古代近東

古代近東或古近東（英文：ancient Near East）是早期文明的發源地，即今中東一帶：美索不達米亞（今伊拉克、土耳其東南部及敘利亞東北部）、古埃及（縱然埃及大部分地理上屬於非洲東北部）、古伊朗（埃蘭、米底、帕提亞及古波斯）、安那托利亞／小亞細亞（今土耳其及亞美尼亞）、 黎凡特 (今敘利亞、黎巴嫩、以色列、巴勒斯坦國及約旦）、塞浦路斯及阿拉伯半島。

古代近東見於近東考古學及古代史的研究。古代近東始於前4千年蘇美爾文明的興起，至於何時終結，眾說紛紜：有指歷經銅器時代及鐵器時代；亦有指直至前6世紀阿契美尼德王朝或前4世紀的亞歷山大大帝的征服為止。

古代近東被視為文明的發源地。該地域最早實行全年集約農業；向世界最傳播最早的書寫系統；先後發明陶輪、車輪及水車輪；建立最早的中央集權政府、法典及帝國；推行社會階級、奴隸制；發動戰爭；以及為天文學及數學等領域奠基。

• The History of the Ancient Near East（頁面存檔備份，存於互聯網檔案館） — A database of the prehistoric Near East as well as its ancient history up to approximately the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans ...
• Vicino Oriente^{[永久失效連結]} — Vicino Oriente is the journal of the Section Near East of the Department of Historical, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences of Antiquity of Rome 『La Sapienza』 University. The Journal, which is published yearly, deals with Near Eastern History, Archaeology, Epigraphy, extending its view also on the whole Mediterranean with the study of Phoenician and Punic documents. It is accompanied by 『Quaderni di Vicino Oriente’, a monograph series.
• Ancient Near East.net — an information and content portal for the archaeology, ancient history, and culture of the ancient Near East and Egypt
• Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution（頁面存檔備份，存於互聯網檔案館） The Freer Gallery houses a famous collection of ancient Near Eastern artefacts and records, notebooks and photographs of excavations in Samarra (Iraq), Persepolis and Pasargadae (Iran)
• The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives The archives for The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery houses the papers of Ernst Herzfeld regarding his many excavations, along with records of other archeological excavations in the ancient Near East.
• Ancient Near East.org—a database of the prehistoric Near East as well as its ancient history up to approximately the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans
• Archaeowiki.org—a wiki for the research and documentation of the ancient Near East and Egypt
• ETANA （頁面存檔備份，存於互聯網檔案館） — website hosted by a consortium of universities in the interests of providing digitized resources and relevant web links
• Resources on Biblical Archaeology
• Ancient Near East Photographs（頁面存檔備份，存於互聯網檔案館） This collection, created by Professor Scott Noegel, documents artifacts and archaeological sites of the ancient Near East; from the University of Washington Libraries Digital Image Collection
• Near East Images （頁面存檔備份，存於互聯網檔案館） A directory of archaeological images of the ancient Near East
• Bioarchaeology of the Near East （頁面存檔備份，存於互聯網檔案館） An Open Access journal