Long-term excavations at Arslantepe, Malatya (Turkey), have revealed the development, in the fourth millennium BC, of a precocious palatial system with a monumental building complex, sophisticated bureaucracy, and a strong centralization of economic and political power in a nonurban site. This paper reconsiders, in comparative terms, the main features and organization of the earliest states in Greater Mesopotamia. By looking at the social and economic foundations of the emergence of hierarchies and unequal relations, the dynamics and degrees of urbanization, and the role of ideology, I highlight the common aspects and the diversified trajectories of state formation and outcomes in three main core regions—southern Mesopotamia, northern Mesopotamia, and Upper Euphrates valley.

中文翻译：

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大美索不达米亚国家形成中的不同轨迹：来自Arslantepe的观点（土耳其）

在马拉蒂亚（土耳其）的Arslantepe的长期发掘表明，早在公元前四千年就发展了早熟的宫殿体系，其建筑结构复杂，官僚主义高尚，并且在非城市场所强大地集中了经济和政治权力。本文以比较的方式重新考虑了大美索不达米亚最早国家的主要特征和组织。通过研究等级制度和不平等关系的出现的社会和经济基础，城市化的动态和程度以及意识形态的作用，我着重指出了三个主要核心地区的共同点以及国家形成和结果的多样化轨迹：美索不达米亚南部，美索不达米亚北部和上幼发拉底河谷。