The actual progress in the study of social and economic structures of Late Bronze Age societies requires a general overview of the historical process in the area of the Eastern Mediterranean as a whole. This was the purpose of the symposium the proceedings of which are collected in the form of articles in the present volume. They are studies dealing with the Mycenaean world, with the Hittite Empire, Nuzi, Emar, Alalakh, Ugarit, the Pharaonic lands in the Izreel Valley. Particular attention is paid to the trade between the Aegean and the Levant, as well as to the "Sea-Peoples". The proceedings give a comprehensive view of the social and economic historical process in the Eastern Mediterranean between 1500 and 1000 B.C. and constitute an important contribution to the study of this crucial period in the history of the Ancient Middle East.