A GIS COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT PATTERNS AND THE CONTEMPORARY PHYSICAL LANDSCAPE IN THE JAZIRA REGION OF SYRIA A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Antone J. Mathys June 2001 A GIS COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT PATTERNS AND THE CONTEMPORARY PHYSICAL LANDSCAPE IN THE JAZIRA REGION OF SYRIA BY ANTONE J. MATHYS This thesis has been approved for the Department of Geography and the College of Arts and Sciences by ________________________________________ Nancy R. Bain Professor of Geography ________________________________________ Leslie A. Flemming Dean, College of Arts and Sciences iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS What I owe Prof. Nancy Bain is beyond evaluation. This thesis would have never been completed without her support and guidance. My appreciation and thanks also go out to Prof. Hubertus Bloemer, Prof. Ron Isaac, Prof. Hubert Wilhelm, and Prof. Lynden Williams for their time and efforts in seeing me through the various stages of this thesis. I would also like to thank the Assistant to the Dean, Wayne Chiasson, for taking the time to review my thesis. I am very grateful to Professors Giorgio Buccellati and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati for giving me the opportunity to return to the Syrian Jazira for fieldwork at Tell Mozan. Also my thanks to Dr. John Curtis, curator at the British Museum in London. He provided copies of Max Mallowan’s archaeological survey field notes for me. Finally, I offer very special thanks to Alessandra and Enrico for all their wonderful support and kindness through the thesis years. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...........................................................................................iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................vi LIST OF FIGURES....................................................................................................vii CHAPTER I..................................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................. 1 Background ...........................................................................................1 The Syrian Jazira ...................................................................................5 A GIS Approach to Ancient Settlement Analysis.....................................8 Problem Statement .................................................................................9 CHAPTER II ..............................................................................................................11 LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................... 11 Settlement Methodologies.....................................................................11 Settlement Pattern Analysis for the Jazira Region .................................14 Settlements and Environment Reconstructions ......................................15 Landscape Evolution............................................................................17 Climate Studies....................................................................................18 Geographic Information System Applications in Archaeology ...............19 Site Inventory Applications......................................................19 Predictive Modelling Applications............................................20 CHAPTER III.............................................................................................................24 METHODOLOGY............................................................................... 24 Archaeological Sites.............................................................................28 Data Sources .......................................................................................28 Archaeological Surveys and Excavations .................................28 Archaeological Site Excavations ..............................................32 Toponyms, Maps and Gazetteers .............................................34 Other Cultural Determinants....................................................38 The Physical Landscape.......................................................................40 Climate ...................................................................................41 Surface Hydrology...................................................................42 Subsurface Hydrology .............................................................42 v Geology...................................................................................42 Soils and Land-use ..................................................................43 Relief ......................................................................................43 Geographic Information Systems..........................................................43 Background.............................................................................44 Spatial Modelling ....................................................................44 Site Mapping and Registration.................................................46 Site Inventory Maps and Databases .........................................47 Costs and Benefits of Using a GIS in Archaeology ...................50 GIS Application Methodology for the Jazira.............................52 Data Capture...........................................................................52 Topology.................................................................................53 Attributes and Database Structure............................................56 Occupation Periods of the Jazira Region ..................................61 CHAPTER IV.............................................................................................................67 RESULTS ............................................................................................. 67 Subsistence Activities and the Physical Setting .....................................67 The Physical Landscape of the Jazira ...................................................70 Geology...................................................................................70 Geomorphology and Relief.......................................................75 Soils and Land-Use..................................................................78 Climate ...................................................................................85 Surface Hydrology...................................................................92 Subsurface Hydrology .............................................................97 The Cultural Landscape ..................................................................... 100 Distribution of Raw Materials................................................ 100 Political Spheres of Influence and Trade Route Patterns ......... 102 Archaeological Sites........................................................................... 105 The Distribution of Archaeological Sites ................................ 106 Site Distribution Patterns and the Physical Landscape............ 109 Physical Landscape Model ................................................................. 119 Normal Rainfall Model.......................................................... 119 Drought Year Rainfall Model................................................. 124 Modern Population and Archaeological Site Density Patterns.............. 124 CHAPTER V ............................................................................................................ 127 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................ 127 Summary ........................................................................................... 127 Recommendations .............................................................................. 130 BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................... 133 vi LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. Cultural and physical features selected for research analysis of ancient settlement patterns in the Syrian Jazira...........................................................27 Table 2. Map features and their representative digital entities........................................54 Table 3. Attribute names, descriptions, and types for the archaeological site coverage. ..........................................................................57 Table 4. Attribute and table field names and the respective periods and dates. ...............60 Table 5. Classifications and descriptions for the Jazira’s soils. ......................................78 Table 6. Discharge rate, river length, and catchment area size for Jazira’s rivers. ..........96 vii LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. A typical large archaeological site of the Upper Jazira......................................3 Figure 2. The Syrian Jazira, current political boundaries, and major physical features in the Near East............................................................................6 Figure 3. The Jazira region of Syria................................................................................7 Figure 4. Archaeological surveys conducted in the Jazira. .............................................30 Figure 5. The French map series (Levant 1:200,000) covering the Syrian Jazira. ...........36 Figure 6. Satellite image of two archaeological sites (tells) in the Upper Jazira. ..............38 Figure 7. Example of a GIS archaeological site inventory map with an open database and a link to a satellite image file.............................................................49 Figure 8. Relative geological dates for deposits in the Jazira..........................................72 Figure 9. Cross-section of the geological structure of Jebel abd el-Aziz and the Upper and Lower Jazira. .................................................................................73 Figure 10. Geological sediments in the Jazira................................................................74 Figure 11. Relief map for the Jazira..............................................................................76 Figure 12. Soils of the Jazira. .......................................................................................80 Figure 13. Agricultural land-use patterns for the Jazira. ................................................83 Figure 14. Average annual rainfall for the Jazira...........................................................86 Figure 15. Monthly precipitation/ETP rates for Qamishli, Syria....................................88 Figure 16. Monthly precipitation/ETP rates for Hassaka, Syria.....................................88 Figure 17. Monthly precipitation/ETP rates for Deir ez-Zor, Syria................................89 Figure 18. Minimum and maximum monthly temperatures for Qamishli, Syria..............89 Figure 19. Minimum and maximum monthly temperatures for Hassaka, Syria...............90 viii Figure 20. Minimum and maximum monthly temperatures for Deir ez-Zor, Syria..........90 Figure 21. Annual rainfall averages during dry seasons in the Jazira. ............................91 Figure 22. Surface hydrology stream orders and types for the Jazira..............................93 Figure 23. The Euphrates River along the western Jazira. ..............................................94 Figure 26. The Khabur River north of Hassaka.............................................................94 Figure 25. The Balikh River. ........................................................................................95 Figure 26. The Jagh-Jagh River near Qamishli, Syria....................................................95 Figure 27. Wadi Jarrah in the month of June.................................................................96 Figure 28. Subsurface water quality index and irrigation suitability zones for the Jazira. ..............................................................................................99 Figure 29. Distribution of important raw materials in the Near East. ...........................101 Figure 30. Important trade routes, cities, and states in the vicinity of the Syrian Jazira from the third to the first millennium B.C. ......................................103 Figure 31. Archaeological site distribution patterns.....................................................107 Figure 32. Archaeological site patterns, Bronze Age sites, and sites greater than 4 and 50 hectares in area. .........................................................108 Figure 33. A comparison between archaeological site patterns, Bronze Age sites, and surface hydrology. ............................................................110 Figure 34. A comparison between archaeological site patterns, Bronze Age sites, and annual rainfall...................................................................112 Figure 35. A comparison between archaeological site patterns, Bronze Age sites, and dry year rainfall patterns. ..................................................114 Figure 36. A comparison between archaeological site patterns, Bronze Age sites, and relief.................................................................................115 Figure 37. A comparison between archaeological site patterns, Bronze Age sites, and land-use patterns...............................................................117 ix Figure 38. A comparison between archaeological site patterns, Bronze Age sites, and subsurface water quality and irrigation suitability..............118 Figure 39. Weighted model using normal precipitation, land-use, subsurface water quality, and relief layers......................................................................................120 Figure 40. Weighted model diagram for normal year precipitation, relief, land-use, and subsurface water quality layers.....................................................................121 Figure 41. Weighted model using dry year precipitation, land-use, subsurface water quality, and relief layers......................................................................................122 Figure 42. Weighted model diagram for dry year precipitation, relief, land-use, and subsurface water quality layers. ..........................................................................123 Figure 43. A comparison between archaeological site density patterns and the 1961 population density in the Jazira. ..........................................................................125 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Background It wasn’t until 1987 that an archaeological excavation in northeastern Syria brought me to the heartland of the Jazira region. Prior to 1987, my only encounter with the Jazira was during excavations with German and American archaeologists at sites along the Euphrates River, which flows along its western and southern periphery. A ride on a vintage train provided the means to traverse across the Jazira region, and view the changing landscapes as the train moved from the southern Jazira to the northern frontier. The southern leg of the journey revealed a familiar landscape with irrigated fields, small villages, and occasional ancient anthropogenic mounds along the banks of a river. The difference was that it was no longer the Euphrates River, but a small, meandering river that ran parallel with the train’s course. This river, known as the Khabur, flows from one of many great karst springs in the north and stretches across the full length of the eastern Jazira to the Euphrates River in the south. It was this region of karst springs in the north that provided a striking contrast to the landscape in the southern Jazira. The northern portion of the trip revealed a landscape plentiful in wheat fields and earthen mounds. The earthen mounds were no longer restricted to the banks of the Khabur River. Hundreds of them towered above the wheat fields and plains of the Upper Jazira. The mounds varied in size, indicating that they contained the remnants of villages, towns, and cities that were inhabited hundreds and thousands of years ago. The ancient 2 inhabitants of these settlements probably had witnessed the origins of the agricultural and urban revolutions, and the subsequent transitions in society that would introduce writing, science, laws, government, and religion to the region and the world. The 1987 archaeological excavation at Tell Mozan opened the door for me to return again to the Jazira. This provided the opportunity to travel extensively through the region, and observe the traits of the physical and cultural landscapes. The Jariza represented a region of contrasts. These contrasts revealed distinctive patterns and relationships between the ancient and modern cultural landscape and the surrounding natural environment. Understanding these complex patterns led to the research embodied in this thesis. The scope of the research presented many challenges ranging from study area size to the acquisition of disparate and scattered reference material and maps. Fortunately, technological advances in the development of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and my training and experience as a geographer and an archaeologist in Syria, made it possible to tailor a research methodology that could address these problems and provide the basis for examining the complex patterns observed across the Jazira’s landscape. These observations include similarities between contemporary settlement patterns and those of antiquity, as well as parallels between modern settlement and archaeological site distribution patterns and the surrounding physical landscape. Mapping the locations of archaeological sites and modern population density in the Jazira, along with features of the physical landscape, should produce similar patterns that reflect the interactions between the inhabitants of the region and their surrounding environment. Subsistence activities over the past six millennia centered on wheat and 3 barley production and animal grazing; therefore, making the environment a critical factor in sustainability. Secondary reasons such as trade and political influence would have also played important roles in settlement patterns from antiquity to the present. Human activity over the centuries has etched patterns into the landscape. Probably the most pronounced evidence of this interaction occurred in the Near East. The birth of civilization and urban development placed its roots in this region more than six thousand years ago. Today, remnants of this ancient civilization form earthen mounds (Figure 1) that dot the plains of southern and northern Mesopotamia. Figure 1. A typical large archaeological site of the Upper Jazira. Local inhabitants refer to these mounds as “tells.” A tell represents an archaeological site, which is composed of weathered mudbrick and stone of ancient buildings, and cultural artifacts. Years and centuries of continuous occupation account for the development of many tells. The size of a tell may be a condition of many years of occupation, or a short 4 span in time, representing an important city with administrative buildings and fortifications. Archaeologists can often estimate the dates of occupation using pottery sherds, or other diagnostic artifacts collected during a survey of the site. Many of these tells are situated in a region of Mesopotamia that is known as the “Fertile Crescent.” Through antiquity, inhabitants of the Fertile Crescent depended on its water and soil resources to produce annual harvests of cereal crops, including wheat and barley. Legumes such as lentils and chickpeas were also prominent crops that were grown and harvested. The Fertile Crescent and its marginal areas also supported herds of grazing goats and sheep, the first known domesticates in the Old World. These activities impacted the environment over time, leading to soil salinization and deforestation. Near Eastern historical accounts provide some valuable information about human interaction with the surrounding landscape. Cuneiform tablets of the early Mesopotamian societies contain references to canal building projects, crop harvests, trading transactions, and political events that may be attributed to climatic changes. Unfortunately the record is inadequate and incomplete, making it difficult to know if the current environmental conditions are similar to those of the past, or represent the effects of cumulative gradual degradation over time, or cyclical degradation attributed to sporadic droughts, diseases, political instability, or invasions. At issue is whether the current environment has remained relatively the same for centuries despite experiencing the effects of extensive farming, grazing, societal upheavals, and the natural cycles that could be expected over a span of six millennia of habitation in the Jazira region. One approach to exposing this complex interaction between civilization and the surrounding landscape is to examine current environmental conditions and compare it with 5 ancient settlement patterns. Urban inhabitants in the ancient Near East sustained themselves primarily through agricultural subsistence activities, making their economy and survival very dependent on environmental changes. Over time, the settlements either collapsed, or managed to sustain themselves to the present date, such as in the case for Damascus and Aleppo, Syria, two cities continuously occupied for more than four thousand years. Either outcome left its mark on the landscape as an occupied settlement standing against the elements of time, or an archaeological ruin waiting for future discovery. Locating the latter, in a contemporary setting, makes it possible to compare current environmental conditions with the distribution, sizes, and dates of these archaeological sites. The Syrian Jazira Much of western and northeastern Syria falls within this “Fertile Crescent,” an area arching along the littoral region of Syria, across its northern flanks, and down to the Tigris-Euphrates River delta in southern Iraq (Figure 2). Also situated within the Fertile Crescent lies a region referred to as the Syrian Jazira (Figure 3). Jazira is the Arabic word for “island.” Geographically, it refers to the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Covering an area of 37,480 kmƒ, about half the size of the state of Ohio, the Syrian Jazira is confined between the Euphrates River to the south and west, the Syrian/Iraqi border to the east, and the Syrian/Turkish border at its apex. A short stretch (40 km) of the Tigris River cuts across its northeastern corner. 6 Figure 2. The Syrian Jazira and current political boundaries and major physical features in the Near East. 7 Figure 3. The Jazira region of Syria. 