"This study sheds light on the agricultural economy that underpinned the emergence of the first u... more "This study sheds light on the agricultural economy that underpinned the emergence of the first urban centres in northern Mesopotamia. Using δ 13 C and δ 15 N values of crop remains from the sites of Tell Sabi Abyad, Tell Zeidan, Hamoukar, Tell Brak and Tell Leilan (6500–2000 cal BC), we reveal that labour-intensive practices such as manuring/middening and water management formed an integral part of the agricultural strategy from the seventh millennium BC. Increased agricultural production to support growing urban populations was achieved by cultivation of larger areas of land, entailing lower manure/ midden inputs per unit area—extensification. Our findings paint a nuanced picture of the role of agricultural production in new forms of political centralization. The shift towards lower-input farming most plausibly developed gradually at a household level, but the increased importance of land-based wealth constituted a key potential source of political power, providing the possibility for greater bureaucratic control and contributing to the wider societal changes that accompanied urbanization."
... Excavation in third-millennium levels proceeded this season in Area TC, which had been tested... more ... Excavation in third-millennium levels proceeded this season in Area TC, which had been tested by Mallowan but not excavated since, and which proved to contain a public building dating to Early Dynastic III. ... 9c, Mallowan 1947: P1. 14, 11-13 and P1. ...
Excavations and surveys carried out from the mid-1990s through 2009 at Tell Brak, NE Syria, have ... more Excavations and surveys carried out from the mid-1990s through 2009 at Tell Brak, NE Syria, have focused on reconstructing the socioeconomic complexity and physical growth of one of north Mesopotamia’s earliest urban settlements. The recent discovery of several mass graves on the edge of the city, created at an important threshold in its physical expansion (ca. 3800-3600 B.C.), adds to a long-standing debate about the connection between the growth of early city-states and violent conflict. These graves, with their population of as many as several hundred primarily sub-adults and young adults, are interpreted as the result of large-scale violent events and may present distinctive characteristics of the post-mortem treatment of enemies. They provide a strong counterpoint to the dominant reconstruction of a peaceful prehistory in the region.
ENGLISH SUMMARY
Archaeology at the water’s edge – rescue excavations along Lake Dokan in northea... more ENGLISH SUMMARY
Archaeology at the water’s edge – rescue excavations along Lake Dokan in northeastern Iraq.
After many years of war and turmoil it is now possible once more for archaeologists to conduct excavations in northern Iraq, which is part of ancient Mesopotamia. A Danish-Dutch project has returned to the Rania Plain (figs. 1-2), where Danish archaeologists last dug over 50 years ago. The aim is on the one hand to assess the state of preservation of the many ancient towns on the plain, on the other to investigate how the world’s first cities arose around 6000 years ago. The Rania Plain is periodically flooded by water from a dammed-up lake which on the one hand evens out height differences on the plain and makes it difficult to find one’s bearings in the archaeological landscape, and on the other hand breaks down the archaeological remains very quickly (figs. 3 and 5). Central to the project are the excavations of the tell Bab-w-Kur (figs. 6 and 7), which have given us new information on life on the Rania Plain in the Chalcolithic Age – that is, the fourth millennium BC. A large administrative building (figs. 9-10) and more than 25 kilns for the mass production of pottery testify that Bab-w-Kur functioned partly as a minor administrative centre, partly as a production site for pottery (fig. 12). Reconnaissances of the plain also show that the area was densely populated, with a network of large and small towns engaged in contacts and trading with one another. In particular, they show that the Rania Plain was at least as highly developed an urban society as the societies in central Mesopotamia, and that urbanization was not an isolated phenomenon.
"This study sheds light on the agricultural economy that underpinned the emergence of the first u... more "This study sheds light on the agricultural economy that underpinned the emergence of the first urban centres in northern Mesopotamia. Using δ 13 C and δ 15 N values of crop remains from the sites of Tell Sabi Abyad, Tell Zeidan, Hamoukar, Tell Brak and Tell Leilan (6500–2000 cal BC), we reveal that labour-intensive practices such as manuring/middening and water management formed an integral part of the agricultural strategy from the seventh millennium BC. Increased agricultural production to support growing urban populations was achieved by cultivation of larger areas of land, entailing lower manure/ midden inputs per unit area—extensification. Our findings paint a nuanced picture of the role of agricultural production in new forms of political centralization. The shift towards lower-input farming most plausibly developed gradually at a household level, but the increased importance of land-based wealth constituted a key potential source of political power, providing the possibility for greater bureaucratic control and contributing to the wider societal changes that accompanied urbanization."
... Excavation in third-millennium levels proceeded this season in Area TC, which had been tested... more ... Excavation in third-millennium levels proceeded this season in Area TC, which had been tested by Mallowan but not excavated since, and which proved to contain a public building dating to Early Dynastic III. ... 9c, Mallowan 1947: P1. 14, 11-13 and P1. ...
