Emotional news for lovers of a dry white wine. The blissful Hippocrene was composed from wild grapes from the sixth millennium BC in the lands of its natural habitat. But, as the author shows, the cultivation, domestication and selective breeding of the grape following in the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age was aimed primarily at the enjoyment of its sweetness.

Gentiana cachemirica is a rare plant from northern Pakistan and northwestern India. The sectional position of this species has been a matter of considerable debate. Various authors have placed Gentiana cachemirica in one of three different sections – Gentiana sect. Isomeria, Gentiana sect. Kudoa or Gentiana sect. Pneumonanthe. The present paper assesses the taxonomic affinities of this species using a detailed study of its morphology accompanied by morphological phylogenetic and cluster analyses. Characters of the seed testa, corolla morphology and growth architecture were studied for selected species from the above-mentioned sections and closely related Gentiana sect. Cruciata. Representatives of Gentiana sect. Ciminalis were used as outgroups. Our results suggest that G. cachemirica belongs to Gentiana sect. Pneumonanthe and that its affinities are closer to the Western Asiatic group of this section.

Satellite surveys in Syria have made use of imagery recorded some 30 years apart. By comparing the earlier pictures (Corona) with the later (Ikonos), sites captured on the former can be accurately located by the latter. The comparison also reveals the stark implications for archaeology as large parts of west Asian landscape change from a state of ‘benign neglect’ to active redevelopment. Based on their experience in the Homs survey, the authors have important advice to offer in the design and costing of surveys using satellite imagery.

From their research in Jordan, the authors show that the appearance of early farming and herding communities in western Asia coincided with a large expansion in stone bead production. This reflects a new social role for personal ornament.

The significance of zebu, or humped. cattle as potential indicators of episodes of aridification in the Bronze Age of western Asia is explored through study of figurines and faunal remains from Mesopotamia, the Levant and Anatolia.