8 The geographical diversity of the Syrian Jazira provides the basis for a study of the archaeological record and comparison with the current environmental conditions of the region. The archaeological record represents archaeological site survey and excavation information for the Jazira, plus ancient written records that describe the political spheres of influence and trade networks. The environmental diversity of the Jazira is manifested in its variability in rainfall, surface hydrology, subsurface hydrology, soils, and relief. Based on the premise that these ancient societies were very dependent on cereal crop production for their primary subsistence activities, a model can be derived that can weigh the importance of each environmental variable as a resource that could sustain agricultural development. Accessibility to water was the primary concern for the ancient inhabitants of this region, especially given the tenuous nature of rainfall. The other resources, including cultural, are not as assumptive, especially considering the complexities of human responses to the surrounding landscape. High relief in an arid zone may capture clouds at its apex, and send the rainfall running down to irrigated fields at its base, thus making it possible for small settlements to emerge and develop. A GIS Approach to Ancient Settlement Analysis Recent advances in software and computer technology make it possible to construct a model that can measure complex spatial interactions. Specifically, a Geographic Information System (GIS) offers the capabilities to capture, convert, and manipulate spatially referenced information that is representative of real world features. Once converted to a digital format, a GIS dataset consists of attribute information that is stored in a database and linked to the graphic elements of a map. These graphic elements 9 consist of lines, polygons, and points, and can represent such relevant features as hydrology (lines), soils (polygons), and archaeological sites (points). Subsequently, these datasets can be manipulated to test and measure their spatial relationships, with the results displayed as maps, graphs, and tables. Using a GIS as a tool for this research endeavor will make it possible to build models for spatial system analysis using the Syrian Jazira’s archaeological site and environmental data. A GIS can also serve as a resource that can provide an archaeological site inventory map for the Jazira. A site inventory map offers an opportunity for the user to select a site on a map and access a database that contains attribute information for that site. Attributes may include site sizes, occupation dates, and bibliographic references. Fields in the attribute table can also be used to establish links to graphic files that show photographs and field maps of the site. This could be expanded to include links to archaeological information if excavations are being conducted at the site. Problem Statement Preliminary evidence indicates that similarities exist between contemporary settlement patterns and those of antiquity. There are also parallels between modern settlement and archaeological site distribution patterns and the physical landscape of the Syrian Jazira. A GIS will be employed to map, generate, and analyze layers representing the locations of archaeological sites and modern population density in the Jazira, and layers of the relevant physical landscape features. This will provide the basis for a comparative analysis of these variables, with the results possibly revealing similar patterns that reflect 10 the interactions between the inhabitants of the region and their surrounding environment. The main focus will be on archaeological sites of the third millennium B.C. Bronze Age. If the results of this research reveal that there is a temporal-spatial disparity between contemporary and ancient settlement patterns, an examination of the physical landscape may be considered for further analysis, with a focus on the role of climate. Regional trade networks, raw material sources, and politics will also be reviewed to examine their influence on settlement patterns. Changes in the physical landscape will be reviewed in the context of human interaction with the environment. Intensive grazing and agricultural practices degraded the environment, especially soil conditions and local vegetation. Loss of vegetation could have affected the ecosystem and changed the regional weather patterns. This scenario might be inferred if evidence suggests that population densities were greater during antiquity and decreased during subsequent centuries of occupation. Preliminary archaeological evidence suggests that this may have been the case for the Upper Jazira region during the third millennium B.C. Archaeological surveys across the Upper Jazira have identified hundreds of third millennium Bronze Age sites. 11 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW Settlement Methodologies The greatest contributions to the field of settlement geography and archaeology in the Near East come from Karl Butzer and Robert McC. Adams. Both scholars’ research efforts present an examination of settlement patterns and their cultural and environmental determinants to make inferences about settlement density and distribution. Karl Butzer provides examples of this approach in his book, Environment and Archaeology (1964). The book introduces Pleistocene geography by describing changes in the environment between the last Ice Age and Post-Ice Age Periods. He also presented the different strategies taken by humans to adapt to environmental change. His last chapters refer to agricultural origins in the Near East. With this development also comes growth in human population and greater demands on local environments. Butzer describes several human activities that can modify the environment (1964, 469-470). As an example, fire aids in hunting strategies, and subsequently this activity alters the surrounding environment. Woodland settings convert to grasslands and this has an impact on soil formation and the hydrologic cycle. Another example of human induced change includes accidental or deliberate plant transfers from one zone to another; this often leading to plant domestication. Agricultural activity in the Near East started with human domestication of emmer wheat and flax. Humans also affected the environment through the domestication of animals. Sheep, onagers, and other domesticates became dependent on humans and 12 surrounding grazing lands. With the domestication of plants and animals, populations became sedentary and developed more complex societies. Eventually, urbanization developed with the human populations dependent on local environments for subsistence activities. With agriculture as the dominant economic activity, urban populations became more dependent on the environment. In the semi-arid regions of the Near East, water represents a critical resource. With the use of irrigation, short-term food supplies were assured; however, long term implications associated with salinization became a serious detriment to the stability of urban centers. The domesticated animals also depended on local vegetation for sustenance. Eventually their numbers grew and this may have led to land degradation. An excellent authority on this interaction between urbanization and its impact on the environment is Robert McC. Adams, an archaeologist from the University of Chicago. The Uruk Countryside (1971), a book co-authored by Adams and Hans J. Nissen, examines ancient settlement patterns in the Warka region of Iraq. Adams and Nissen take a systematic approach to explaining settlement patterns in the region with full attention to environmental, cultural, and spatial relationships. As archaeologists, Adams and Nissen also use spatial analysis, customarily a geographical application. The site inventory from the Warka Region includes categorizing sites according to size. Distances between sites are also measured to provide empirical evidence for the propositions of central place theory (1971, 19). Environmental assessment of the region is approached through the description of climate and land topography. The methodology in their approach to settlement analysis is comprehensive and it provides a fundamental approach to my work. In a later work, The Heartland of Cities (1982), Robert Adams describes the 13 relationship between settlement patterns and the surrounding landscape in southern Iraq. Here, the ancient Sumerians built their cities on the alluvial plains of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The settlements were situated in a region with little rainfall to support crop production. Generally, a minimum of 250 mm of rainfall is considered adequate for crop production, and rainfall statistics for the region indicated that typical annual rainfall amounts averaged between 110 and 120 mm (Adams 1982, 12). Assuming similar climatic conditions in the past, the Sumerians responded to the environmental constraints and constructed a complex irrigation system that channeled water from the rivers to their fields. Each year, the rivers would have provided a reliable source for water, as well as fertile soil sediments; however, over time, irrigation practices increased salinization, and subsequently poisoned the soil, and put them out of production indefinitely. Subsequent inhabitants of the region encountered similar problems as they interacted with the environment in order to sustain their towns and cities. Eventually these conditions would lead to a collapse of the agrarian base and the urban superstructure. Adam’s research provided this summary through a methodology that involved the collection of ancient site and landscape information, using extensive archaeological surveys in the region. The surveys yielded information about site occupation dates and site size. In his analysis of these data, Adams examined temporal settlement patterns and urban hierarchies for each of the main historical periods represented in the region, and these results culminated in a complex overview of the settlement history for the region spanning from the origins of urban civilization to the Sassanian-Islamic period (Post-A.D. 637). 14 Settlement Pattern Analysis for the Jazira Region One of the first scholars to observe the diverse regions of the Jazira was M.E.L. Mallowan. During the 1930s, he and his wife Agatha Christie conducted surveys and excavations in the area. His accounts of their experiences are documented in Iraq, a journal printed by the British School of Archaeology in Iraq. Mallowan's first description comes in a journal article (1936) of Iraq. Describing the contrasting areas as the Lower and Upper Khabur (Jazira), in reference to the Khabur River, Mallowan indicated that the Upper Khabur had a greater density of sites than the lower half of the region. Mallowan attributed this difference to precipitation and soil conditions. In a subsequent article for Iraq (1937, 92-93), Mallowan described the importance of interaction between climate, soils, and settlement density in the Upper Khabur region. He also expressed disbelief that such favorable conditions would have led to depopulation of this region. Another scholar, Peter Akkermans (1993), provides an assessment of the environment and settlement history of the Balikh River valley in the western Jazira. His efforts include an extensive archaeological survey along the Balikh River, an evaluation of the survey results, excavations at selected archaeological sites, and an assessment of the surrounding physical landscape. He concludes that there isn’t adequate evidence to draw any conclusions about climatic changes through antiquity for this region of the Jazira. Harvey Weiss, an archaeologist from Yale University undertook the same systematic approach as had Adams and Nissen (1971) to understanding ancient settlement patterns. Weiss studied modern land-use practices as a means to investigate these developments in antiquity. Working in northeastern Syria, Weiss (1986) describes current regional environmental conditions, land use, and land carrying capacities. Using this 15 information, Weiss draws parallels between settlements in ancient and modern Syria. With this approach, Weiss attempts to reconstruct the past and predict human response to the environment. Modern data and paleobotanical information indicate that northeastern Syria is a high-risk environment for crop production, though barley provides relatively high yields under normal seasonal conditions. Like other archaeologists, Weiss also contends that the region transects an important trade route between the Mediterranean coast and lower Mesopotamia. This suggests a combination of human and cultural determinants to settlement patterns in the Upper Jazira Region. Settlements and Environment Reconstructions Several scholars offer their perspectives on settlement patterns and their relationship to surrounding environmental conditions. Joan Oates and Francis Hours provide examples in a book edited by John Bintliff and Willem van Zeist. Titled Paleoclimates, Paleoenvironments, and Human Communities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region in Later Prehistory (1982), the book presents a series of articles with themes pertaining to human/environmental interaction in the ancient Near East. Joan Oates examines the relationship between ancient settlements and the present-day environment for several regions in the Near East (1982, 359-398). Among the regions described, Joan Oates includes the Upper Jazira. Using survey reports as evidence, Oates argues that climatic fluctuations occurred between the fourth and second millennia. These suggestions are based on pottery sherd gathering at the surveyed sites. Sherds are used for dating archaeological sites. Many sites in the Upper Jazira have pottery sherds from the fourth millennium. In contrast, few sherds were found that dated the occupation of the site to the 16 latter part of the second millennium. Oates suggests that the sherd dating indicates that more settlements existed during the fourth millennium and contract in the early and middle second millennium (1982, 369). Her arguments contradict other theories that suggest static climatic conditions. Oates concludes in her article that limitations exist because not enough archaeological evidence is available for making inferences to climatic change. With only a limited coverage of excavated sites in the Jazira, any suggestions at this time are at best preliminary. Frances Hour's article also takes a similar approach by locating sites and identifying them with a range of time between 18,000 and 3,600 B.C. (1982, 419-444). Hour’s method is appropriate in that he examines the site distribution patterns with respect to current environmental conditions; however, there are some short-term limitations to this approach. Until the seventh millennium, there were very few habitation sites and many were provisional. Towards the fourth millennium more settlements sprouted across the landscape, some growing to the size of small towns. Given these conditions, the major concern would be to locate and excavate a sufficient number of archaeological sites to reveal their archaeological records. An adequate sampling size of sites would be required so as to span the entire time frame mentioned in his paper. While he does examine the distribution patterns of known sites, there is little information about the archaeological record of each site. This record would reveal the types of subsistence activities that the inhabitants would have conducted at the time, and perhaps shed light on the type of environmental conditions that existed at the time of the occupation of the site. Floral and faunal remains and artifacts at a site can reveal much about subsistence activities and environmental conditions; however, a sufficient number of sites must be excavated to 17 identify the mechanisms responsible for change or stability over time. The methodology behind Hour’s work serves as an important tool for studying settlement patterns in the Jazira. Putting together all the environmental variables and comparing them to the settlement patterns over time provides an opportunity to observe how the two interact. This is especially true during the time of the urban revolution when it was more difficult for inhabitants of the region to leave their towns and cities. Unfortunately Hour’s time frame preceded this explosion of urbanization on the Near East landscape because subsistence activities were not solely dependent on intensive agricultural production and trade, and individuals were not members of complex, stratified societies with administrative authorities controlling public interests. Landscape Evolution Whether it was climatic variability, land degradation, or changing human subsistence strategies, northeastern Syria appears to have experienced contraction of cultivation and desertion of settlements. J.M. Wagstaff provides very useful insight into this problem in his book on the evolution of Middle Eastern landscapes from antiquity to 1840 (1985). Proponents and critics argue between climatic change and human impact on the landscape. Other scholars suggest that the location is a detriment to settlement growth, because the region is difficult to defend against nomadic marauders. Scholars also attribute heavy taxation as a disincentive to settlement growth in the region. As sedentary agriculturists, people are more accessible for tax collection. They also possess property, land, and products that can be taxed. As migratory pastoralists, they can evade taxation and be less dependent on seasonal fluctuations for crop production. 18 Wagstaff concludes that a complex interaction exists between all these elements. In his model, people quickly adapt to pastoralism if drought continues for several successive years. Some people also choose to move to larger villages or urban areas, especially if a market is available for their goods or services. When climatic conditions improve, many return to agriculture, if incentives exist. If high taxation exists, they may continue as pastoralists and provide a bigger share of the market for existing agriculturists. The reasons behind depopulation in northeastern Syria remain evasive. Despite the combined efforts of scholars, no one has discovered any explicit answers. For the future of Syria and the region, answers are necessary to assure future stability. In recent years the region has underwent intense cultivation. If human populations had a negative impact on the environment several millennia ago, the potential exists again for destabilization. As water becomes more critical to each country, a greater risk exists for conflict between competing sides. Climate Studies Paleobotanist Willem van Zeist (1980), and geographers Karl Butzer (1958) and Werner Nutzel (1980), suggest that the Near East has not experienced major climatic change in the past 5,000 years. Dutch archaeologist W.J. van Liere also makes the same assertion, in his article on ancient settlements in Bronze-Iron Age Syria (1963). The primary source in making such an assertion comes from paleobotanical samples from soil cores. Unfortunately, the coverage does not extend into the Jazira region; therefore, the climatic model for the region is based primarily on samples from northwestern Syria (van Zeist and Woldering 1980). Examples for Butzer's and Nutzel's work relate more towards 19 global trends in association with the last Ice Age and Postglacial Age. Nutzel's article (1980), describes the use of lake sediment stratigraphy as a measurement of precipitation variability in the region. Their results suggest that climatic conditions have remained fairly constant over a time span of the past 5,000 years. Geographic Information System Applications in Archaeology European and North American archaeologists account for most, if not all GIS applications in the field. A review of articles suggests that most geographical information systems have more prominence in Europe than in North America. No clear explanation is offered for this contrast. The presence of more cultural resources, and perhaps a greater familiarity with those resources makes GIS more suitable for predicting site locations, or for storing site data. With the exception of a few prehistoric sites in North America, most do not compare in size to the sites in the “Old World.” Publications tend to focus on theoretical applications in North America, and exposing the existing conflicts between archaeologists when determining associations between settlement patterns and environmental variables. Some suspicion exists that a GIS in the wrong hands is capable of creating a predictive model based on false assumptions or inaccurate data sources. The lack of skilled GIS specialists in archaeology creates this level of discomfort among scholars (Peregrine 1988, 877-878). Site Inventory Applications Only a couple of articles mention using GIS for managing archaeological site data. At the Birka site in Sweden, GIS provides several functions for archaeologists (Arc News 1990, 42). Site and excavation maps were stored in digital format with coordinate data. 20 Attribute data represented artifacts that were found during the excavations, and were integrated with the digital maps through queries. Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) were also created from depositional maps for the purpose of calculating the volume of the exposed archaeological features. At an ancient Roman site in Austria (Kainz 1990, 323-327), GIS was used to overlay the site map over a modern cadastral map to assess which part of the site would risk damage from local land development. A CAD program would have adequately met the needs of this archaeological application. At a prehistoric site in California, GIS was used much in the same manner as at the site in Sweden (Werner and Brock 1992, 40-44). Along with managing the data, the GIS was used to store raster images of scanned artifacts found at the site, plus pen and ink sketches. The images would complement the artifact database for the site. Predictive Modelling Applications Examples of GIS predictive models for North American archaeology reflect an emphasis on prehistoric sites. One of the primary objectives behind GIS modelling is to determine the location of sites to assure their preservation against development or natural hazards such as erosion. In Sanders Rural Community, Arizona, GIS was used to assess immediate and long-term impacts on 130 known archaeological sites (Berlin, Saxe, Warburton, Ortiz, and McCarthy 1994, 53-62). The model would also include attributes associated with known sites in the region. In this case, Anasazi sites are often associated with eolian sand deposits and water sources. Considering this variable and the known location of other 21 sites, the GIS model incorporated several variables considered as threats to the sites. Woodcutting, deflation, proximity of unpaved roads, proximity of streams, topographic slopes, and land clearing activities represented the most serious threats. Each of these variables was weighted with ranges from “no risk” (0) to “immediate or high risk” (3). Linear variables such as unpaved roads and streams were given distance buffers based on erosion potential. These risk factors were also applied to areas where the potential was high for the presence of Anasazi sites. This GIS model would provide information for both cultural resource managers and developers. Areas showing a high probability for erosion and site location would receive priority for mitigation or preservation. Areas with a high probability for sites would receive closer attention if development were considered. Another example of a GIS model uses digital elevation models (DEMs) to predict the location of Paleo-Archaic sites in Michigan (Krist and Brown 1994, 1129-1137). Subsistence activities were based on caribou hunting. Because hunters followed the caribou during their north-south migration, topography becomes an important variable for site location. Caribou migrated through the valleys of northeastern lower Michigan. For the hunters, optimal locations would be areas where slope angle would not impair caribou movement. Another important variable examined was related to the migratory route’s proximity to streams and rivers that could slow caribou movement. Deep, fast water bodies would provide optimal locations for hunting. With these variables considered, a model was developed using DEM and reconstructed surface hydrology data (Krist and Brown 1994, 1132). The DEM model would show various slope angles and aspect, with an emphasis on locations with gradual or flat surfaces and near deep river crossings. The GIS terrain and hydrology model offered the potential for locating sites, 22 though the article mentioned that additional spatial analysis was necessary to refine the model (Krist and Brown 1994, 1135). Farming communities probably represent sites with the potential for higher predictability when creating a GIS model. The dependence on soils and climate for crop production and yields makes it easier to define variables. An example of this involves a site-catchment analysis of late Woodland sites in New York (Hunt 1992, 281-309). Maize production represented an important subsistence activity for the Iroquois. Based on soils associated with known sites, a GIS model was developed using the use of soils as a predictive measure for locating settlements. With this single physiographic variable, a simple but reliable GIS model can provide a classification system that identifies areas with the highest potential for archaeological sites. An example of GIS modeling in an historical context involves the use of networking through line data that represent surface hydrology in the state of New York (Allen 1990, 319-329). Using the NETWORK module of ArcInfo, the author was able to predict the temporal sequence of historic settlement dispersal patterns based on the size of rivers and streams. Trading and the movement of goods between indigenous groups and early Europeans made the river network important, and this network would affect settlement patterns temporally and spatially. GIS models that assess development impacts on archaeological sites prove useful for cultural resource management. In Jordan, an irrigation dam project threatens surrounding archaeological sites with water inundation (Peterman 1992, 162-167). Using a DEM, archaeologists drape existing sites over the model. Based on the size of the dam, engineers can predict the height that the water will reach when at maximum capacity. This 23 water level is assumed using the DEM, and archaeologists can determine which sites will be inundated with water. Subsequently, excavations can take place at these sites before destruction occurs. Predictive models are also possible for underwater archaeology. Along the Turkish coast of the Dardanelles, numerous shipwrecks rest at the bottom of the sea. Factors such as water depth, proximity to shore, proximity to ancient ports, quarries, straits, and shipping routes were used to develop a GIS model for predicting the location of the shipwrecks (Lopata, Parent, and Shaw 1992, 57-61). These criteria were weighted to produce a model that would show areas where wrecks were likely to occur due to major navigation routes to important ports. Proximity to straits and shores increased the probability for shipwrecks with vessels crashing against rocks and high reefs. 