in a longue durée study on ancient Persia.
Lectures
- Monday, March 2: Money is to the West, What Kinship is to the Rest
- Wednesday, March 4: Aspects of Kinship in Iranian Prehistory
- Friday, March 6: Problems in the Study of Elamite Kinship
- Monday, March 9: Descent and Marriage in Achaemenid Iran
- Wednesday, March 11: Feudalism and its Characteristics in Ancient Iran
Event Videos
Daniel T. Potts, New York University
Daniel T. Potts, New York University
Daniel T. Potts, New York University
Daniel T. Potts, New York University
Daniel T. Potts, New York University
About the Speaker
Daniel T. Potts
New York University
Daniel T. Potts is Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and History at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University. A member of the Harvard team that excavated Tepe Yahya in the 1970s, and co-director of the Iranian-Australian team at Tol-e Nurabad, Tol-e Spid, and Qaleh Kali (2003–2010), he has worked on many aspects of Iranian archaeology and history, from prehistory to the Qajar era.