The International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (ICAANE) is the most prestigious event of this kind for Near Eastern archaeologists. The 9th ICAANE was held from June 9 to 13, 2014, and organized as a co-operation of the Faculty of Humanities, the Faculty of Science, and the Faculty of Theology of the University of Basel, Switzerland. The congress had more than 700 participants. International specialists from leading institutions presented over 400 papers in 7 sections and 14 workshops. The research countries ranged from Egypt to Afghanistan, from the Arabian Peninsula to Central Asia, in periods from the Epipalaeolithic to the Islamic, thus giving a good overview of current activities, excavations, and research topics in Near Eastern archaeology. The three-volume Proceedings contain numerous of the presented papers. Volume 1: traveling images - transfer and transformation of visual ideas; dealing with the past: finds, booty, gifts, spoils, heirlooms; collections at risk: sustainable strategies for managing Near Eastern archaeological collections