24 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY Settlement spatial analysis requires information about archaeological sites and the relevant environmental and cultural features. Maps, travel accounts, archaeological site surveys, and excavation reports can provide information about archaeological sites in the Jazira. Research publications, maps, and satellite imagery also supply background information for soils, geology, surface and subsurface hydrology, climate, and relief. Transportation routes, subsistence activities, and political spheres of influence can also play important roles in settlement analysis; therefore, these must be taken into consideration. Uncovered and translated documents from archaeological sites can offer insight into events of the times that involved trade patterns, treaties, and military strategies to acquire resources. Combining and examining all these elements should make it possible to develop models that explain the spatio-temporal settlement patterns of the ancient Syrian Jazira region. The location of the study area provides the daunting task of locating and collecting archaeological site data. U.S. scholars have not focused much attention on the Near East, especially the country of Syria. Until the past 10 to 15 years most of the U.S. archaeologists and historians have directed their efforts in countries such as Egypt, Jordan, and Israel. Most of this can be attributed to the political climate that has materialized with U.S. support of Israel. Another reason is the U.S. public’s fascination with biblical and Egyptian archaeology. Biblical archaeologists limit most of their work to the country of Israel and Palestinian territories. 25 European scholars and international organizations account for most of the data relevant to this study. Their cultures are closely intertwined through history, starting with interactions between the sea-faring Phoenicians of Syria and the early Greeks, and ending with Syria’s independence from France in 1946. During the past two centuries, European adventurers and explorers traveled across much of Syria and Iraq in search of ancient art and artifacts for European museums. It was during these journeys that people such as A.H. Layard (1853), Eduard Sachau (1883), and F. Sarre and E. Herzfeld (1920) were able to uncover the remnants of the ancient past, especially those of the Assyrians. In the twentieth century, European archaeologists reached the Near East, and started excavating sites. Most noted was Sir Leonard Wooley, a British archaeologist who uncovered the famous ruins and graves at the ancient city of Ur in southern Iraq (1923). Other British, French, and German archaeologists would follow, with the Italians arriving on the scene during the 1960s. The most notable sites/ancient cities that were excavated in Syria included Tell Halaf/Guzana (Oppenheim 1931), Tell Hariri/Mari (Parrot 1973), Ras Shamra/Ugarit (Schaeffer 1959-1960), Tell Brak/ancient name unknown (Mallowan 1947), and Tell Mardikh/Ebla (Matthiae 1975). Excavations at these sites revealed that the region of modern Syria also played a prominent role during ancient times. This realization has brought a rush of archaeological activity to Syria, and has provided a wealth of information about archaeological sites in the Jazira region. Archaeological activity has also increased in Syria and the Jazira because the Syrian government has constructed dams at several locations on the Euphrates and Khabur Rivers. Archaeological excavations have sprung up in great numbers in these areas as archaeologists race to salvage sites before the waters inundate them. 26 The Syrian Jazira’s physical landscape has received considerable attention from international entities associated with foreign governments and aid organizations. Individual scholars have concentrated their research efforts on Syria and the Jazira as well. The primary purpose of most research activities has been to locate new resources and maximize existing ones. The northern Jazira’s capacity to produce high cereal crop yields made it a primary focus point for many research activities in the areas of climate, soils, and surface/subsurface hydrology. Empirical evidence suggests that the inhabitants of both the modern and ancient settlements in the Jazira region depended on the same environmental conditions to sustain their agricultural activities; therefore, it is essential that these environmental variables be included in the study. In all, ten features (Table 1) have been targeted for this study. The cultural features include archaeological sites, raw materials, trade routes, and political spheres of influence. The environmental features consist of surface and subsurface hydrological features, annual rainfall, relief, soils and current land-use, and geology. The Russians conducted geological surveys in Syria during the 1950s and 1960s (Technoexport 1967), with an emphasis on the northeastern Jazira region where petroleum deposits were discovered in the 1950s (Fisher 1978, 256). These targeted features make it possible to develop a model that provides an opportunity to analyze the spatial relationship between ancient settlement patterns and their surrounding environment. Water resources are important for human survival, as well as crop and animal production. Soil is an important resource for crop production and construction material; relief can impair travel and trade route patterns, but capture rainfall at its highest points and deliver the water to irrigated fields at lower elevations. 27 Table 1. Cultural and physical features selected for research analysis of ancient settlement patterns in the Syrian Jazira. FEATURE PRIMARY SOURCE(S) YEAR(S) MAP SCALE(S) -French Series Maps 1930s to 1940s 1:200,000 Gazetteer of Syria 1983 None -Archaeological Survey Reports Various Dates Varies -Archaeological Excavation Reports Various Dates Varies Hydrology French Series Maps 1930s to 1940s 1:200,000 Subsurface Hydrology Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO): Etude des Ressources en Eaux Souterraines de la Jezireh Syrienne 1966 1:500,000 French Series Maps 1930s to 1940s 1:200,000 Mohammed Ilaiwa: Contribution to the Knowledge of the Soils of Syria 1983 1:500,000 W.J. van Liere: Soil Survey of the Jezireh 1965 None Eugen Wirth: Syrien:Eine Geographische Landeskunde 1971 FAO: Etude des Ressources… Russian Geological Survey 1966 1:500,000 1962 1:500,000 Michael Roaf Atlas of Mesopotamia 1990 1:17000000 Archaeological Sites Relief Soils/Land-use Climate Geology Raw Materials, Trade Routes, and Political Spheres of Influence 28 Geological formations can affect subsurface water quality and provide minerals for metals in addition to other resources. Inhabitants of past and present settlements in the region share a dependence on cereal crops and domesticated sheep and goats for their sustenance, and these selected environmental elements play an important role in maintaining these resources. Archaeological Sites Collecting archaeological site data involves the process of locating archaeological sites and compiling information for each site. For the purpose of this study, it is important to collect information about the sites’ locations, sizes, and occupation dates. Knowing a site’s primary occupation date would also be useful for the study; however, this information is usually limited to excavated sites. Data Sources Archaeological Surveys and Excavations As mentioned, archaeological research activities in Syria have expanded considerably over the past two decades. This has led to an increase in publications on archaeological site surveys and excavations. Between the two sources, the archaeological survey provides the largest sampling for analysis, though the information may not be as accurate in terms of location and occupation dates. The survey represents preliminary work for most archaeologists. It is a process used to select an archaeological site for excavation. The work generally entails a 29 systematic process of driving across a selected area and locating archaeological sites. Once found, archaeologists conduct a field survey at the site. Survey grids are established and archaeologists collect artifacts that are found on the surface. Dating is done through a comparative analysis of pottery sherds and artifacts collected at the site. Much of the Jazira region has been extensively surveyed (Figure 4), especially along the banks of Euphrates, Khabur and Balikh Rivers. The Germans accounted for several surveys with Hartmut Kuhne (1975 and 1977), Kay Kohlmeyer (1984 and 1986), and Berthold Einwag (1993 and 1994) surveying areas along the middle Euphrates and Khabur Rivers. Other work in the region included Frenchman Jean-Yves Monchambert’s (1984) survey along the lower Euphrates River, and British archaeologists Max Mallowan (1938), David and Joan Oates (1977), and Kate Fielden (1981) surveys in the upper Jazira region. Dutch archaeologists Mauritis van Loon (1963), Diederick Meijer (1984), and Peter Akkermans (1993) have also provided extensive survey results for areas along the Euphrates River, the northeastern region of the Jazira, and the Balikh River valley. Meijer’s survey in the upper Jazira region yielded almost 300 sites, many dating to the third millennium B.C. The results of these surveys provided valuable information about site sizes, site names and location, and occupation dates; however, these surveys don’t provide a complete picture of the Jazira’s archaeological landscape. Archaeologists have avoided surveying a large area of the southern Jazira region with the exception of several locations where German archaeologists K…hne (1975) and Pf†lzner (1984) have ventured and surveyed small tracts of land. A German survey (Moortgat-Correns 1972) was also conducted at the base of the Jebel abd-el Aziz many years ago. The reason for avoiding 30 Figure 4. Archaeological surveys conducted in the Jazira. 31 this area is probably attributed to the aridity of the region, with archaeologists assuming that suitability for agriculture was low during antiquity as well. Regardless of the reasons, little archaeological site information is available for this portion of the Jazira. The survey data represent another concern. Temporal accuracy can be an issue when archaeologists date sites. During his 1930s survey of the Upper Jazira to locate a third millennium site to excavate (Mallowan, 1936?), Max Mallowan visited a large archaeological site at Tell Mozan, a small village situated just south of the Syrian/Turkish border near the Syrian town of Amuda. Mallowan assumed that Tell Mozan was one of many Roman occupation sites in the region. The Romans used these ancient tells as fortified outposts to protect their eastern frontier. Mallowan subsequently selected a site at Chagar Bazar to excavate; the site is situated about 25 kilometers southwest of Tell Mozan. Fifty years would pass before another archaeologist would visit and decide to excavate at Tell Mozan. Professor Giorgio Buccellati’s excavations there unearthed the mythical city of Urkesh (Buccellati, 1997), an important Hurrian urban center of the third millennium. This anecdote best explains one of many potential problems associated with archaeological surveys. Mallowan is considered to this day as one of the premier Near Eastern archaeologists; however, this example demonstrates the challenge archaeologists face with dating sites. Another similar problem that can occur is when archaeologists are unable to find artifacts from earlier occupation levels of a site, or fail to find a buried site. Many large archaeological sites contain numerous strata that represent years and centuries of occupation. Typically, later occupation levels are found in the highest deposits and the earliest at the base of the mound. In some instances early occupation levels may represent small villages. Subsequent occupations may expand into towns or cities and cover the 32 earliest deposits. When an archaeologist visits the site, the artifacts from the earliest occupation level may be buried rather than exposed at the surface; therefore, those artifacts from the later occupation levels will be found, but not those of the earliest phase of occupation. The site could be correctly dated, though inadvertently omitting the earliest levels. Another problem that archaeologists can encounter is the inability to locate archaeological sites. In some instances small sites can be missed during a survey. Colluvial and alluvial deposits can bury sites, making it impossible to find them unless costly coring methods are employed during the survey. Given the scale of the area studied, these issues are not of a major concern, except of missing some small ancient settlements of the Neolithic period (7,300 to 4,500 B.C.). Typically Neolithic settlements are small, with the exception of those found along the Balikh River (Akkermans 1993). Archaeological Site Excavations The earthen mound, “tell,” is synonymous with most archaeological sites in the Near East. The morphology of the mound represents an accumulation of cultural strata of cultural material (Lloyd 1963), and eolian deposits that slowly blanketed the site during the centuries of abandonment. The primary composition of this cultural material is weathered or destroyed mudbrick homes and administrative buildings. Typically, larger mounds contain private and public buildings. Palaces and temples are examples of public buildings in the ancient Near East. These buildings housed kings, priests, and slaves, and rose prominently over the center of the city. Administrative centers were often fortified as well, adding to the size of a mound at its periphery. 33 As mentioned, a site of this size may envelope the entire confines of an earlier occupation level, obscuring that part of the settlements past. One approach to exposing this earlier stratum, and understanding a site’s entire occupational history and culture, is to conduct an archaeological excavation. The archaeological excavation process makes it possible to reveal the history and culture buried at the site. This information is attained through exposing the many cultural strata, features, and artifacts at a site and recording their prominence using measurements and descriptive notes. Subsequently, these excavations are published in journals and books, and include maps, photographs, and textual descriptions of the uncovered strata and features, such as walls, floors, and pits. The excavation publications offer an additional source of information for this thesis and future research activities. Site excavation information is more accurate than that of a survey, and many times archaeologists choose to excavate large sites because of the potential for uncovering public buildings, which may house important administrative documents. Assuming that many of the sites in the region may contains remnants of hamlets and villages, the large sites also provide a source of information that can explain the ancient settlement pattern of the Jazira region. These sites are more likely to be discovered during archaeological surveys, making their distribution pattern a mirror of the overall pattern in the Jazira region. Understanding more about these sites will shed light on the temporal aspect of settlement patterns because the archaeological excavation can determine the date of the most important occupation level at a site and reveal the complete sequence of occupation. Comparing this information with that collected during surveys of adjacent sites can make it possible to draw some correlations about ancient settlement 34 hierarchies and centrality in the Jazira, and their effect on local and regional networks. Toponyms, Maps and Gazetteers As stated earlier, the southern area of the Jazira was not surveyed extensively except for several places. Until this is accomplished, another method can be employed that could identify potential sites in this area. This is the use of toponyms to identify a potential archaeological site. The name "tell,” or “tullul” for the plural form, serves as a useful means to identify sites on maps and in the gazetteer. Many sites from a survey or archaeological excavation use the name "tell." Most often, villages are situated on or adjacent the archaeological sites and incorporate the word “tell” into their village’s name. The word “tell” is used in conjunction with a descriptive name that could represent a person, or describe an element of the physical landscape, e.g., Tell Ahmar, or “Red Mound.” An Arabic geographical names source (Groom 1983), describes the word "tell," as meaning a mound or small hill. The word has early origins that date to the second millennium when it was referred to as “Tillu,” in the Akkadian language (von Soden 1981, 1359). The inhabitants of the region during the second millennium recognized that these hills contained cultural material from previous generations. An anthropologist can attest to this perception using a contemporary setting. Tell Toqaan, is a modern village occupying the same living area as an archaeological site. An anthropologist, Louise E. Sweet, conducted an ethnographic study at this village in the early 1950s (Sweet 1960). An interesting observation made at this village revealed the villagers' perceptions toward the archaeological mound. They quarried limestone from the 35 mound to use for modern needs. Pottery sherds also covered the site, and villagers were aware that the site’s occupation period dated before pre-Islamic times. There are other toponyms that merit consideration as well for identifying potential sites. The Turkish word “tepe” also refers to mound. The Arabic word “khirbet,” refers to an ancient ruin. There are two sources available for toponyms. Maps and gazetteers furnish the names and location of toponyms. They are also reliable sources for showing the locations of well known archaeological sites. The best maps available for this study are the French Levant 1:200,000 series (Service G‡ographique F.F.L. 1945) for the entire country of Syria (Figure 5). The French produced these maps from the 1930s to 1940s during their occupation of Syria. The maps also represent important sources of information for surface hydrology, topography, and populated places. Many field archaeologists use these as reference maps while conducting archaeological site surveys. Another source, the gazetteer for Syria (U.S. Defense Mapping Agency 1983) also includes place names and toponyms for every known physical feature and cultural landmark in Syria and the Jazira, and provides lat/long coordinates for each listing. Published in 1983, the Syrian gazetteer contains 29,900 entries. 36 Figure 5. The French Map Series (Levant 1:200,000) covering the Syrian Jazira. 37 Satellite Photographs In 1995, President Clinton signed an order that allowed for the declassification of intelligence imagery acquired by the first generation of U.S. photo-reconnaissance satellites; the systems code-named CORONA, ARGON and LANYARD (Mathys 1997). The order provides for the declassification of more than 860,000 images of the Earth's surface, collected between 1960 and 1972. Intended to maintain surveillance on the Soviet Union, missions were expanded to include the Near East. The missions that flew from the late 1960s to early 1970s succeeded in collecting black and white images with a two-meter ground resolution. These satellite photographs provide excellent detail, and represent another resource for locating archaeological sites (Figure 6), or “tells” in the Jazira region. Though this would serve as a practical application for mapping archaeological sites, it would take several dozen film negatives to cover the entire region. The negatives would also need to be scanned and geo-referenced using a GIS. These images, complemented with multi-spectral images, would prove to be invaluable resources for mapping sites and the surrounding landscape; however, for this research effort, it would be too costly. 38 Figure 6. Satellite image of two archaeological sites (tells) in the Upper Jazira. Other Cultural Determinants Cultural determinants also need attention to determine their impact on settlement patterns. For ancient settlements, ancient texts uncovered at excavations and translated into publication may provide information on trade routes, political spheres of influence, and sources for raw materials. The Khabur region probably had strategic value to surrounding political powers because it was part of a crossroad between East and West, as well as access to the Mediterranean Sea. Once the archaeological data from the Jazira sites have been processed and interpreted, it might be possible to infer other relationships between landscape and settlement patterns. As an example, anthropomorphic and animal figurines are common 39 artifacts found at archaeological sites. Personal experience seems to indicate that more animal figurines exist at sites in the interior of the Jazira region, especially in northeastern Syria. Anthropomorphic figurines seem to be more common in the irrigated regions of Syria. Some anthropomorphic figurines appear to characterize fertility goddesses. This could suggest that settlements along the major rivers were more dependent on cereal crops as opposed to inhabitants in the northeastern Jazira. It could also suggest that land was mores suitable for grazing in the northeast; therefore, this explains the presence of more animal figurines. If pastoralism were more prevalent in the northeastern Jazira region, could this activity have led to accelerated land degradation? This is only a preliminary observation, and more excavations need to be conducted before ascertaining if any correlation can be derived from the data. Finally, modern cultural variables may also provide important information. A comparison of modern population density patterns with the distribution of ancient settlements may reveal similarities or differences between the two time frames. Eugen Wirth (1971), and the United Nation’s (U.N.) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report (1966), provide population densities for the Jazira region. Another important source, Kemal Karpat's (1985) examines population size of the Jazira during the nineteenth and early twentieth century, when it was part of the Ottoman Empire. The figures for the population estimates are based on census data gathered by Ottoman officials. Multiple resources are available for archaeological site data. The combination of these should adequately cover much of the Jazira region. An emphasis on the distribution of large sites should provide an adequate sampling size to draw inferences over the 40 relationships between ancient settlement patterns and the surrounding landscape. Adding additional cultural variables to the mix will make it possible to examine the effects of politics, trade, and resource procurement to the distribution pattern. Finally, comparing modern Jazira population densities with ancient settlement patterns can provide a temporal perspective for analysis. The Physical Landscape Understanding the settlement distribution patterns in this region requires a familiarity with the surrounding physical landscape, and its role in providing the resources to sustain local economies. The archaeological record for the Jazira indicates that the local economies relied on the water and soil resources to cultivate their cereal crops and graze their sheep and goat herds. Intervening effects, such as relief variability, river crossings, and inadequate water resources for traders and their pack animals, can have a significant impact on a settlement sizes and distribution. Accessibility to other markets and trade routes could sustain settlement development and encourage the establishment of new settlements along trade routes. Finally, the geological setting must be considered when taking into account the location of metalliferous deposits of tin, copper, silver, gold, and iron ore that were quarried and transported to the major urban centers in the region. The locations of these ore deposits probably influenced trade route patterns. Once these ores reached the urban centers, they were processed for tools, weapons, and jewelry. Silver was considered an important commodity because it was used as an exchange standard for transactions and occasionally used for compensation (Liverani 1988, 123-124). 