The Late Bronze Age (LBA) and Early Iron Age (EIA) in southwest Asia saw major socio-political transformations, including the rise and fall of the Hittite, Kassite and Neo-Assyrian empires. Alongside socio-political and economic instability, climatically induced droughts are among the most frequently cited causes for the collapse of these states. However, direct evidence for the impact of droughts on agricultural systems is virtually absent from these periods, rendering hypotheses that see climate change at the heart of the crises hypothetical. This project will analyse primary archaeobotanical evidence for agricultural productivity and adaptation from three cities that were involved to different degrees in the LBA-EIA transformations: Carchemish on the upper Euphrates, the Kassite capital Dur Kurigalzu in central Mesopotamia, and Niniveh, capital of the late Neo-Assyrian empire at the upper Tigris. Together, these archaeobotanical assemblages enable us to study a unique agricultural sequence through the rise and fall of empires.