Concepts of agency and identity have penetrated very little into practices and research agendas in Near Eastern archaeology. This work discusses how agency theory can be employed in reconstructing the meaning of spaces and material culture and, how the availability of a textual corpus may impact the agency approach.

Chapter 1 Agency and Identity in the Ancient Near East, Jennifer C. Ross, Sharon R. Steadman; Part I The Agency of Place, Sharon R. Steadman, Jennifer C. Ross; Chapter 2 Movement Across the Landscape and Residential Stability, Jennifer E. Jones; Chapter 3 Agency, Architecture, and Archaeology, Sharon R. Steadman; Chapter 4 Agents in Motion, Scott Branting; Part II The Agency of Daily Practice, Sharon R. Steadman, Jennifer C. Ross; Chapter 5 Subsistence Actions at Çatalhöyük, Nerissa Russell, Amy Bogaard; Chapter 6 The Scribal Artifact, Jennifer C. Ross; Chapter 7 Shared Painting, A. Gabriela Castro Gessner; Chapter 8 Early Islamic Pottery, Jodi Magness; Part III The Agency of Power, Sharon R. Steadman, Jennifer C. Ross; Chapter 9 Material Culture and Identity, Timothy Matney; Chapter 10 Object Agency?, Marian H. Feldman; Chapter 11 Akkad and Agency, Archaeology and Annals, Anne Porter; Chapter 12 Agency, Identity, and the Hittite State, Gregory McMahon; Part IV Beyond Agency, Sharon R. Steadman, Jennifer C. Ross; Chapter 13 Beyond Agency, A. Bernard Knapp;

Sharon R. Steadman, Jennifer C. Ross