41 In all, surface and subsurface hydrology, soils, climate, relief, and geology probably exerted influence on settlement patterns, densities and sizes. In turn, the ancient inhabitants activities affected the landscape. These complex processes involving the interacting elements of the physical landscape and the indigenous population must be examined to understand their impact on ancient settlement patterns in the Jazira. Climate Eugene Wirth's book, Syrien, eine Geographische Landeskunde (1971), provides an excellent overview of the climatic conditions for the country of Syria. Using data collected from weather stations around the country, Wirth provides annual precipitation maps for normal and dry years. As part of a research project for the Syrian Jazira, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) includes in its report (1966) a medium scale map showing annual rainfall for the Jazira. This map, derived from data collected at weather stations in the Jazira, is a primary source for this study. Eugene Wirth’s dry year rainfall map is also used so that a comparison is available for analysis. Other accounts regarding precipitation, temperature, relative humidity, and evapotranspiration are also available in these two fore-named publications as well as another FAO report (1982) that offers a regional study on rainfed agriculture in the Near East. Finally, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), manages a comprehensive database for research projects in the region that includes Syria. The database includes annual rainfall amounts for the Jazira region. These data are current and can be included with the other rainfall amounts that the FAO 42 and Wirth had presented in their publications. Surface Hydrology The Levant 1:200,000 French map series (1945) provides the best source for mapping surface hydrology in the Jazira region. The maps categorize streams as permanent, seasonal, and ephemeral streams. John Kolars and William Mitchell’s publication (1991) on the Euphrates River system in the Near East includes sections on surface and subsurface hydrology in the Jazira region. Subsurface Hydrology The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) also conducted an important subsurface hydrology research study (1966) in the Jazira region during the 1960s. The FAO analyzed water quality, chemical properties of water, and the potential use of subsurface water as a resource for the inhabitants in the region. The study also examines other physical elements in the Jazira that contribute to subsurface hydrology, specifically geology, geology, and climate. The publication includes subsurface water quality maps at a scale of 1:200,000, plus other maps showing annual rainfall, irrigation zones, and geology. Geology During the 1960s, Russian geologists conducted a geological survey in Syria (Technoexport 1967), including the Jazira, and provided a comprehensive report with 43 detailed 1:200,000 scale maps. Reinhard Wolfart, a German geologist, also contributed to the knowledge of Syrian geology in his 1967 publication, Geologie von Syrien und dem Libanon. Soils and Land-use Mohammed Ilaiwi’s thesis (1983), provides important background information for the Jazira’s soils. The thesis includes a description and map of the soil types and land-use capabilities. The soil map is at a scale of about 1:500000. W.J. van Liere’s FAO publications on the soils of the Jazirah (1965) also contain details about the soils and their role in supporting crop production and animal grazing. Relief The French Levant 1:200,000 map series uses 25 and 50-meter contour intervals to map relief in the Jazira region. The 50-meter contour interval is suitable for regional analysis, though the 25-meter interval lines near the Euphrates River valley will be included to map out subtle changes in the terrain that may account for local settlement patterns. Geographic Information Systems A Geographic Information System (GIS) serves as the primary tool for bringing the aforementioned cultural and physical variables together into a digital format. The data can be stored and manipulated to perform the analysis of complex interactions between the cultural and physical variables selected for this study. 44 Background Recently, professional archaeologists have started to employ geographic information systems (GIS) in the field of archaeology and cultural resource management. Though still in its infant stages in archaeological applications, as indicated by numerous articles and a book, GIS offers many possibilities. The three areas of archaeology cited for GIS applications are spatial modelling, site mapping and registration, and site excavation inventories. The ability of a GIS to store and manipulate various data suits such applications well, given the spatial/temporal parameters of archaeology where space and time form complex interactions defined according to scale and dimension. Spatial Modelling For spatial modelling, a GIS can serve to predict archaeological site location, or reconstruct previous environmental conditions based on site distribution patterns. For predicting site location, data are collected for selected environmental variables from a region where the potential exists for sites. Based on the archaeological record in the Near East, ancient Mesopotamian societies depended on wheat and barley crop production and livestock grazing. The two former activities required fertile soils, flat terrain, and adequate rainfall to sustain good annual crop yields. Using this premise, it can be ascertained that an association exists between these conditions and settlement patterns. Furthermore, this approach may reveal a hierarchical relationship among the settlements in a region, though other variables, such as accessibility to water resources and trade routes, may certainly account for site/settlement sizes. 45 The next stage in this process is to take a GIS and convert these variables into a digital format to produce digital maps and databases. These in turn can be manipulated to create models that resemble a region’s environmental conditions. Archaeological site information is then superimposed over these models to determine if there is a correlation between site distribution patterns and specific environmental conditions, which may be weighted values according to their contribution to crop yields, accessibility to water, transportation routes, and other conditions that support local economies. Thus, variable classes associated with fertile soils, adequate rainfall, flat terrain, and access to water would be weighted or scored higher than those variable classes linked to barren, dry soils. Applying this methodology to regions around the world, archaeologists can identify areas where a greater probability exists for discovering archaeological sites, assuming that there is a clear understanding of the relationship between the ancient inhabitants of the region and their surrounding environment. They can also use the information to survey selected areas to find and identify sites, thus saving money and time used for surveying low probability areas. A preliminary sampling of the study areas is also necessary for verification purposes, and to identify anomalies attributed to other factors such as environmental changes through time and external influences. The other application in modelling uses site distribution patterns to compare current environmental conditions with those in the past. When archaeological sites are located and dated, they are entered into a GIS database file for comparison with selected environmental variables. If site locations do not match their relevant "subsistence zones," then additional analyses of anomalous sites might be warranted to reconstruct environmental conditions contemporaneous with the site's occupation date. Given that 46 some sites may have multiple occupation periods, while others have only one, a regional comparison between different occupation periods could show higher settlement densities during one period as opposed to another. Using a GIS makes it possible to separate sites based on dates into different files, or layers, for comparisons between temporal/spatial patterns and a common set of environmental variables empirically defined as necessary for subsistence activities. With this ability to compare space with time, archaeologists can focus on the transitional phases between high and low density site densities, to explore which phenomena affected settlement/population density. Reconstructing the impact of human activities on the physical landscape provides additional information for modern researchers when creating land carrying capacity models. Site Mapping and Registration Another area of GIS applications involves site mapping and registration. As described in the previous paragraph, identifying sites helps to build models for analysis; however, the locational geo-referencing accuracy potential of a GIS and a complementary global positioning system (GPS) makes it possible to pinpoint the location of each site, while the graphic and attribute database files provide useful referencing capabilities, which can provide site information expediently. A user may want to know the boundary limits of a site, the occupation dates, and site type. Additional queries may include a series of maps showing selected environmental variables associated with a selected site type. Regarding registration, sites can be identified with a code so that they are listed on the federal registry of historical and prehistoric sites. The registration of historical landmarks within the corporate limits of a city makes it very practical for planners to identify historical areas, 47 which are zoned to protect against development, or alterations from variances. This efficiency of a GIS offers expedient access to historical information for urban management decisions. Site Inventory Maps and Databases The capability of GIS to store different graphic data as numerous layers makes it very practical for archaeological excavations. Usually an archaeological site consists of a composite of strata representing occupation levels. Within these levels are anthrosols, artifacts, living areas, and dwellings (usually associated with long-term occupations). Rather than being drawn on graph paper with written descriptions, the strata can be converted to GIS layers to form a digital graphic representation of temporal data, and since, in theory, lower strata date earlier than the upper strata at a site. GIS layers would be superimposed one over another to match the respective strata, and attribute information would be added to describe each stratum. Since strata are oriented horizontally and vertically, geo-referencing can organize the strata using elevation for the vertical points and measurements from a grid for the horizontal points. Surveyors place a grid across the site, with the x-y lines serving as references for measuring and drawing archaeological features and artifacts. The horizontal and vertical profile drawings produced from excavations represent maps, which are digitized and then stored in a graphics file. Each digitized stratum becomes a polygon, and artifacts found within the stratum become attributes. Other attributes may include soil color and hardness and stratum or "feature" definition. A feature can represent a hearth, floor, accumulation, or a wall of a house. If possible, dating each feature adds another 48 attribute to the file because through querying, a link between features is possible, thus providing spatial relationships for very large sites with multiple occupation levels. With these same sites, a GIS helps with accessing quickly to inventory files, which include artifacts and their descriptions. With database files, statistical analysis can manipulate and manage data, to ascertain if spatial patterns exist to link features within a site. Employing a GIS for mapping architectural features at a site is also important. Most historical sites have large architectural features, which have been rebuilt during reconstruction over the course of different time phases. Each GIS layer can represent a building phase, and overlapping each layer shows the sequence of architectural renovations, using different colors for each layer. This is more practical for graphic presentation and publication because it can reduce editing time, often a problem with pen and ink drawings. A GIS can also be used to develop an archaeological site inventory map that not only shows the location of sites, but also provides information for each site. This information can be accessed through a link to a database. The database can store information about site size, occupation dates, excavation information, bibliographic references, and other data that are deemed relevant to the site and the region as a whole. A GIS can make it possible also to provide links to not only databases, but also graphic files that show maps and photographs of a site (Figure 7). With the advent of the internet, it is possible to take the site inventory map a step 49 Figure 7. Example of a GIS archaeological site inventory map with an open database and a link to a satellite image file. further with the development of an interactive web site for scholars to access. A scholar could connect to the web site and run a query to see which sites fall under the criteria selected for analysis. Individual sites could be selected to acquire specific information such as site map coordinates, occupation dates, excavations, and a complete listing of all site publications. The web site would also include other maps that could be used for providing additional information pertaining to environmental conditions or establishing reference points to locate sites. 50 Costs and Benefits of Using a GIS in Archaeology The role that GIS plays in archaeological applications has great potential, especially with the cost reductions in hardware and software. This change will allow more people in academia, urban planning, and cultural resource management to expand their research tools in areas of data management, predictive modeling, and site inventories. Academia, particularly in the field of anthropology, can use GIS to train students, and better prepare them for employment in cultural resource management. With bleak prospects for employment in academia, anthropology departments need to train their students in the cultural resource management area. Cultural resource management offers the most potential for anthropology students, and GIS offers the students a marketable skill for their futures. Cultural resource management companies offer consulting services for both private and public clientele. Time and cost constraints become essential when discovered archaeological sites create delays in construction or development. With GIS, cultural resource management (CRM) companies can build an inventory of databases, digital maps, and raster photographs as references and tools for fieldwork. With networking approaching new levels of sophistication, the ability to exchange data from the field and lab is becoming more efficient. The ability to use digital information expedites all aspects of fieldwork and report writing, and reduces the costs and time so critical for many projects. A CRM company must comply with federal standards while maintaining a pace that meets the needs of the client. GIS technology provides this edge in a very competitive field. GIS technology has already made important gains in urban and land-use planning. 51 For planners, archaeological sites represent important resources that require protection through zoning. GIS technology allows planners to include archaeological sites as coverages to compare with other layers associated with infrastructure, property, and natural elements that could pose as risks to a site’s integrity. Despite the potential that GIS has to offer, there are still many problems confronting its use in the field of archaeology. The number of skilled specialists remains low, thus leaving archaeologists frustrated with a technology that they have little time to conceptualize or understand. GIS software companies offer training courses, but the costs can exceed many companies’ resources, especially if several employees require training. Data processing represents another time/cost factor that few firms can afford. Digital data provide much optimism for the future, but digital data availability is inconsistent from one region to the next. Data standardization can create problems with compatibility, though more in the industry are addressing this issue. Scale and file size becomes an issue when dealing with regional predictive models. Defining settlement patterns requires numerous coverages that include hydrology, soils, and topography, which may represent large files if at a larger scale. At smaller scales, data become too generalized for determining some settlement patterns, particularly in the case of prehistoric sites in North America. Another problem with predictive models involves the ability to predict the actual location of a site. Even with a large sampling size and statistical analysis, it still requires detailed field surveys to ascertain if a site exists at a location where development is going to occur; however, archaeologists still must select specific (high potential) areas to survey if a development project extends over a long route such as with road or pipeline 52 construction. It would be impossible to survey a two hundred mile corridor with pedestrian surveys and shovel tests. In the end, field surveys are necessary, but a GIS model can serve to facilitate the decision-making process for archaeologists. Finally, the automation of data can influence perception of a site’s boundaries. Site boundaries are often characterized as fuzzy because much time is involved in delineating the limits of a site. The problem with scale and real world location becomes an issue too. Often site location is based on legal descriptions using USGS maps. An isolated burial mound or campsite is impossible to pinpoint on a map. Fortunately a GPS provides a solution to this problem, and it will become an important part of archaeological fieldwork in the near future. GIS Application Methodology for the Jazira An extensive search through publications and maps yielded the necessary cultural and physical landscape source material to be converted into GIS digital maps and databases. Applying the full potential of a GIS, these datasets, which constitute the environmental and cultural components of the Jazira, can be manipulated to produce results that reveal the complex inter-relationships between the ancient inhabitants of the region and their surrounding environment. Data Capture Information from the environmental maps was traced to mylar sheets and scanned into a digital format. The maps included information on surface and subsurface hydrology, relief, soils and land-use, annual rainfall, and geology. The USGS digital 53 elevation model (DEM) dataset was used to display relief for the regional maps and the 1993 Digital Chart of the World dataset was used to show major rivers and political boundaries at a regional scale, which included most of the Near East. The surface hydrology and relief maps, derived from the French series maps, were used as background references to generate a locational map for producing the archaeological site map. Many field archaeologists relied on the French series maps (Service G‡ographique F.F.L 1945) to locate and map archaeological sites in the field, so these maps served well for marking the locations of many sites. In some cases, such as the survey in the Balikh valley (Akkermans 1993), the location of sites was generalized; however, this would suffice when considering the scale of the analysis. The geographical coordinate system was selected as the cartographic reference for the maps, and the maps were transformed to a Mercator projection. The confluences of rivers and corners of international political boundaries were used as control points for registering the maps. Topology A vector-based GIS uses polygons, lines, and points to represent map features. Polygons represent areal features, lines are associated with linear features, and points can be considered to embrace all geographical and graphical entities that are positioned by a single XY coordinate pair (Burroughs 26, 1986). These three digital entities are represented among the map features (Table 2) selected in this study with the exception of the DEM dataset, which has a raster, or grid-cell data structure. As expected, areal features such as soils, geology, relief, annual precipitation, and 54 subsurface hydrology are represented as polygons. The latter is based on subsurface water quality maps that the FAO generated for its Jazira project (1966). For this project, water samples were collected from wells and drilling sites at points across the Jazira and water quality/chemical composition patterns were derived from these tests. Surface hydrology is characterized as permanent, seasonal, and temporary channels of water; therefore, it is represented as a linear entity. Table 2. Map features and their representative digital entities. FEATURE Archaeological Sites Surface Hydrology DIGITAL ENTITY Point Line Subsurface Hydrology Polygon Annual Precipitation Polygon Soils Polygon Relief Polygon Geology Polygon Because the analysis is conducted at a regional scale that ranges between medium to small, the archaeological sites are represented as points. If the research design were to involve an analysis of sites and their environs at a local, large scale, then the polygon entity may prove more useful for the study. Sites can range in size from under one hectare to 200 hectares in size. Site dimensions and shapes may reveal information about urban morphology and occupation. Though this information can be provided in the attribute table, a graphic representation of a site as a polygon rather than an amorphous point can 55 better serve in the analysis of the site. The polygons, lines, and points of these features were processed in ESRI’s (Environmental Systems Research Institute) PC Arc/Infoˆ, a GIS software package that enables a user to construct these entities into GIS coverages. The steps taken to generate a GIS coverage involve editing and cleaning the entities for errors, labeling each component of an entity with a unique identifier so that each can be linked to a database, and finally, converting them to real-world coordinates. A GIS coverage can also be described as a map layer, and when each coverage or layer is projected to the same coordinate system, the layers can be combined or overlaid so that comparisons can be made between the real world features. Most GIS software packages, including PC Arc/Info, are capable of identifying, extracting and combining selected areas of separate coverages using the attribute values of the targeted features. For example, extracting productive soil polygons of one coverage and combining them with adequate rainfall polygon zones from an annual precipitation coverage would reveal optimal areas for growing wheat in the Jazira. The archaeological site point coverage would be overlaid on this new coverage to determine if a correlation exists between ancient settlement patterns and current regional conditions for growing wheat, a staple in antiquity and in the modern Near East. The other component of a GIS is the database. As mentioned, each polygon, line, and point contains a unique identifier. This identifier provides the link between the graphic entity and an attribute field in the database. Initially, the attribute field contains information for each graphic entity, but no feature data information. A GIS database, or table, can be edited and modified to add fields that contain attribute values for each graphic entity, thus making each polygon, line, and point a feature in a coverage. 