Sixty years after City Invincible, surveys and the urban revolution in question

This paper reviews as a tribute to Robert McC. Adams work upon the development of cities the majors steps in the development of landscape archaeology in the Middle East. Three steps are described, encompassing major breakthroughs either in terms of methodology or archaeological perspective. The first step is the pioneering work done In Irak and Iran during the 60 s and 70 s. The second step is the development of the studies in Northern Mesopotamia and the theory of the two models of development. And the third discusses the impact of the corona generation researches. The long term effect of those approaches upon Near Eastern studies is also discussed.