Finding Antiquity, Making the Modern Middle East

"Through a series of archaeological case studies, this book explores how the notion of the ancient Middle-Eastern past was established and contested in the 19th and early 20th centuries. On the one hand, Western empires fought for influence and control over Middle Eastern civilisation, empire and monuments, while, on the other, local powers in the Middle East worked with and against the idea of their own region's antiquity. The contributors draw on a range of interdisciplinary perspectives and approaches, such as postcolonial studies, heritage studies and international relations, covering geographic regions such as Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Iran and Algeria"--