56 It is also possible to link an external database to a GIS. This approach can be used to augment existing attribute information without adding additional fields to a GIS table, or store information in a separate database that can hold more records and manipulate the data more effectively than a GIS. Rather than using a separate database software package, or the table component of the PC Arc/Info package, another ESRI software package was employed to add attribute information for each of the coverages. PC Arc/View 3.2 is a GIS end-user’s software package that provides the capabilities of editing coverages, adding attribute information, and displaying coverages. Though not as powerful as the Arc/Info GIS packages, Arc/View provides the means to add attribute data for the coverages generated in PC Arc/Info, query these data, and display and plot maps and graphs. Attributes and Database Structure The archaeological site coverage contains the most attributes (Table 3) of the seven coverages used in this study. There are 32 attribute fields that can provide extensive information about each known archaeological site. The attributes can be classified into several categories. To start, there are two fields for ID ([ID]) and site number ([site_number]). Sometimes archaeologists will provide ID numbers for each site found during a survey. No records were assigned to this field, but the field could be used for future research. The site number is arbitrarily assigned as part of a practice to catalogue sites for internal control. 57 Table 3. Attribute names, descriptions, and types for the archaeological site coverage. ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES COVERAGE Attribute Name Attribute Description Attribute Type ID Survey ID Number Number SiteNumber Arbitrary GIS Site Number Number Prename Prefix Name of Site String Name Name of Site String Sufname Suffix Name of Site String Surveyed Was Site Surveyed? Boolean (T/F) Toponym Toponym Suggests a Site? Boolean (T/F) Surveyor Surveyor Who Found Site String Year_surve Year Site Was Surveyed Date Excavator Name of Site Excavator String Diameter Site Diameter (in Meters) Number Width_m Site Width (in Meters) Number Length_m Site Length (in Meters) Number Height_m Site Height (in Meters) Number Area_ha Site Area (in Hectares) Number Total_area Total Area of Site (in Hectares) Number Clusters Clusters of Sites Around Main Site? Boolean (T/F) Cluster_nu Number of Sites in the Cluster Number Neol Neolithic Period Occupation Boolean (T/F) Chalc Chalcolithic Period Occupation Boolean (T/F) EB Early Bronze Age Occupation Boolean (T/F) MB Middle Bronze Age Occupation Boolean (T/F) LB Late Bronze Age Occupation Boolean (T/F) Bronze Bronze Age Occupation Boolean (T/F) Iron Iron Age Occupation Boolean (T/F) Classical Classical Age Occupation Boolean (T/F) Parthian Parthian Age Occupation Boolean (T/F) Islamic Islamic Age Occupation Boolean (T/F) Primary_de Primary Occupation Period at Site String Ancient_na Ancient Name of the Site String 58 Archaeological site names are divided into three fields ([prename], [name], [sufname]). The reason for this is to separate parts of the name so that queries can be run to sort and find toponymic name patterns in the Jazira. As mentioned, the word “tell” is ubiquitous across the Jazira. Comparing its distribution with that of the archaeological sites may provide useful information for pattern analysis. Typically, the word accompanies a descriptive name as a prefix or suffix. Extracting the descriptive name could also provide insight into the indigenous population’s perception of the surrounding landscape. Separating these words may also serve to identify zones of influence in the Jazira region. As mentioned earlier, the word “tepe” is encountered in the northern Jazira. This is the Farsi (Iranian) equivalent of “tell.” Mapping the vernacular distribution of toponyms thus can possibly reveal settlement patterns of divergent inhabitants in the region, or the effects of interactions between the region’s inhabitants and external influences. The next three database fields ([surveyed], [surveyor], [year_surve]) cover survey attribute information. It is important to know if and when the archaeological site was surveyed and the surveyor’s name. These pieces of information are useful because it may be possible to ascertain the quality and reliability of the survey that was conducted at the site. It should be assumed that a survey conducted in recent years would yield more accurate information about a site rather than one conducted fifty years ago, as was alluded to at the Tell Mozan site where an archaeologist assumed that it was a Roman site, but was proven wrong fifty years later (Buccellati 1988). Another reason for including these attributes is so that a link can be made between the fields and the relevant reference 59 material. Survey reports are often published in journals, and a bibliography could be provided through the link, as well as the entire article. Text file formats could be used or text could be embedded in a separate database. To identify if the existence of a site is based on a toponymic source from a map, a boolean field ([toponym]) was created in the table. A small number of places on maps include the word “tell” in the name, but there is no confirmation that these actually represent archaeological sites. Parts of the southern Jazira were never surveyed (Figure 4), but the French Series Maps show the presence of places with the word “tell.” The name of the excavator [excavator] is provided in the next field. Only a small fraction of the sites in the region have been excavated; however, listing the name of the excavator can again serve to link this field to reference material that provides information about the excavations at the site. There are five fields that pertain to the site’s dimensions ([diameter], [width_m], [length_m], [height_m], [area_ha]). Archaeological surveys usually include the dimensions of each site. The sites dimensions are measured in meters and area is provided in hectares. More often than not, the height of the site is measured during the survey, or found at the control point at the mound’s apex. The Syrian government’s surveyors often leave control points at the prominent archaeological sites in the region, with some tells reaching a height of at least 25 meters. Some tells are circular in shape, thus accounting for the diameter field. The cluster fields ([cluster], [cluster_nu]) in the table pertain to the presence of “tell” clusters and their numbers. In some cases there are medium to large sites with clusters of small mounds in their proximity. The scale is such that these clusters of 60 individual mounds would coalesce into one indiscernible point on the map. Most often the habitation period of these small sites is contemporaneous with the larger site. The sites could well be hamlets consisting of a single household, or one with an extended family. A larger scale analysis may warrant the placement of these sites on the map; however, considering regional scale applied to this research design, the use of the cluster fields is useful. The presence or absence of clusters around sites, and their numbers can be incorporated into the model to present a settlement hierarchical structure for analysis. There are ten fields associated with the occupation dates for the site (Table 4). Table 4. Attribute and table field names and the respective periods and dates. ATTRIBUTE\FIELD NAME Neol PERIOD DATES Neolithic 7300 to 4500 B.C. Chalc Chalcolithic 4500 to 3100 B.C. EB Early Bronze 3100 to 2000 B.C. MB Middle Bronze 2000 to 1600 B.C. LB Late Bronze 1600 to 1200 B.C. Bronze Bronze 3100 to 1200 B.C. Iron Iron (Assyrian and Persian) Classical (Hellenistic and Roman) 1200 to 332 B.C. Classical Parthian Islamic Parthian-Sassanian (Dynasties in Iran) Islamic 332 B.C. to A.D. 640 A.D. 238 to 640 A.D. 640 to 1500 If an archaeological survey or excavation reveals the presence of cultural material from any of these periods, the respective attribute field is marked with a “T,” or true. Rather than using the other boolean option of “F” for false, the fields for the periods not 61 represented at the sites are left blank (null). Occupation Periods of the Jazira Region Starting with the Neolithic Period (7300 – 4500 B.C.), the ten fields span a time of almost 10,000 years of continuous occupation in the Jazira region. Archaeological evidence indicates that humans were present in the region during the early Pleistocene; however, for this study, the Neolithic Period marks the earliest date for collecting site information because humans started to establish settlements during this time. Regarding more recent times, the omission of archaeological sites from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries A.D. is arbitrary. It is during this time that the Turkish Ottoman Empire extended into Syria, and in most survey reports, the archaeologists use the term “Islamic” to refer to sites that were occupied from A.D. 640 to present. Without delving deeper into survey or excavation publications, it is difficult to ascertain which phase of the Islamic Period is associated with the site. Another consideration in omitting the last 500 years is based on Kemal Karpat’s (1985) assumption that the Jazira region was not densely populated during the time of Ottoman occupation because of their burdensome tax system on landowners. It is also during Islamic times, at its nascent stages, that the Jazira experienced a higher population density. This occurred during the Umayyad Dynasty, an early Islamic power of the seventh century A.D. The Umayyad’s center of power was based in Damascus, and the Jazira region fell under their influence as the Umayyads expanded their empire to the east. The subsequent Abbasid Dynasty in Baghdad sustained stability in the region until the thirteenth century when the Mongols swarmed across much of Asia and the 62 Near East. Regarding the other archaeological time periods selected for this study, there is considerable debate among scholars about the actual dates, especially for the earlier periods. The latter dates are well defined and based on historical accounts. The Classical Period used in the database represents the Hellenistic and Roman occupations of the Near East starting with Alexander the Great’s conquest of Persia in the fourth century B.C., and Rome’s subsequent conquest of the Seleucid Empire during the first century B.C. One of Alexander’s generals, Seleucus, started the dynastic rule of the region that also included Syria after the Macedonian leader’s death in 323 B.C. Contemporaneous with the powers of the Classical Period in Syria were the Parthians and Sassanian. Both were dynastic powers in what is now the country of Iran. Their influence also extended to portions of the Jazira region. The subsequent rise of Islam marked the end of these rivaling factions influences in the region as Islam spread from Arabia to Syria during the seventh century A.D. The time spanning from the Neolithic Period to the Iron Age offers greater ambiguity in establishing dates for each of the periods. Close to 6,000 years passed as human activities changed the face of the Near Eastern landscape, through plant and animal domestication and advances in technology. These changes marked the passages of time from one period to the next. The Neolithic Period (ca 7300 – 4500 B.C.), was a time when human subsistence activities started to dramatically transform the face of the Near Eastern landscape. The domestication of plants and animals played a prominent role in this change, and led to the establishment of some of the earliest communities in the world. These were mostly 63 agrarian-based villages that depended on domesticated forms of wheat, barley, legumes, sheep, and goats to sustain their sedentary life. The earliest form of pottery was also introduced in the Near East during the Neolithic Period. Though not all village occupants assumed the subsistence strategy of a permanent sedentary existence, domestication of plants and animals and the invention of pottery marked the first stages of settlement development that would expand in the coming millennia. The Chalcolithic Period (ca 4500 – 3100 B.C.) marks the beginning of metalworking in the Near East and the development of more complex social and economic structures and interactions. The Ubaid and Uruk Periods are also synonymous with the Chalcolithic Period. These two periods represent material cultures that originated in southern Mesopotamia. Their respective cultures were to have diffused across portions of the Near East. Metalworking at this time was restricted to refining copper for tools and weapons. Settlements grew in size to towns and small cities with more specialized labor, chiefdom level organization, and greater trade activities. The Bronze Age spans almost 2000 years (ca 3100 – 1200 B.C.). This is the primary reason that scholars have chosen to divide this into the Early Bronze Age (3100 – 2000 B.C.), the Middle Bronze Age (2000 – 1600 B.C.), and the Late Bronze Age (1600 – 1200 B.C.). There are some distinctive changes in the material culture, so the dates are not strictly arbitrary. The database includes fields for the Bronze Age and its three subdivisions. Since the research is directed primarily at settlement patterns of the Bronze Age in the Jazira, it is important to include a field in the database for each possible date listed in the survey and archaeological reports. In some cases, the archaeologists describe the occupation as Bronze Age because it is difficult to ascertain the exact period 64 when conducting a survey. Site excavations usually provide accurate dates because there is time to examine and compare artifacts, read documents, and conduct radiocarbon dating measurements. It is during this period that profound change occurred across the Near Eastern landscape. First, metallurgists added a tin alloy to copper to produce bronze, a much harder metal than copper. Towns and small cities grew into city-states from which empires rose to control regional trade routes among the major cities. Politics and religions became more complex as priest societies controlled temples and kings ruled from palaces. Probably most significant was the invention of writing around 2400 B.C.. Scholars ascertain that as commercial and agricultural activities grew in the Near East, merchants and the ruling bureaucracy required a means to document transactions and control inventories. Writing evolved from simple pictographs to complex symbols, or signs. These signs are known to us as cuneiform script, because of their distinctive shapes, and this form of writing stood until the time when the alphabet was introduced during the first millennium B.C. 1200 B.C. marks the beginning of the Iron Age in the Near East. Metalworkers found iron to be more durable and stronger than bronze, and considered it at one time as a more valuable resource than gold (Roaf 1990, 150). The Iron Age witnessed the rise of the Assyrian empires during the latter part of the second millennium and continuing until its waning days in the seventh century B.C. Their influence, as well as that of the Persians (626 – 332 B.C.), would extend across the Jazira region until the arrival of the Alexander the Great and his Macedonian forces. The two remaining fields in the database pertain to the primary occupation level 65 ([primary_de]) and the ancient name of the settlement ([ancient_na]). The primary deposit refers to the time period when occupation was most prominent at the site. Many sites contain multi-temporal components that span hundreds, even thousands of years; others consist of only one occupation level that is limited to one period. This information is important because it reveals temporal spatial patterns across the Syrian Jazira. Many sites contain multiple occupation levels; however, exposing the dominant period of occupation can provide information about settlement history for the region. A dominant representation of one period across sites in the Jazira provides a clue to the Jazira’s past in terms of stable political conditions, active trading and commercial exchanges, or favorable environmental effects. Voids or gaps in the occupation history of sites across the region may be indicative of regional instability that can be attributed to a common factor such as invasion and war, changes in trade routes, or drought conditions. Though the presence or absence of occupation levels at sites, or the existence of sites themselves, may correspond to the conditions cited previously, there can be many other factors that can influence settlement patterns in a region. Tracking the primary deposits of each site may yield information about the settlement history of the Jazira as scholars uncover more ancient settlements in the region. The ancient settlement name field also provides additional information about each site. The name is often revealed after philologists have translated the ancient documents that have been uncovered at the site. If one site has been identified, it might be possible to identify other sites in the region. Many ancient documents reveal commercial and political activities between cities. Some of these accounts provide travel descriptions or itineraries from one city to the next; therefore, making it possible to identify other ancient settlements 66 in the region. As the names of ancient settlements are added to the map, their locations and supporting documents may reveal where other settlements are situated, as well as important physical features of the landscape. The Assyrians often mention important mountains, mountain passes, and river crossings in their military campaign reports and annals. Including the ancient names of settlements and toponyms in the database, as well as all the aforementioned attributes, provides an important reference source to draw upon for future research activities, especially if placed on the internet. 67 CHAPTER IV RESULTS The results represent a review and summary of environmental and archaeological site data presented in a GIS format. A segregated description of environmental variables comprises the first sections of this chapter. A presentation of the archaeological site distribution patterns follows, and the chapter ends with the integration of these datasets to provide the basis for a comparative temporal-spatial analysis and summary. Subsistence Activities and the Physical Setting As mentioned in the previous chapters, scholars have long established that the ancient inhabitants of the region depended on wheat and barley agriculture as their main subsistence activity. Coupled with sheep and goat grazing, and the need for accessibility to water resources and important trade routes, it is possible to identify the optimal physical landscape that would sustain these activities. Wheat production requires a set of physical conditions to assure suitable annual crop yields for the local population. As a temperate crop, wheat grows well under the following conditions (Gooding and Davies, 1997):  Air temperature range between 2CŠ and 30ŠC;  Annual rainfall between 250 and 1000 mm;  A mild winter followed by a warm summer with high radiation;  Well-drained, fertile, medium to heavy textured soils (silt and clay loams). 68 Optimal conditions would probably require annual rainfall in the range of 300 to 400 mm, with most of the precipitation falling during the winter months. Spring temperatures would range between 21ŠC and 24ŠC. If excessive rainfall occurs at the time of grain maturation, the grain tends to sprout, thus reducing the harvest yield. Too much rain can also create suitable conditions for fungal diseases to spread and damage wheat crops. Excessive temperature ranges can also damage wheat crops, along with drought and storms. Locusts pose a serious threat to crops, but the role of pests is not the addressed in this study. Despite the fact that emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum) was domesticated in this region of the world, the contemporary physical setting of the Syrian Jazira offers less than perfect conditions for growing wheat. Wheat is primarily restricted to areas where rainfall exceeds 350 mm annually, with the exception of irrigated fields in the drier zones. Winter wheat is planted during the months of October and November, and harvested during the late spring months. The other important crop is barley. This crop generally thrives under the same conditions as wheat; however, it has a greater range because the plant tolerates saline soils better, and can grow in areas that receive less than 350 mm of annual rainfall. Through the millennia, wheat grain has been prized more than barley; however, continuous occupation of the region has lead to land degradation, and a greater dependence on the latter. Legumes also represent an important cultigen for the region. Legumes were a valuable food source for its inhabitants, and provided valuable nutrients for the soil (Redman, 1978). The plants’ roots decay and introduce more nitrogen into the soil, thus 69 enriching it for other cultigens that tend do draw the nutrients from the soil. Legumes tend to require the same conditions as wheat and barley, but can also survive in the drier zones if irrigation is available. Sheep and goat grazing tends to dominate areas where crop production cannot be sustained due to inadequate rainfall. The sheep are also moved into the dry farming areas and allowed to graze across crop areas after harvest, or on fallow land. Sheep and goats require access to water sources, typically consisting of rivers, streams, and wells. Food sources consist of grasses, fodder, and scattered grains not collected during the harvest. Though sheep and goats have a range that covers the entire study area of the Jazira, the growing season of the winter months would limit their grazing activities to the arid region of the Jazira. Here the sparse rainfalls would provide sufficient moisture for wild grasses and other edible vegetation, though the carrying capacity of this area would be severely reduced during the summer months. The physical landscape also plays a role in providing trade route accessibility. First, as described, suitable conditions make it possible to support agricultural activities, which in turn contribute to larger population sizes. This provides a market for trading goods. Second, the landscape affects the decision process in selecting routes for moving commodities. The friction of distance factors into the transport costs. Difficult terrain and deep river crossings would hinder movement of goods. Inadequate water supplies for beasts of burden and merchants would be very restrictive. On the other hand, outlier settlements may represent important water stops for caravans, or entry points at passes that cut between rugged terrain. Water was especially important until the domestication of the camel during the early first millennium (Luke 1965, 42-43). Prior to that time, and 70 continuing until mechanization, the donkey represented the most important pack animal in the region. Finally, valuable minerals were considered important commodities that were traded extensively across the Near East. Geologic processes formed these minerals, thus providing another link between the physical landscape and human activities. The Physical Landscape of the Jazira The major relevant features that comprise the physical landscape of the Syrian Jazira are geology, topography, soils, climate, surface hydrology, and sub-surface hydrology. The complex physiographical interactions between these features account for a diverse landscape. Subsequently, early human inhabitants were able to adapt to these conditions and use the resources to plant and harvest crops, graze animal herds, extract and manufacture minerals, produce and exchange market goods, and build villages and cities. Geology During the 1960s, Soviet geologists (Technoexport 1967) contributed to the knowledge of Syria’s geology thanks to field investigations conducted to explore the potential for mineral and petroleum resources and subsurface water sources. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations extracted information from the Soviet research activities to study the subsurface hydrology in the Jazira region (FAO 1966). The results of these combined efforts, added to those of many others, have revealed information about the depositional history of the geological formations in the 71 Syrian Jazira and the characteristics of these deposits. In terms of relative time, the geological deposits date from the Eocene Epoch of the Tertiary Period to the recent Quaternary (Figure 8). Earlier Jurassic and Triassic deposits are buried deep below these later deposits. Paleozoic rock can be found in the core of the Jebel Abd-el Aziz. Jebel Abd-el Aziz is an anticline, which is an uplifted area that sits prominently across the north-central part of the Jazira. Situated just east of the Jebel Abd el-Aziz range is the Sinjar anticline, another dominant geological structure extending from the northwestern Iraqi plains to the eastern limits of the Syrian Jazira. Both ranges were formed during the late Miocene, with a significant uplift occurring during the middle to late Pliocene (Kent and Hickman, 1997). To the north of Jebel Abd-el Aziz lies the Mardin uplift, another important anticline that stretches along the Syrian/Turkish border. The area between these two uplifts is referred to as the “Upper Jazira” (Figure 9). The area south of Jebel Abd-el Aziz, and leading to the Euphrates River Valley is called the “Lower Jazira.” The Upper Jazira contains mostly gravels, clays, and sands of the Pliocene and Pleistocene (Figure 10), and includes also pockets of Miocene limestone, sandstone, clay, and marls. There are more Miocene deposits in the Lower Jazira, though Pliocene deposits of clays, sands, and gravel are common. A large portion of the western Jazira contains Quaternary deposits consisting of conglomerates, pebble beds, sands, loams, and clays. These deposits are associated with the Euphrates and Balikh Rivers. Quaternary deposits of the Upper and Lower Jazira are associated with the Khabur River, which runs from the Turkish border to the Euphrates River. 