Hiebert (anthropology, U. of Pennsylvania) and his colleagues assess relative and absolute archaeological chronologies for a site in Turkmenistan that reveals clues about early village development from 4500 to 2900 BC. The study attempts to place the site into the larger context of transformations to urbanism on the frontier of the ancient Near East. A second, equally important objective is to present a full account of the basic archaeology of the site. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR