The Art of Elam　ca. 4200-525 BC　offers a view of, and a critical reflection on, the art history of one of the world’s first and least-known civilizations,　illuminating a significant chapter of our human past.　

Not unlike a gallery of historical paintings, this comprehensive treatment of the rich heritage of ancient Iran　showcases a visual trail of the evolution of human society, with all its leaps and turns, from　its origins in the earliest villages of southwest Iran at around 4200 BC to the rise of the Achaemenid Persian empire in ca. 525 BC.　Richly illustrated in full colour with 1450 photographs, 190 line drawings, and digital reconstructions of　hundreds of artefacts—some of which have never before been published—The Art of Elam　goes beyond formal and thematic boundaries to　emphasize the religious, political, and social contexts in which art was created and functioned.

Such a magisterial study of Elamite art has never been written making　The Art of Elam ca. 4200-525 BC a ground-breaking publication essential to all students of ancient art and to our current understanding of the civilizations of the ancient Near East.