72 Figure 8. Relative geological dates for deposits in the Jazira. 73 Figure 9. Cross-section of the geological structure of Jebel abd el-Aziz and the Upper and Lower Jazira. A wide band of Late Miocene deposits stretches across the center of the Jazira. Limestone conglomerates, sandstone, gypsum, clays, and rock salt comprise the rock types of this deposit, and provide much of the parent material for the soils in the surrounding area. Quaternary basalts are also common across much of the Jazira, including the far northeastern and northwestern corners, and areas along the Euphrates and Khabur Rivers. The remnants of a cinder cone volcano (the Kaukab) towers above the outskirts of the modern city of Hassaka. It appears that its lava flow may have altered the course of the Jagh-Jagh River; however, no field investigations have been conducted to determine if this was the case. Russian geologists made the case that volcanic activities may have occurred at a time during the time of the Neolithic Period or later (Technoexport 1967, 170). Further field investigations will be necessary to determine if there was this contemporaneity between volcanic activity and human occupation in the Jazira, and if so, what impact volcanism may have played in affecting human adaptation strategies. The geological impact on human adaptation played a significant role in the 74 Figure 10. Geological sediments in the Jazira. 75 Jazira. The physical processes formed the landscape, provided parent material for soil development and aquifer formations. Stones were utilized for building materials and tools. Obsidian, an igneous rock, was highly prized during the Neolithic Period in the Near East, and it was widely distributed throughout the region for centuries (Postgate 1996). The glass-like stone provided a razor sharp edge that was used for butchering animals and harvesting grains. Geomorphology and Relief As mentioned previously, Miocene and Pliocene sedimentary deposits formed much of the Jazira region. Uplifts occurred that pushed these deposits almost 1000 meters above the Jazira’s plains during the Late Pliocene. Subsequently, active subsidence took place in the region, along with the occurrence of colluvial, alluvial, and lacustrine depositions, and erosional processes associated with fluvial activities during the Quaternary Period. During this period, lava flows also formed plateaus in the northeastern Jazira, as well as points along the Euphrates and Khabur Rivers. All these processes account for the variability in the Jazira’s relief (Figure 11). The most pronounced feature on the landscape is the Jebel Abd el-Aziz, which towers to a height of almost 1000 meters above sea level. Just to the east of el-Aziz is the western extent of the Sinjar range. On the Iraqi side it reaches a height of 1500 meters above sea level. Lava flows and the Qaratchok Darh (Qaratchok Mountain) anticline in the northeastern area of the Jazira account for elevations of 600 meters. The Qaratchok Darh and the higher terrain following the Syrian/Turkish border, are also part of the 76 Figure 11. Relief map for the Jazira. 77 southern extent of the Taurus Mountains in Turkey. Along this edge on the Jazira side the terrain rises gradually from 300 to 450 meters. Across the Turkish border, the change in the relief is abrupt where it meets the Mardin anticline, an uplifted range that rises to 1400 meters above sea level. Another prominent rise occurs in the northwestern corner of the Jazira. Rising to 600 meters, the Qarah Perquel Darh overlooks the Euphrates River valley. The lower elevations of the Jazira extend across the southern half of the region and the major river valleys. Thin Miocene deposits in the south and thick Pliocene deposits in the north account for the much of the difference in elevation. The erosional effects of the fluvial processes reduce the floodplains to elevations ranging from 150 to 250 meters above sea level, with the lowest elevations found along the Euphrates River valley of the Lower Jazira. The lacustrine salt lakes in the Bouara region of southeastern Jazira measure at 150 meters above sea level. Physical relief plays an important role in settlement patterns. On the negative side it can hinder the movement of people and goods; however, with every insurmountable mountain there is a strategic pass or valley that allows passage for caravans and people, or offers a strategic defensive position. Written in the annals of Assyrian kings are complaints, or propaganda statements about difficult campaigns against highland people who flee to the mountains, and away from the pursuing Assyrian armies (Liverani 1992). The low relief associated with undulating and flat plains supports agricultural activities such as crop farming. High relief offers grazing pastures for livestock. High elevations also intercept and capture rain-bearing clouds and send the water to the drier levels below where farmers channel it to their irrigated fields. 78 Soils and Land-Use Mohammed Ilaiwi conducted a comprehensive soil survey across Syria and presented the results in his dissertation (1983). The 678 soil tests revealed a variety of soil groups that he classified using the U.S.D.A. Soil Taxonomy (1975) classification system. Ilaiwi divided soils into orders, groups and units, and presented information about each soil’s location, composition, parent material, characteristics, rainfall zone, associated natural vegetation, and land-use. The land-use description provides useful information on the types of agricultural activities that the soil and rainfall could support. There are 26 different groups representing 16 primary groups in the Jazira region (Table 5). As an example for explanation, group numbers 1, 2, and 3 contain the Typic Calciorthids group as the primary soil. Calcixerollic Xerochrepts is the major soil group component for groups 31, 32, 33, 34, and 36. Each of these groups contains a different minor soil group component, thus accounting for the division into group numbers. In Ilaiwi’s dissertation these groups are further divided into mapping units, though the focus will be on the primary soil groups in the Jazira. Both the soil group numbers and units are displayed on the soil map (Figure 12). The 16 soil groups are divided into four orders consisting of Aridisols, Entisols, Inceptisols, and Vertisols. Limestone, sandstone, gypsum, and marls of the Miocene and Pliocene Epochs comprise much of the parent material for the soils, with alluvium as the primary source for soils in the major river valleys of the Euphrates and Khabur Rivers, and basalt for soils that surround dormant volcanoes in the region. Sand, loam, and clay Table 5. Classifications and descriptions of the Jazira’s soils. 79 GROUP #’s 1, 2, 3 GROUP NAME Typic Calciorthids Xerollic Calciorthids Calcic Gypsiorthids ORDER SUBORDER Aridisol Orthids Aridisol Orthids Aridisol Orthids 13, 16, 17, 18 Hypergypsic Gypsiorthids Aridisol Orthids 19 Petrogypsic Gypsiorthids Aridisol Orthids 21 Typic Salorthids Typic Torrifluvents Aridisol Orthids Entisol Fluvents Alluvium, Colluvium Alluvium Lithic Torrifluvents Lithic Xerorthents Calcixerollic Xerochrepts Hypergypsic Xerochrepts Entisol Fluvents Gypsum Entisol Orthents Inceptisol Ochrepts Inceptisol Ochrepts Inceptisol Ochrepts Vertisol Vertisol Torrerts Xerert Limestone, Sandstone Limestone, Gypsum Gypsum, Limestone, Marl, Sandstone Limestone, Marl Alluvium Basalt Inceptisol or Andisol Aridisol Andept or Torrands Orthids 9 12 23 25 27, 28 31, 32, 33, 34, 36 39 43 46 49 50 53 Vertic Xerochrepts Typic Torrerts Entic chromo xererts Calcic Vitritorrands Typic Camborthids PARENT MATERIAL Basalt Limestone, Sandstone Gypsum, Limestone, Marls Gypsum, Limestone, Sandstone, Marls Gypsum, Limestone SOIL TEXTURE Loam, Clay loam Loam, Clay, Clay loam Loam, Gypsum Horizon Loam, Clay loam Loam, Loamy Sand Sandy loam, Loamy sand Sandy Loam, Loam, Clay loam Loam, Sandy loam Loam, Sandy Loam Loam, Clay loam Loam, Silt loam, Clay Loam Clay Clay Clay Volcanic ash Clay Alluvium Loams, Sandy loams, Clay 80 Figure 12. Soils of the Jazira. 81 are common textures for the soils. There is very little silt found among the soils of the Jazira. Silt loams are found in the Hypergypsic Xerochrepts along the southern foot of the Jebel Abd el-Aziz uplift. Though the Jazira represents Syria’s breadbasket, many of its soils are effete. The composition of the Jazira’s soils also render them incapable of producing exceptional yields, though advances in modern technology maximize their potential. The Lower Jazira’s soils are incapable of supporting wheat crops, with the exception of the Typic Torrifluvents (Group 23) along the Balikh and Euphrates Rivers. Here barley and some wheat can be grown if the soil is properly irrigated, though salinization can become a serious problem over time. Beyond these areas, the soils and climate are hostile to crop production. The Typic Salorthids (Group 21) of the Bouara region contain salt deposits of lacustrine origin. The Hypergypsic Gypsiorthids (Groups 13, 16, 17, and 18) and Typic Calciorthids (Groups 1, 2, and 3) cover much of the remaining portion of the Lower Jazira, extending from the Iraqi border to the Euphrates River, and north to Jebel Abd el-Aziz. The Typic Calciorthids are soils derived from the basalt formed during the Quaternary Period. Gypsum, limestone, sandstone, and marl form the parent material for this soil. A high concentration of gypsum in the soil seriously limits its capacity to support crop production. Pockets of other soil groups can be found in the Lower Jazira. Calcic Vitritorrands, Xerollic Calciorthids, and Lithic Torrifluvents. The Xerollic Calciorthids cover much of the Jazira to the west of the Balikh River. None of these soils has the capability of sustaining good crop yields. Calcixerollic Xerochrepts stretch across most of the Upper Jazira. These soils are 82 inceptisols, and they are used extensively to support wheat production. The parent material consists of limestone and gypsum and loam and clayey loam sediments. Lower concentrations of gypsum do not impact the soil’s productivity; however, there are other characteristics that reduce the soils carrying capacity. During the 1960s, W. J. van Liere conducted a field survey to assess soils conditions for the Syrian government (van Liere 1965). He observed that the Upper Jazira soil’s were not very fertile; however, the more important problem he recognized was the soil structure. During the seasonal rainfalls that occurred during the winter months, van Liere observed that drying soils formed prismatic blocks. The clayey texture, coupled with fluctuations of wet and dry conditions, accounted for this condition. The lower infiltration rate of clay also produced numerous puddles of water across the landscape. These characteristics of the soil seriously reduced the wheat crop yields in a region that also required adequate rainfall to assure a successful harvest. This condition took place in a semi-arid region that encountered periodic droughts. Returning again to Ilaiwi’s research, it is possible to use his results to map (Figure 13) the type of land-use activities that the various soils can support. He describes land-use in agricultural terms, with the exception of the Typic Salorthids (Group 21), which he describes as a resource for salt mining. The other primary activities supported include dry farming, irrigation farming, seasonal grazing, and none. In the case of the latter, some of these soils support natural vegetation growth, allowing for some grazing; however, for the purposes of this research the focus will be on the support of primary activities. Soils that support dry farming are located across the upper one-third of the 83 Figure 13. Agricultural land-use patterns for the Jazira. 84 Jazira. Despite the limitations of the Hypergypsic Gypsiorthids (Groups 17 and 18), Ilaiwi considers these soils suitable for growing wheat and barley. As this is based on his observations in the field, probably much of the success of these crops depends on rainfall. The loamy and clayey loam textures that characterize these soils probably account for greater moisture retention during the rainy season, thus supporting successful crop harvests for those years when rainfall is adequate. The soils and rugged terrains of Jebel Abd el-Aziz and the Sinjar support seasonal grazing of sheep and goats. Ilaiwi also mentions that much of the dry farming zone supports grazing on fallow land and crop fields after the harvest season. Other grazing lands include areas near the southern Balikh River and on the terraces of the eastern banks of the Euphrates River. Soils support irrigation farming along the major rivers of the Jazira including the Euphrates, Khabur, and Balikh. Irrigation farming extends beyond the Balikh River to two intermittent streams, the Wadi el Hemar to the east and Wadi Qaramouk to the west. Irrigation farming is practiced along side dry farming in the Upper Jazira. This maximizes crop yields and supports vegetable farms and cotton crops. Cotton is common along the shores of the lower Khabur River valley in the arid zone. Irrigation in the arid zone supports mostly barley crops because soil salinity damages wheat. As mentioned, the Typic Salorthids cannot support farming or grazing. Other soils in this arid zone contain too much gypsum to sustain any crop production or natural vegetation for grazing. Some grazing is possible during the winter season as scant vegetation takes advantage of the winter rains. Soils play an important role in sustaining agriculture. Though the soils across the 85 Jazira are not considered optimal for sustaining high annual crop yields, they provide adequate conditions for supporting productive dry and irrigation farming, as well as grazing activities. Though Typic Salorthids create forbidding conditions for crop production, or natural vegetation for grazing, they do provide an important salt resource for the region. Climate In general terms, the Jazira is characterized as a semi-arid region according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural organization’s (UNESCO) climate map (Meigs 1952). In general, this means a climate with winter precipitation and temperatures ranging between 0Š C to 10ŠC, and hot, dry summers with maximum temperatures rising above 30ŠC. A better description is that the Jazira’s climate is transitional between Mediterranean and desert climates (de Martone 1957). Much of the northern and western parts of the Jazira are typically Mediterranean with warm, dry summers and fresh, humid winters. The southern part of the Jazira can be characterized as a transitional from semi-arid to desert with hot, dry summers and mild, dry winters. The wettest month in the Jazira is January, with December and February following second and third (FAO 1966). Most of the precipitation is rainfall, though some snowfall is not uncommon during the winter. A typical year may also have a second rainy peak in March or April. There is almost no rain from June to September across the entire region. Annual precipitation is highly variable across the Jazira (Figure 14). Rainfall patterns are based on data collected at field stations that the FAO established during 86 Figure 14. Average annual rainfall for the Syrian Jazira. 87 hydro-geological field investigations during the 1960s (FAO 1966). The FAO also used data collected over a thirty-year period from 1930 to 1960 to generate precipitation pattern maps for the Jazira. Data continue to be collected at three weather stations located in the cities of Qamishli, Hassaka, and Deir ez Zor. Each city is located in a distinctively different climate zone. Qamishli lies in the northeastern region of the Jazira where rainfall is abundant. Approximately 432 mm of rainfall falls here annually (de Brichambaut and Wall‡n 1963), accompanied with an evapotranspiration (ETP) rate (Penman’s formula) of 958 (Figure 15). This difference between precipitation and ETP allows for water storage in soils during the late winter and early spring months. South of Qamishli is the city of Hassaka, which is situated in a transitional zone that receives about 270 mm of rainfall, and has an evapotranspiration rate of 1,083 (Figure 16). Deir ez Zor, in the south, receives only about 150 mm each year and has a high degree of evapotranspiration at 1,356 (Figure 17). The temperature regimes are very similar between the cities with monthly mean and maximum temperatures increasing slightly towards the south (Figures 18, 19, and 20). Situated between the north and south region are the Jebel Abd el-Aziz and Sinjar ranges where high elevations capture significantly more rainfall than the surrounding low areas. The northwestern Jazira also receives significant amounts of rainfall, ranging between 250 to 400 mm annually. 88 300 250 Precipitation/EPT(mm) 200 150 100 50 0 Jan Feb March April May June July Aug Sept Oct Month Nov Dec Precipitation Potential ETP . Figure 15. Monthly precipitation/ETP rates for Qamishli, Syria. 300 Precipitation/EPT (mm) 250 200 150 100 50 Month De c No v Oc t Se pt Au g Ju ly Ju ne M ay Ap ril M ar ch Fe b Ja n 0 Precipitation Potential ETP Figure 16. Monthly precipitation/ETP rates for Hassaka, Syria. 89 300 Precipitation/EPT (mm) 250 200 150 100 50 Month De c No v O ct Se pt Au g Ju ly Ju ne M ay Fe b M ar ch Ap ril Ja n 0 Precipitation Potential ETP Figure 17. Monthly precipitation/ETP rates for Deir ez-Zor, Syria. 45 40 Temperature Celsius 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Jan Feb March April May June July Month Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Mean Minimum Temperature Mean Maximum Temperature Figure 18. Minimum and maximum monthly temperatures for Qamishli, Syria. 90 45 40 Tem perature Celsius 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Jan Feb March April May June July Aug Sept Oct Month Nov Dec Mean Minimum Temperature Mean Maximum Temperature Figure 19. Minimum and maximum monthly temperatures for Hassaka, Syria. 45 40 Temperature Celsius 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Jan Feb March April May June July Month Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Mean Minimum Temperature Mean Maximum Temperature Figure 20. Minimum and maximum monthly temperatures for Deir ez-Zor, Syria. During drought years, adequate rainfall is restricted to the far northeastern and northwestern corners of the Jazira (Figure 21). A German geographer, Eugen Wirth (1971), examined rainfall patterns during drought seasons that occurred during the 1960s in Syria. The transitional areas around Hassaka and the upper Balikh River valley received only 100 to 200 mm of rainfall. Wheat and barley crops require a minimum of 91 Figure 21. Annual rainfall averages during dry seasons in the Jazira. 92 250 mm to produce suitable yields. During dry years farmers would be required to draw water from the rivers to irrigate their crops, thus limiting the range in which these crops could be grown and reducing the yields. Climate represents the most important condition that affects the cultural and physical landscapes. There is a complex interaction between rainfall, temperatures, wind, sunlight, and terrain in the region. This accounts for rainfall variability between the Upper and Lower Jazira, which in turn affects human adaptation strategies, which help shape the cultural landscape. Surface Hydrology Three rivers dominate the Jazira landscape (Figure 22). The Euphrates River (Figure 23), which starts in Turkey and flows to southern Iraq, defines the western and southern limits of the Jazira. The Khabur and Balikh Rivers (Figures 24 and 25) start at the Syrian/Turkish border and flow south to the Euphrates River. The Tigris River runs across the northeastern corner of the Jazira, but only touches about 40 km of the region. Lesser rivers and streams branch out across the Jazira. Most of these lie in the northeastern corner of the Jazira where ample rainfall replenishes them. Many of these streams originate in southeastern Turkey where as much as 700 mm of rain falls annually in the higher elevations. Most prominent of these streams are the Jagh-Jagh River (Figure 26), Wadi Jarrah (Figure 26), Wadi Zirkane, Wadi Khneizer, Wadi Djirdjib, Wadi Khanazi, and Wadi Brebitch. The Jagh-Jagh is the only permanent stream of these Khabur River tributaries, and originates at Ain Qamishli, a spring near the city of Qamishli (FAO 1966). 93 Figure 22. Surface hydrology stream orders and types for the Jazira. 94 Figure 23. The Euphrates River along the western Jazira. Figure 24. The Khabur River north of Hassaka. 95 Figure 25. The Balikh River. Figure 26. The Jagh-Jagh River near Qamishli, Syria. 96 Figure 27. Wadi Jarrah in the month of June. The Balikh River also has several tributaries. Wadi el Hemar, Wadi Kneiss, and Wadi Qaramouk are intermittent streams that feed into the Balikh during the spring and are dry through most of the summer and fall. The Euphrates River is the largest of the permanent rivers in the Jazira (Table 6) Table 6. Discharge rate, river length, and catchment area size for Jazira’s rivers. River Euphrates Khabur Balikh Jagh-Jagh Discharge Rate (m•/sec) Minimum Maximum Average 250 35 5 1 2,500 300 12 8 830 52 6 3 Total Length (km) 2,230 460 105 124 Source: Syrian Arab Republic Central Bureau of Statistics, 1971. Length in Syria (km) 675 460 105 100 Catchment Area (m‚) 350,000 31,800 13,088 - 97 Its headwaters originate in central Turkey and flow south to southern Iraq. The Khabur River’s origins are at Ras el-Ain, a small city on the Syrian/Turkish border. Here a limestone-gypsum karst aquifer discharges a constant flow of water to feed the Khabur River (Burdon and Safadi 1964). The Balikh River’s origin is at Ain Aarus, another spring that is situated just south of the Turkish border in the northwestern part of the Jazira (Kolars and Mitchell 1991). The Balikh and the Jagh-Jagh Rivers are the smallest permanent streams in the Jazira. Much of the remaining surface hydrology can be characterized as ephemeral streams (wadi, in Arabic) that channel down from higher terrain towards intermittent streams, which flow into permanent streams. Many of these ephemeral streams are situated in the arid regions of the Jazira, though many are present in the rain belt that extends across the Upper Jazira. The Jebel Abd el-Aziz and Sinjar ranges have braided networks of wadis running down the sides of their slopes. The high elevations capture more rainfall than the surrounding region, and send the water down through the wadi channels. The rivers, streams, and wadis offer water sources for human and animal consumption. These also serve as an important resource for irrigating crops and improving yields in both the rainfed and arid zones of the Jazira. Subsurface Hydrology Subsurface hydrology plays an important role as a natural resource for the Jazira. As mentioned, Karst aquifers are water sources for several important rivers in the region. An aquifer’s waters can also be drawn from wells for human and animal consumption, 98 and with the availability of modern pumps, the water can be used for irrigating garden crops. During the 1960s, the FAO conducted field surveys in the Jazira to examine the availability and quality of water resources for the region (FAO 1966). Their team used a drilling rig to reach the water tables at 259 sites across the Jazira. The results were compiled and used to produce a subsurface water quality index map (Figure 28). The results were translated and modified for the version presented in this thesis. A familiar pattern emerges when examining the results. The subsurface water quality for human and animal consumption is fair to good in the Upper Jazira. People living in the western Jazira and the area around Jebel Abd el-Aziz also have access to good subsurface water. Water quality ranging from 0 to 2 is not a potable source. Inhabitants in these areas would need to rely on river water for sustenance. Irrigation zones in the poor water quality zones tend to follow river courses. The exception is a stretch of land that extends across an area south of the Jebel Abd el-Aziz. Here water running down the southern slope of Jebel Abd-el Aziz can be captured for irrigation. Irrigation zones in areas with good water quality can rely on both surface and subsurface hydrology for water sources. These measures were established for modern day inhabitants. The FAO field teams visited numerous villages in the Upper Jazira, and observed that many were using wells for drawing water (FAO 1966, 34). Most of the subsurface water could be reached at levels of 10 to 15 meters. The FAO team also observed the presence of abandoned wells that had been excavated during antiquity. The presence of these ancient wells 99 Figure 28. Subsurface water quality index and irrigation suitability zones for the Jazira. 