Excavations and surveys carried out from the mid-1990s through 2009 at Tell Brak, NE Syria, have ... more Excavations and surveys carried out from the mid-1990s through 2009 at Tell Brak, NE Syria, have focused on reconstructing the socioeconomic complexity and physical growth of one of north Mesopotamia’s earliest urban settlements. The recent discovery of several mass graves on the edge of the city, created at an important threshold in its physical expansion (ca. 3800-3600 B.C.), adds to a long-standing debate about the connection between the growth of early city-states and violent conflict. These graves, with their population of as many as several hundred primarily sub-adults and young adults, are interpreted as the result of large-scale violent events and may present distinctive characteristics of the post-mortem treatment of enemies. They provide a strong counterpoint to the dominant reconstruction of a peaceful prehistory in the region.
ENGLISH SUMMARY
Archaeology at the water’s edge – rescue excavations along Lake Dokan in northea... more ENGLISH SUMMARY
Archaeology at the water’s edge – rescue excavations along Lake Dokan in northeastern Iraq.
After many years of war and turmoil it is now possible once more for archaeologists to conduct excavations in northern Iraq, which is part of ancient Mesopotamia. A Danish-Dutch project has returned to the Rania Plain (figs. 1-2), where Danish archaeologists last dug over 50 years ago. The aim is on the one hand to assess the state of preservation of the many ancient towns on the plain, on the other to investigate how the world’s first cities arose around 6000 years ago. The Rania Plain is periodically flooded by water from a dammed-up lake which on the one hand evens out height differences on the plain and makes it difficult to find one’s bearings in the archaeological landscape, and on the other hand breaks down the archaeological remains very quickly (figs. 3 and 5). Central to the project are the excavations of the tell Bab-w-Kur (figs. 6 and 7), which have given us new information on life on the Rania Plain in the Chalcolithic Age – that is, the fourth millennium BC. A large administrative building (figs. 9-10) and more than 25 kilns for the mass production of pottery testify that Bab-w-Kur functioned partly as a minor administrative centre, partly as a production site for pottery (fig. 12). Reconnaissances of the plain also show that the area was densely populated, with a network of large and small towns engaged in contacts and trading with one another. In particular, they show that the Rania Plain was at least as highly developed an urban society as the societies in central Mesopotamia, and that urbanization was not an isolated phenomenon.
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Archaeology at the water’s edge – rescue excavations along Lake Dokan in northeastern Iraq.
After many years of war and turmoil it is now possible once more for archaeologists to conduct excavations in northern Iraq, which is part of ancient Mesopotamia. A Danish-Dutch project has returned to the Rania Plain (figs. 1-2), where Danish archaeologists last dug over 50 years ago. The aim is on the one hand to assess the state of preservation of the many ancient towns on the plain, on the other to investigate how the world’s first cities arose around 6000 years ago. The Rania Plain is periodically flooded by water from a dammed-up lake which on the one hand evens out height differences on the plain and makes it difficult to find one’s bearings in the archaeological landscape, and on the other hand breaks down the archaeological remains very quickly (figs. 3 and 5). Central to the project are the excavations of the tell Bab-w-Kur (figs. 6 and 7), which have given us new information on life on the Rania Plain in the Chalcolithic Age – that is, the fourth millennium BC. A large administrative building (figs. 9-10) and more than 25 kilns for the mass production of pottery testify that Bab-w-Kur functioned partly as a minor administrative centre, partly as a production site for pottery (fig. 12). Reconnaissances of the plain also show that the area was densely populated, with a network of large and small towns engaged in contacts and trading with one another. In particular, they show that the Rania Plain was at least as highly developed an urban society as the societies in central Mesopotamia, and that urbanization was not an isolated phenomenon.
Archaeology at the water’s edge – rescue excavations along Lake Dokan in northeastern Iraq.
After many years of war and turmoil it is now possible once more for archaeologists to conduct excavations in northern Iraq, which is part of ancient Mesopotamia. A Danish-Dutch project has returned to the Rania Plain (figs. 1-2), where Danish archaeologists last dug over 50 years ago. The aim is on the one hand to assess the state of preservation of the many ancient towns on the plain, on the other to investigate how the world’s first cities arose around 6000 years ago. The Rania Plain is periodically flooded by water from a dammed-up lake which on the one hand evens out height differences on the plain and makes it difficult to find one’s bearings in the archaeological landscape, and on the other hand breaks down the archaeological remains very quickly (figs. 3 and 5). Central to the project are the excavations of the tell Bab-w-Kur (figs. 6 and 7), which have given us new information on life on the Rania Plain in the Chalcolithic Age – that is, the fourth millennium BC. A large administrative building (figs. 9-10) and more than 25 kilns for the mass production of pottery testify that Bab-w-Kur functioned partly as a minor administrative centre, partly as a production site for pottery (fig. 12). Reconnaissances of the plain also show that the area was densely populated, with a network of large and small towns engaged in contacts and trading with one another. In particular, they show that the Rania Plain was at least as highly developed an urban society as the societies in central Mesopotamia, and that urbanization was not an isolated phenomenon.