In Search of Cultural Identities in West and Central Asia

How do we reconstruct ancient societies' cultural and visual identities? Prudence Oliver Harper has dedicated her scholarly and curatorial career to piecing together the material culture of communities across ancient Western Asia, Iran, and Central Asia. A number of her colleagues - art historians, archaeologists, philologists, and conservators - have contributed essays to this volume to reflect Harper's range of contributions throughout her six-decade career. Many of the essays focus on ancient metalwork, Harper's major expertise, while others on glyptics, ivory, or glass, three of her other interests. The essays aim to make sense of this region's diverse cultural identities, many of which are the results of cross-cultural exchange. Some authors have employed iconographical or socio-historical approaches; others have complementarily opened new facets of cultural identities through technical and scientific analyses, collection history, and provenance research.