100 indicates that the ancient inhabitants of this region were aware of the water resources in the ground, and accessed them to maximize their subsistence activities. The Cultural Landscape There are cultural conditions that affected ancient settlement distribution patterns. In the prehistoric and historic context of the Near East, the distribution of raw materials influenced settlement patterns. During historic times, political spheres of influence and societal hierarchies played important roles in the distribution of settlements in the region. Technological innovations and new domestications expanded human capacity to move past previous barriers. Writing, canals, metallurgy, and new modes of transportation all affected the distribution patterns of sites. Distribution of Raw Materials The Jazira was a gateway to many natural resources during antiquity (Figure 29). Lands to the north and west of the Jazira contained minerals, timber, and stone. Minerals included silver, copper, lead, and iron. Obsidian stone, a highly prized stone used for cutting tools, was also abundant in the region. Wood resources also attracted merchants to the region because the landscape of Lower and Upper Mesopotamia was practically void of any trees. The eastern region towards the Caspian Sea also contained many important minerals. Bitumen, a resource material used for making roofing water resistant, could be found on the plains of Mesopotamia. Ivory and timber was also available from distant lands, and was transported into the region using the Persian Gulf waterway. The land of 101 Figure 29. Distribution of important raw materials in the Near East. 102 ancient Egypt was an important source for gold and ivory (Roaf 1990). Many of these resources were in demand through much of antiquity. Obsidian was used extensively during the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and early Bronze Age Periods. Copper was processed during the Chalcolithic Period and later mixed with tin to produce bronze. Bronze production continued until iron was introduced during the late second millennium. Gold, silver, ivory, and wood were considered luxury goods, and the demand never eased for these resources. Political Spheres of Influence and Trade Route Patterns As societies developed, powerful cities, states, and empires emerged in the ancient Near East. This development increased the flow of commerce and political influence throughout the region. Access and control of trade routes (Figure 30) to raw material sources led to colonization and military campaigns. Until the domestication of the camel at the turn of the first millennium, merchants were restricted to several important routes. These routes avoided the An Nafud and Syrian deserts where only camels could survive the journey. With much of the political influence centered in Lower Mesopotamia, merchants traversed along the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers enroute to the Mediterranean coast, Anatolia, and Egypt. The most detailed documented account of this activity dates to the early second millennium when the early Assyrians started to rise in power and influence across the Near East (Liverani 1988). Written records described the commercial activities that took place between the Assyrian city of Assur and Assyrian colonies located in Anatolia, a region rich in natural resources. The details buried in these documents also described 103 Figure 30. Important trade routes, cities, and states in the vicinity of the Syrian Jazira from the third to the first millennium B.C. 104 the routes taken during these journeys between the two locations. The caravans traversed across the Jazira, and then made their way through mountain passes to reach their destination. The Assyrians recognized the importance of the Jazira, and continued to exert control of this region until the first millennium. As trade expanded in the region, other important city-states rose to prominence. Ebla, Mari, Urkesh, and Carchemish rose in prominence as important cities because of their strategic locations along major trade routes. The city of Urkesh appears to have controlled bronze trade in the Upper Jazira during the third millennium B.C. (Buccellati and Kelly-Buccellati 1997). This is probably attributed to its location near the Mardin Pass, an important passage through the Taurus Mountains. Ebla became another powerful third millennium city through its control of the trade route to Egypt (Matthiae 1977), and Mari’s strategic location along the Euphrates River also played a role in its rise to power (Parrot 1973). All these cities are linked to routes that cross the Jazira region. With its relatively abundant water resources, the Jazira offers the best environment for moving pack animals and people. The northern passage offers flat terrain, wells, and numerous streams. The Euphrates River, situated along the southern extent of the Jazira, also provides plentiful water, plus the river itself for navigating goods on barges. The ancient records indicated that regional powers recognized the importance of the Jazira region as a bridge for trade networks. It represented an important crossroad for moving commerce and information between the many regions and early states of the Near East. 105 Archaeological Sites A total of 1,694 sites were identified and mapped for this thesis. Field surveys and archaeological excavation reports were used to collect information about site location. The multitude of sites made it impossible to collect attribute information for individual sites; therefore, an effort was made to record attribute information for those sites that were larger than four hectares in area. Based on this criterion, 157 sites were identified, and information was collected and entered into the database. Taking it a step further, a query was run on these 157 sites to select Bronze Age sites and Bronze Age sites that were larger than 50 hectares. There were 89 sites identified, and of those, 10 were 50 hectares or larger in size. Coupled with the other 1,537 sites mapped for this study, it would be possible to analyze the spatial relationships between small and large sites. These might include:  Hierarchical relationships between small sites, representing hamlets and villages, and adjacent large sites representing cities;  Clustering or high density of large sites, versus an open dispersal pattern. Large sites could represent gateway or port cities;  The distribution pattern of large and small sites in relation to the physical landscape. Without occupation dates available for all the sites, temporal analysis would be limited to the large sites in the Jazira, though one can infer that some small adjacent sites might be contemporaneous. 106 The Distribution of Archaeological Sites A plot of only the archaeological sites reveals distinctive patterns across the Jazira (Figure 31). Linear patterns in the region clearly indicate the presence of riverine settlements. A relatively high site density extends across the northern flank of the Jazira, with a visible high concentration of sites in much of the northeast. An exception in the northeast is the farthest corner of the Jazira’s panhandle where the density is diminished to scattered, small sites. The site distribution pattern also displays anomalies in the region. A cluster of sites is situated along the central eastern edge of the Jazira. There are also several other anomalous patterns along the midsection of the eastern Jazira. These anomalous patterns suggest that this part of the Jazira could represent a transitional zone between the site rich Upper Jazira and the apparently empty quarters of the Lower Jazira. A second plot showing all sites, plus those larger than 4 and 50 hectares in size, and dating to the Bronze Age, indicates similar distribution patterns (Figure 32). The large sites also tend to be numerous in the northeast, where site density is the highest. A significant number of large sites are also associated with the linear site patterns that represent settlements along rivers. The distribution of Bronze Age sites includes several sites that measure 50 hectares or more in area. These sites are in close proximity to each other in the northeastern Jazira region. Again, eight of the ten largest sites are located along the northern half of the Jazira. This distribution pattern again suggests differences between the Jazira’s northern and southern landscape. The high number of large settlements in the north also suggests interactive economic activities such as trade. 107 Figure 31. Archaeological site distribution patterns. 108 Figure 32. Archaeological site patterns, Bronze Age sites, and sites greater than 4 and 50 hectares in area. 109 Site Distribution Patterns and the Physical Landscape An examination of the physical landscape reveals the conditions that account for many of the settlement patterns in the Jazira, including some of the anomalies. Turning first to surface hydrology (Figure 33), it is clear that most sites are situated along rivers. Water resources are vital for human and animal consumption, transportation, and crop irrigation. Sites in the southern half, or Lower Jazira, are situated primarily along the Euphrates and Khabur Rivers. Both provide permanent sources of water. There are few sites beyond these rivers, especially large sites. There is one exception, and this is a 40 hectare site (Tell Malhat al Diru) that is approximately 50 km to the west of the Khabur River. This anomaly posibly represents an outpost for caravans that traversed across the Lower Jazira. Harmut K…hne (1984), a German archaeologist, visited the site during a survey and suggested that this tell represented an outpost because there were no other sites in the area, and few resources were available to support a large population. Peter Pf†lzner (1984), reported information about a dense cluster of small, anomalous sites that he found in an area to the east of the Khabur River at Wadi Ağiğ. This area contained saline sediments that were associated with quaternary lacustrine deposits; however, there were no water resources available for consumption. Pf†lzner surmised that ancient people established the small, temporary settlements as part of an effort to quarry and transport salt to regional settlements where the salt could be used for curing meat and seasoning food. Other than these sites, there are few others in the Lower Jazira that can be found beyond the permanent streams. There are several smaller sites along a few major wadis, 110 Figure 33. A comparison between archaeological site patterns, Bronze Age sites, and surface hydrology. 111 but these are located closer to the north where more precipitation falls. Annual precipitation patterns provide the strongest correlation for site density patterns. As stated earlier, it takes a minimum of 250 mm of annual rainfall to support wheat and barley production, though barley is more suited to this rainfall amount than wheat. A range from 350 to 450 mm of annual rainfall is preferable for wheat. The northeastern and northwestern corners of the Jazira receive sufficient rainfall to support good crop yields (Figure 34). There is a dry stretch (201 to 250 mm) of land separating these two areas, and it is here where several large sites are located, including the 100 hectare Bronze Age site named Tell Chuera. There are at least two explanations for the presence of Tell Chuera and the other large sites. One is that rainfall may have been more abundant during the Bronze Age. A second possibility is that the city was situated along an important trade route. Though the Balikh River is not a large river, it still holds a significant number of sites situated along its banks in an area where the annual precipitation ranges from 151 to 200 mm. This suggests that the Balikh River provided adequate water resources for the ancient inhabitants of these sites, or that precipitation was greater during the occupation of these sites. The former probably holds true because there are few sites away from the river. The presence of several large sites along the Khabur River could mean that an important trade route passed through the area. Another location that supports large sites outside of the rain belt region is the area at the foot of the Jebel Abd el-Aziz. Here, water can be collected as it runs down from the higher elevations of the Jebel where rainfall is plentiful during the winter months. The collected water could then be used for irrigating crops, thus allowing for 112 Figure 34. A comparison between archaeological site patterns, Bronze Age sites, and annual rainfall. 113 settlements in the area. Drought years leave much of the Jazira well below the minimum amount of precipitation required to sustain crops (Figure 35). During drought years, the rain belt recedes to the far northeastern corner of the Jazira. Many of the large Bronze Age sites are situated within these margins of adequate rainfall. A significant number of large sites also extend into the drier areas, but their presence might be attributed to a number of factors. One possibility is that there may have been reasonably stable rainfall patterns during the Bronze Age and fewer droughts. Another explanation might be that these settlements also relied on other water sources such as streams and aquifers. If settlements couldn’t depend on consistent rainfall patterns, they would tend to be located near permanent streams where water is always available. It should be considered that about 57% of all sites greater than 4 hectares in size date to the Bronze Age. This percentage represents a significant number of known sites out of the total number that had occupied the region over a span of thousands of years. Relief also plays a role in affecting settlement patterns (Figure 36). The steep slope along the Jebel Abd el-Aziz limits settlement activities; however, as mentioned, the slopes transport water to the foot of this range. This area at the base of the Jebel also supported the presence of eight large Bronze Age sites. Their presence may be attributed to population pressure during the Bronze Age in the Upper Jazira. The sites could also represent settlements that took advantage of the Jebel’s presence to control trade routes that passed along its northern and southern flanks. Trade goods flowed in an east/west direction, and the caravans would have maneuvered around the sides of Jebel Abd el-Aziz. 114 Figure 35. A comparison between archaeological site patterns, Bronze Age sites, and dry year rainfall patterns. 115 Figure 36. A comparison between archaeological site patterns, Bronze Age sites, and relief. 116 It appears that the relief could have hindered development in the far northeastern corner of the Jazira. Few sites are in this region, which receives ample rainfall each year. The rugged terrain could affect crops, and it could also impede caravan movements. Much of the Upper Jazira’s terrain can be characterized as undulating plains. This condition provides more accessibility to markets and trade because goods can be more easily transported across this landscape than across rugged, steep terrain. The land-use patterns for the Jazira are inconsistent with the settlement patterns (Figure 37). Based on Ilaiwi’s (1983) soil classification, the limits of dry farming extend across the central Jazira, west to the Euphrates River. These soils would respond to crop production if adequate rain were to fall; however, the rate is between 101 to 250 mm annually. This area appears to be void of sites too, with the exception of the Balikh River where irrigation farming is practiced. The soils for the remainder of the Upper Jazira support dry farming, and grazing can be found along the slopes of hills and ridges. Grazing practices have not changed much over the millennia, but it is difficult to ascertain how much impact grazing had on ancient settlement patterns. The ancient inhabitants of the region probably maximized all their water resources. This is demonstrated in the rain belt of the northeast where sites are found along ephemeral streams. Evidence indicates that settlements also relied on subsurface water sources to augment their existing sources (Figure 38). The areas with the highest water quality have the densest site patterns. Many of the sites in the poor water quality areas probably drew their water from rivers. Those inhabitants living away from the river probably consumed ground water because there were few other sources available. This hypothesis is based on current conditions, and the premise that the geology and 117 Figure 37. A comparison between archaeological site patterns, Bronze Age sites, and land-use patterns. 118 Figure 38. A comparison between archaeological site patterns, Bronze Age sites, and subsurface water quality and irrigation suitability. 119 soils have remained constant over time, thus assuring that water chemistry has changed little over the past five thousand years. Physical Landscape Model Developing a weighted model represents an important alternative to presenting elements of the physical landscape as separate layers. For this study, normal (Figure 39) and drought year (Figure 41) precipitation values were weighed separately against landuse, subsurface water quality, and relief to generate one composite layer. The steps involve weighing each attribute against the other attributes of the variable, or layer, then weighing that layer against the other layers. Rainfall classes would be ranked, and rainfall would be rated proportionally to the other layers, depending on significance. Rainfall could account for 35% versus 10% for relief/contour lines. Developed within the ESRI program Spatial Analyst Model Builderˆ, the variables were assigned, weighted, and then processed (Figures 40 and 42) to produce a weighted overlay map. The files were generated in a raster format, and geo-referenced to a single layer. The maps generated for this research provided ranked classes ranging from values of 1 to 10, with 10 rating as good conditions for supporting settlements based on the criteria for sustaining people and agriculture. Normal Rainfall Model The weighted map for normal precipitation (Figure 39) confirms much of what was described for each site density-physical landscape relationship. The Lower Jazira ranks low for providing suitable conditions for sustaining populations. The area between 120 Figure 39. Weighted model using normal year precipitation, land-use, subsurface water quality, and relief layers. 121 Figure 40. Weighted model diagram for normal year precipitation, relief, land-use, and subsurface water quality layers. 122 Figure 41. Weighted model using dry year precipitation, land-use, subsurface water quality, and relief layers. 123 Figure 42. Weighted model diagram for dry year precipitation, relief, land-use, and subsurface water quality layers. 124 Upper and Lower Jazira appears to represent a marginal or transitional zone. Conditions in the northeastern and northwestern areas of the Jazira rank very high for providing suitable conditions for supporting agriculture. Drought Year Rainfall Model Introducing drought year values to the model affects most of the Upper Jazira region (Figure 40). With the exception of the far northeastern corner of the Jazira, where it still ranks as suitable for sustainability, the remainder of this region becomes marginal. Because the model design is sensitive to precipitation variation (35%), the results will reflect this effect more than land-use (30%), subsurface water quality (25%), and relief (10%). The Lower Jazira is less sensitive to precipitation changes attributed to drought because the region remains uninhabitable during normal precipitation years Modern Population and Archaeological Site Density Patterns There are striking similarities between population and archaeological site densities for the Jazira (Figure 43). The 1961 Census map (FAO 1966) reveals that the modern population density is comparable to the archaeological site distribution patterns. An exception to this seems to be a denser population density (38 person per sq/km) that extends down the full lengths of the Khabur and Euphrates Rivers. An explanation might be modern technology’s introduction of new hybrid crops that can adapt better to in saline soils and arid conditions. Fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation technology probably also play a role in sustaining modern populations in areas where it would have been unsuitable for agriculture in the past. 125 Figure 43. A comparison between archaeological site density patterns and the 1961 population density in the Jazira. 126 There have been efforts to determine ancient urban population sizes. Tertius Chandler (1987) estimated that a city could support a density of 100 people per square hectare. Based on this assumption, he calculated that the ancient Syrian city of Ebla, an important commercial center, had close to 30,000 inhabitants (1987, 93). Ebla represents a city that has been excavated for almost 40 years (Matthiae 1975). Unfortunately, many of the large sites in the Jazira have not been excavated as extensively; therefore making it difficult to ascertain the extent of occupation for any given period. Until more archaeological sites are investigated, and more extensive research is conducted at current excavations, it will be difficult to determine population density of the Jazira. The archaeological site distribution patterns of the Bronze Age indicate that population density in the Jazira was greater during that time. Further research will confirm this hypothesis. 