The first complete interpretative synthesis for a generation emerging on the development of the Mediterranean world from its beginnings to the threshold of the classical era - winner of the Wolfson History Prize. The Mediterranean has been one of the global centers of human activity for millennia. There are world-class interpretations of its classical and subsequent history, but there has been comparatively little holistic exploration of how its societies, culture, and economies originated, despite nearly all fundamental developments occurring long before 500 BC. Mediterranean archaeology is one of the richest sources for reconstructing ancient societies; however, this book is the first to draw equally from ideas and information from the European, Western Asian, and African coasts, as well as from the islands at the heart of the Mediterranean, achieving a truly innovative focus on the diverse paths and interactions that shaped this maritime world. The Making of the Middle Sea is extensively illustrated and moves across various scholarly directions, themes, and timelines from the first humans and the origins of agriculture and metallurgy to the rise of civilizations - Egyptian, Levantine, Minoan, Mycenaean, Phoenician, Etruscan, early Greek, and eventually pan-Mediterranean.