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I. General information [German version] A. Definition The term colonization is used to refer to several waves of settlement movements in the area around the Mediterranean in the period from the 11th cent. BC up to the Roman imperial era, which significantly alter the settlement geography of the Mediterranean world and have a decisive and lasting effect on the course of ancient history. In general the term colonization is not used to refer to the immigration in the 3rd and 2nd millenia of Indo-European …

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt Crafts in Egypt, in Syria-Palestine and in Mesopotamia can be best categorized by the materials employed: stone, bone and other animal products, clay and glass, metals, wood, wool and flax and leather, as well as reed and plant fibres. These were used to make objects of the most varied kinds, from cooking-pots to finely worked pieces of jewellery. For the building trade, stone, clay, reed and wood were important. For the investigation of the various forms of…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient (Egypt, South-West Asia, India) Archaeologically attested since the Neolithic and documented since the 3rd millennium BC, long-distance or overland commerce -- as opposed to exchange and allocation of goods on a local level according to daily needs -- was founded on the necessity for ensuring the supply of so-called strategic goods (metal, building timber) not available domestically, as well as on the demand for luxury and prestige goods, or the materials required for producing them. In historical times, the organization of commerce was a…