127 CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS Summary The results appear to support the initial assumptions regarding the relationship between archaeological site distribution patterns, the physical landscape, and modern population densities in the Jazira region. The assumption is that sites and population densities share similar patterns, and that these are dependent on the Jazira’s diverse physical landscape, which appears to have remained relatively constant over the past six millennia. The ancient inhabitants of the region introduced wheat and barley cultigens and also domesticated goats and sheep. Based on these subsistence activities, their dependency on the environment was greater than for members of a hunting and gathering society. Over time, these people became permanent residents of established towns and cities. This further increased their dependency on agriculture, and the environment, and this relationship continued over the millennia and represents a mainstay for people today. It appears that there is a strong correlation between climate, hydrology, and site and population densities. Soils are a factor too, with relief playing a lesser role, but nonetheless important. The Upper Jazira receives sufficient rainfall to support dry farming agriculture. There are also numerous rivers, streams, and ephemeral streams that carry water from aquifers and higher elevations. This is where archaeological site density is greater than the rest of the Jazira, with the exception of the far northeastern corner of the Upper Jazira 128 where there are few sites. This may be attributed to too much rainfall, which can cause fungal diseases, or the rugged terrain. Conversely, the Lower Jazira receives inadequate amounts of rainfall and experiences higher evapotranspiration rates. It is in this area that most of the archaeological sites are restricted to the banks of permanent rivers, with the exception of the possible salt mining settlements at Wadi Ağiğ. The results seem to indicate that adequate agricultural soils extend across a greater area than the rain belt that supports dry farming. The archaeological records appear to indicate something different. Soil scientist publications describe the Jazira’s soils as marginal at best. Even with adequate rainfall many of the soils harden and crack as the water evaporates. Based on this evidence, it is apparent that soils play a lesser role, and the distribution of archaeological sites provides corroborative proof. Subsurface water quality also appears to have played an important role during antiquity. Again, the best aquifers are located in the Upper Jazira. Archaeologists have failed to recognize the importance of this resource in explaining the high density of sites in the region. Elaborate canal systems were constructed in the arid regions of the Near East, so it is probable that the ancient inhabitants of the region developed the technology necessary to extract water from the aquifers. Water was probably collected at the base of Jebel Abd el Aziz, which accounts for the sites in this area where rainfall is marginal for agricultural activities. Research conducted at a site in Jordan (Helms 1981) revealed that elaborate canals and reservoirs were constructed to move and store water that originated at a mountain that was more than 20 kilometers away. The village was situated in a zone that received about 100 mm of 129 annual rainfall. This leads to the relative importance of relief in the physical landscape. The high elevations of the Jebel Abd el-Aziz capture rainfall, which provides sufficient water resources for irrigation at the lower elevations. Whether this is sufficient to sustain a population is open for conjecture; however, it appears that potable subsurface water was also available in the Jebel Abd el-Aziz area. Relief’s role in affecting trade routes must also be considered. The Upper Jazira, already in abundance of food and water, represented an important crossing area for caravans that were traveling from southern Mesopotamia and the east to the Mediterranean Sea, Anatolia, and Egypt. The important Mardin pass is situated just to the north of the Syrian/Turkish border in the northeastern Jazira. The Jebel Abd el-Aziz and Sinjar Mountain ranges also channeled caravans through the region and may account for the larger sites in these marginal areas, and the great number of Bronze Age sites in the northeastern part of the Upper Jazira. The Bronze Age settlement pattern component of this study offers intriguing possibilities. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Upper Jazira flourished during the Bronze Age. Many sites date to that period, and many of the largest sites have major Bronze Age occupation levels. There are many sites of this period that extend into the marginal zone, which represents the area around Jebel Abd el-Aziz, and between the Upper Khabur and Balikh Rivers. One possibility of this expansion into the marginal area is that population density was so great that it exceeded the carrying capacity of the land. Another could be that these sites constituted gateway cities or outposts that took advantage of trade routes that passed through the region. Caravans most likely sought shelter during the 130 nights, and these sites in the marginal areas could provide this service, plus provisions for the pack animals and people. It is unlikely that climate affected the extension of settlements into the marginal areas because most of the Bronze Age sites are situated around the base of the Jebel Abd el-Aziz, and density is sparse beyond these limits, with the exception of the large site at Tell Chuera to the north. Previous and subsequent occupations of the region are unknown. Unfortunately, there weren’t the resources or time to expand this research design to add occupation information to the remaining 1,600+ sites in the database. This makes it difficult to delve into events that may have affected settlement patterns in the region. These events could have been both cultural and physical, and most certainly occurred over the course of time that witnessed six millennia of occupation in the region. Recommendations A number of accomplishments were made in the process of putting this research design together and implementing it. There were also a number of shortcomings. Information sources were few and scattered across various libraries and institutions. The research required visits to libraries in cities around the U.S., plus libraries and U.N. agencies in Europe. Fortunately, it was possible for me to visit these places, which in turn fueled the research, and moved it to another level. On one hand, information was scant and scattered everywhere; however, the opportunity was there to visit a number of places and gain access to the facilities. Archaeological work in the Syrian Jazira was also advantageous. The opportunity to see the landscape and visit almost the entire region leaves a lasting impression and ideas 131 to develop. Once the information was compiled, it was a matter of converting it into a digital format, so that it could be processed in a GIS. The conversion introduced problems with scale and accuracy, though for this regional model, the digital versions matched well with other existing sources such as the Digital Chart of the World. In all, the development of each GIS layer proved very successful, and in comparison, each layer spatially matched the other. It doesn’t mean that improvements couldn’t be made to improve spatial accuracy, especially for archaeological sites, hydrology, and relief. GIS technology also improved over the course of time, and this made it possible to edit and develop these layers for analysis. As this technology continues to improve, further benefits could be derived from it to improve the analysis of the existing datasets and augment them with additional layers such as satellite imagery. Targets for future research include the following:  Acquire and process satellite imagery to locate and map archaeological sites, physical features, and detect remnants of ancient landscape patterns;  Establish an interactive web site for the archaeological site inventory map so that scholars can access, query, edit, and download site information database;  Expand research to include the area that is north of the Syrian/Turkish border. A modern political boundary restricts the research to the Syrian Jazira, and the boundary is not based on a landscape feature such as a river;  Update the existing dataset for further spatio-temporal analyses, including a comprehensive study of the landscape, especially in the marginal zone between the Upper and Lower Jazira, plus the western Jazira;  Conduct settlement pattern analyses, which includes identifying gateway cities, determining settlement hierarchies, and the relationships between them. 132 The latter goal is one that fell short in this research. Spatial analysis of settlement patterns is an important tradition in the field of geography. There is adequate attribute information available in the existing dataset to analyze the data and make some inferences about settlement patterns, especially during the Bronze Age. This research focused more on the human-environment relationship from two snapshots in time: one during the Bronze Age, and the other in a contemporary setting; both with the environment in the background. The results indicate that the two have remained relatively compatible, but this doesn’t account for the likely fluctuations that occurred over a space of time that passed hundreds of generations. Putting the pieces together may provide insight into these complex interactions, and help us understand the resiliency or frailty of the human population over time. 133 BIBLIOGRAPHY Allen, K.M.S. “Modelling Early Historic Trade in the Eastern Great Lakes Using GIS,” in Kathleen Allen, Stanton Green, and Ezra Zubrow, eds., Interpreting Space: GIS and Archaeology. London: Taylor and Francis, 1990. Arc News. 1990. “Swedish Archaeologists Use ArcInfo to Organize Artifacts from Ancient Viking City.” (Spring): 42. Adams, Robert McC. and Hans J. Nissen. The Uruk Countryside. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971. Adams, Robert McC. Heartland of Cities. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982. Akkermans, Peter. Villages in the Steppes: Late Neolithic Settlement and Subsistence in the Balikh Valley, Northern Syria. Ann Arbor: International Monographs in Prehistory, 1993. Bartl, Karin. Fr…hislamische Besiedlung im Balih-Tal/NordSyrien. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1994. Berlin, G., Greg Saxe, Miranda Warburton, David Ortiz, and Laura McCarthy. “GIS Applications for Archaeological Assessments: Sanders Rural Community, Arizona.”In Technical Papers: 1994 ACSM-ASPRS Annual Convention in Phoenix, Arizona: 1994, GIS/LIS. (1994)53-62. Bonacossi, Daniele. Tra il Fiume e la Steppa: Insediamento e Uso del Territorio nella Bassa Valle del Fiume Habur in Epoca Neo-Assiria. Rome: Herder Editrice e Libreria, 1996. Bounni, Adnan. “Tell Fray.” in L’Eufrate e il Tempo: Le CivilitŒ del medio Eufrate e della Gezira siriana. Associazione Meeting per l’Amicizia fra i Popoli, Rimini. Rimini, Italia, 28 marzo-31 agosto 1993. Buccellati, Giorgio and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati. “Mozan 1. The Soundings of the First Two Seasons.” Bibliotheca Mesopotamica. 20 (1988) Malibu: UNDENA. Buccellati, Giorgio and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati. “Urkesh, the First Hurrian Capital.” Biblical Archaeologist. 60 (1997): 77-96. Burdon, David and Chafic Safadi. “The Karst Groundwaters of Syria.” Journal of Hydrology. 2 (1964): 324-347. 134 Butzer, Karl. 1982. Archaeology as Human Ecology: Method and Theory for a Contextual Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chandler, Tertius (1987) Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census. Lewiston: St. Gavid's, 1987. Copeland, L. “Observations on the Prehistory of the Balikh Valley, Syria, During the 7th to 4th Millennia B.C.” Pal‡orient 5 (1979): 251-275. Copeland, L. “Prehistoric Tells in the Lower Balikh Valley (Syria). Report on the Survey of 1978.” Les Annales Archeologiques Arabes Syriennes 32 (1982): 251272. Copeland, Lorraine and Andrew Moore. “Inventory and Description of Sites,” In Holocene Settlement in North Syria. Paul Sanlaville (ed). C.N.R.S.- Universit• Lyon; Lyon, France. BAR International Series 238, 1985. Dorneman, Rudolph. “Tall Hadidi,” Archiv f…r Orientforschung 28 (1981-1982): 219223. Eichler, Sayyare, Markus Wafler, and David Warburton. Tall al-Hamidiya 2: Symposium on the Recent Excavations in the Upper Khabur Region, Berne, December 9-11, 1986. Freiburg, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1990. Einwag, Berthold. “Vorbericht …ber die Arch†ologische Gelandebegehung in der Westgazira,” Damaszener Mitteilungen 7 (1993): 23-43. Einwag, Berthold. “Der Survey in der Westgazira,” Archiv f…r Orientforschung. 40/41 (1993-1994): 299-301. Fielden, Kate. 1981. “The Chronology of Settlement in Northeast Syria During the Late Fourth and Third Millennia B.C.," Ph.D. diss., Faculty of Oriental Studies, Corpus Christi College, Oxford University. Finkbeiner, Uwe, Wolfgang Rollig, Thomas Mallmann, and Woflgang Denk. “Mesopotamien -Fruhdynastische Zeit / Mesopotamia – Early Dynastic Period.” (Map of Ancient Mesopotamia 1:100000), Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 1988. Fisher, W.B. The Middle East. Cambridge: University Press, 1978. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations. Etude des Ressources en Eaux Souterraines de la Jezireh Syrienne. Rome: FAO, 1966. 135 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations. Rainfed Agriculture in the Near East and North Africa. V.D. Krentos, ed. Rome: FAO, Land and Water Development Division, 1980. Fuller, Michael and Neathery Fuller. “Arch†ologische Forschungen in Syrien: Tall Tuneinir.” Archiv f…r Orientforschung 36/37 (1989/1990): 332-335. Geyer, Bernard and Jean-Yves Monchambert. “Prospection de la Moyenne Vall‡e de L’Euphrate: Rapport Pr‡liminaire: 1982-1985.” MARI, Annales de Recherches Interdisciplinaires 5 (1987): 293-344. Gooding, Mike and W. Paul Davies. Wheat Production and Utilization: Systems, Quality and the Environment. New York: CAB International, 1997. Groom, Nigel. A Dictionary of Arabic Topography and Place names. London: Longman Group Ltd., 1983. Helms, S.W. Jawa: Lost City of the Black Desert. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1981. Holland, Thomas. “Tall as-Swehat 1989-1992,” Archiv f…r Orientforschung. 40/41 (1993-1994): 275-284. Hours, Francis. 1982. “Prehistoric Patterns in the Levant, in Relation to Environmental Conditions,” In: John L. Bintliff and Willem van Zeist, (eds.,) Paleoclimates and Human Communities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region in Later Prehistory. {BAR International Series 133}. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, pp. 359-93. Hrouda, B. “Zum Itinerar YBC 4499,” Zeitschrift f…r Assyriologie. 76 (1986): 289-294. Hunt, Eleazer. “Upgrading Site-Catchment Analysis with the Use of GIS: Investigating the Settlement Patterns of Horticulturalists.” World Archaeology. 24 (1992):283-309. Ilaiwi, Mohammed. “Contribution to the Knowledge of the Soils of Syria.” Ph.D. diss., State University of Gent, Belgium, 1983. Kainz, Irmengard. “Applications of GIS in Archaeology in the Province of Styrgia.” In Technical Papers: 1990 ACSM-ASPRS Annual Convention in Denver, Colorado: 1990, V. 3, GIS/LIS. (1990) 323-327. Kent, W.N. and R.G. Hickman. “Structural Development of Jebel Abd al-Aziz, Northeast Syria.” GeoArabia, 2, (1997) 307-330. 136 Karpat, Kemal H. Ottoman Population 1830-1914, Demographic and Social Characteristics. Madison, Wi.: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1985. Kessler, Karlheinz. Untersuchungen zur Historischen Topographie Nordmesopotamiens, nach Keilschriftlichen Quellen des 1. Jahrtausends v Chr. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 1980. Khouri, J. “Hydrogeology of the Syrian Steppe and Adjoining Arid Areas,” Journal of Engineering Geology. 15 (1982):135-154. Kohlmeyer, Kay. “Arch†ologische Gel†ndebegehung im Euphrattal zwischen Tabqa/ at-Taura und Dair az-Zaur.” Archiv f…r Orientforschung 31 (1984): 190-193. Kohlmeyer, Kay. “Euphrat Survey: Die mit Mitteln Henkel Stiftung durchgef…hrte arch†ologische Gel†ndebegehung im syrischen Euphrattal.” Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient Gesellschaft 116 (1984): 51-65. Kohlmeyer, Kay. “Euphrat Survey 1984: Zweiter Vorbericht …ber die mit Mitteln der Gerda Henkel Stiftung durchgef…hrte arch†ologische Gel†ndebegehung im syrischen Euphrattal.” Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient Gesellschaft 118 (1986): 51-65. Kolars, John F. and William A. Mitchell. The Euphrates River and the Southeast Development Project. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1991. Krist, Frank and Daniel Brown. “GIS Modeling of Paleo-Indian Period Caribou Migrations and Viewsheds in Northeastern Lower Michigan.” Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing. 60 (1994): 1129-1137. K…hne, H. “Tell Seh Hamad/Dur-Katlimmu, 1981-83,” Archiv f…r Orientforschung. 31 (1984): 187-198. K…hne, H. 1974-77. "Zur Historische Geographie am Unteren Habur. Vorl†ufiger Bericht …ber eine Arch†ologische Gel†ndebegehung," Archiv f…r Orientforschung. 25: 249-55. Kvamme, Kenneth. 1986. “The Use of Geographic Information Systems for Modeling Archaeological Site Distribution,” in Bruce K. Opitz, ed., Geographic Information Systems in Government, Vol. 1, Hampton, VA.: Deepak Publishing, 345-362. Layard, A.H. Monuments of Nineveh. London: 1853. 137 Lewis, Norman. Nomads and Settlers in Syria and Jordan, 1800-1980. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. van Liere, W.J. “Capitals and Citadels of Bronze-Iron Age Syria in Their Relationship to Land and Water,” Les Annales archeologiques syriennes 13 (1963): 107-22. van Liere, W.J. “Soil Map of Syria, 1:50,000.” [map], Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 1964. van Liere, W.J. “Classification and Rational Utilization of Soils.” Report to the Government of Syria. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 1965. Liverani, Mario. Studies on the Annals of Ashurnasirpal II, Part 2: Topographical Analysis. Rome: Centro Stampa d’Ateneo, 1992. Liverani, Mario. Antico Oriente: Storia SocietŒ Economia. Rome: Editori Laterza, 1988. van Loon, Maurits. “The Tabqa Reservoir Survey, 1964,” Les Annales archeologiques syriennes 14 (1964): 1-27. Lopata, Mark, Elena Parent, and Shih-Lung Shaw. “Searching for Sunken Treasure in Turkey’s Sea of Marmara.” GeoInfo Systems. 2 (1992): 57-61. Lloyd, Seton. Mounds of the Near East. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1963. Luke, J.T. “Pastoralism and Politics in the Mari Period.” Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan: Ann Arbor, 1965. Mallowan, M.E.L. “The Excavations at Tell Chagar Bazar and an Archaeological Survey of the Habur Region of North Syria,” Iraq. 3 (1936): 1-86. Mallowan, M.E.L. “The Excavations at Tell Chagar Bazar and an Archaeological Survey of the Habur Region. Second Campaign, 1936,” Iraq. 4 (1937): 91-177. Mallowan, M.E.L. “Excavations at Brak and Chagar Bazar,” Iraq 9 (1947): 1-259. Mallowan, M.E.L. “Report on the Archaeological Survey of the Habur and JaghJagha Regions of North Syria, Together with Observations on the Region between Ras Al Ain and Arab Punar, and a Detailed Account of the Soundings at Chagar Bazar, Hamdun and Muzan. Expedition under the Auspices of the British Museum and the British School of Arcaheology in Iraq”. British Museum, London: privately printed, [1936?]. de Martone, E. Trait‡ de G‡ographie physique Tl. Le climat. Paris: A. Colin, 1957. 138 Matheson, Susan. “Dura Europas on the Euphrates,” In Ebla to Damascus: Art and Archaeology of Ancient Syria. Harvey Weiss (ed). An Exhibition from the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums, Syrian Arab Republic. Washington, D.C., 1985. Matthiae, Paolo. “Ebla nel periodo delle dinastie amorree e della dinastia di Akkad. Scoperte archeologiche recenti a Tell Mardikh ” Orientalia 44 (1975): 337-360. Mathys, Tony. “The Use of Declassified Intelligence Satellite Photographs in a GIS (IDRISI) to Map Archaeological Sites and the Surrounding Landscape in the Northeastern Region of the Syrian Jazirah. in: Remote Sensing Applications in Archaeology: The Proceedings of the University of Chicago Oriental Institute and St. Cloud State University Conference in St. Cloud, Minnesota, April 28-30, 1997. (forthcoming). Meigs, P. “Carte des zones arides.” [map], Paris: UNESCO, 1952. Meijer, Diederick J.W. “A Survey of Northeastern Syria,” Ph.D. diss., University of Amsterdam, 1984. Meyer, Gunter. Landliche Lebens und Wirtschaftsformen Syriens im Wandel, Sozialgeographische Studien zur Entwicklung im Bauerlichen und Nomadischen Lebensraum. BRD: Palm und Enke, 1984. Moortgat-Correns, Ursula. Die Bildwerke vom Djebelet el Beda in Ihrer R†umlichen und Zeitlichen Umwelt. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1972. Monchambert, Jean-Yves. “Le Futur Lac du Moyen Khabour: Rapport sur la Prospection Arch‡ologique Men‡e en 1983.” Syria Revue d’Art Oriental et D’Arch‡ologique. 61 (1984): 181-218. Nishiaki, Y. “Preliminary Results of the Prehistoric Survey in the Khabur Basin, Syria: 1990-91 Seasons.” Pal‡orient 18 no. 1 (1992): 97-102. Nutzel, Werner. “The Climate Changes of Mesopotamia and Bordering Areas: 14,000 to 2,000 B.C.,” Meteor. 48 (1980): 11-25. Oates, Joan. 1982. “Archaeological Evidence for Settlement Patterns in Mesopotamia and Eastern Arabia in Relation to Possible Environmental Conditions,” in: John L. Bintliff and Willem van Zeist, eds., Paleoclimates and Human Communities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region in Later Prehistory. {BAR International Series 133}. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, pp. 359-93. Oates, David. “Walled Cities in Mesopotamia.” MARI, Annales de Recherches 139 Interdisciplinaires 4 (1986): 586-593. von Oppenheim, Max. Der Tell Halaf, eine neue Kultur im †ltesten Mesopotamien. Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, 1931. Parrot, Andre. “Fouilles a Mari 1971/72,” Archiv f…r Orientforschung 24 (1973): pages 186-187. Perrin de Brichambaut, G. and C.C. Wall‡n. A Study of Agroclimatology in Semi-Arid And Arid Zone of the Near East. Geneva: World Meteorological Organization, 1963. Postgate, J.N. Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History. London and New York: Routledge, 1996. Peregrine, Peter. “Geographic Information Systems in Archaeological Research: Prospects and Problems.” in Technical Papers: 1988 ACSM-ASPRS Annual Convention in San Antonio, Texas: 1988, V. 2, GIS/LIS. (1988): 873-879. Pederman, Glen. “Geographic Information Systems: Archaeology’s Latest Tool.” Biblical Archaeologist. September (1992): 162-167. Pf†lzner, Peter. “Arch†ologische Gel†ndebegehung im Gebiet des Wadi Ağiğ/Ostsyrien.” Archiv f…r Orientforschung 31 (1984): 178-183. Redman, Charles. The Rise of Civilization from Early Farmers to Urban Society in the Ancient Near East. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Company, 1978. Roaf, Michael. Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East. Oxford: Equinox (Oxford) Ltd, 1990. Rouault, Oliver. “Tell Ashara – Terqa,” In: Rouault, Olivier; Masetti-Rouault, Maria Grazia, eds, L'Eufrate e il tempo: La civiltŒ del Medio Eufrate e della Gezira Siriana. Milano: Electa (1993) 185-190. Sarre, F., and E. Herzfeld. Arch†ologische Reise im Euphrat- und Tigris-Gebiet. Berlin: 1920. Sachau, Eduard. Reise in Syrien und Mesopotamien. Leipzig: F.A, Brockhaus, 1883. Schaeffer, Claude. “Neue Entdeckungen in Ugarit,” Archiv f…r Orientforschung 19 (1959-1960): 193-195. Seeden, Helga and Jim Wilson. “The AUB-IFEAD Habur Village Project Preliminary 140 Report: Rural Settlement in the Syrian Gazira from Prehistoric to Modern Times.” Damaszener Mitteilungen 4 (1989): 1-40. Service G‡ographique F.F.L. “Ana” [map]. Levant 1:200,000, Beirut, 1945. Service G‡ographique F.F.L. “Abou Kemal” [map]. Levant 1:200,000, Beirut, 1945. Service G‡ographique F.F.L. “Bouara” [map]. Levant 1:200,000, Beirut, 1945. Service G‡ographique F.F.L. “Deir ez Zor” [map]. Levant 1:200,000, Beirut, 1945. Service G‡ographique F.F.L. “Djerablous” [map]. Levant 1:200,000, Beirut, 1945. Service G‡ographique F.F.L. “Hassetche” [map]. Levant 1:200,000, Beirut, 1945. Service G‡ographique F.F.L. “Qamichliye-Sinjar” [map]. Levant 1:200,000, Beirut, 1945. Service G‡ographique F.F.L. “Qaratchok-Darh” [map]. Levant 1:200,000, Beirut, 1945. Service G‡ographique F.F.L. “Raqqa” [map]. Levant 1:200,000, Beirut, 1945. Service G‡ographique F.F.L. “Ressafe” [map]. Levant 1:200,000, Beirut, 1945. Service G‡ographique F.F.L. “Toual Aaba” [map]. Levant 1:200,000, Beirut, 1945. Simpson, Kay Christine. “Settlement Patterns on the Margins of Mesopotamia: Stability and Change along the Middle Euphrates, Syria.” Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1983. von Soden, Wolfram. Akkadisches HandwŽrterbuch, Band III, S-Z. Otto Harrassowitz: Wiesbaden, Germany, 1981. Strommenger, Eva. “Arch†ologische Forschungen in Syrien: Tall Bi’a.” Archiv f…r Orientforschung 28 (1981/1982): 210-212. Strommenger, Eva. Habuba Kabira: Eine Stadt vor 5000 Jahren. Ausgrabungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft am Euphrat in Habuba Kabira, Syrien. Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1980. Syrian Arab Republic Central Bureau of Statistics. 1971. Statistical Abstract, 19691970. Damascus: Government Printing Press. Technoexport. “Cartes g‡ologiques au 1:200.000 et notices (en russe): feuilles de 141 Qamichly‡, Qaratchok, Hassetche, and Toual Aaba. Cartes seules pour les feuilles de Dj‡rablous, Ressaff‡, Raqqa, Deir ez Zor, Abou Kemal.” Damascus: Geologique Minist•re de l’Industrie, 1962. Technoexport. The Geology of Syria: Part I and Part II. USSR: Ministry of Geology, 1967. U.S. Department of Science and Technology. Draft Environmental Profile on Syria. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1981. U.S. Department of Defense Mapping Agency. Gazetteer of Syria. Washington, D.C.: DMA Office of Distributive Services, 1983. U.S. Library of Congress. "Levant 1:200,000 Series, 1930-1956," Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1988. Wagstaff, J. M. The Evolution of Middle Eastern Landscapes: An Outline to A.D. 1840. Totowa, N.J.: Barnes and Noble Books, 1985. Weiss, Harvey. “Tell Leilan in the Habur Plains,” Biblical Archaeologist. 48 (1985): 636. Weiss, Harvey. “The Origins of Tell Leilan,” in: Harvey Weiss, ed., The Origins of Cities in Dry-Farming Syria and Mesopotamia in the Third Millennium B.C. Guilford, Conn: Four Quarters Publishing Co., 1986. Werner, Roger and Thomas Brock. “Archaeologists Dig PC-Based Mapping.” GeoInfo Systems. 2 (1992): 40-44. Wirth, Eugen. Syrien, eine Geographische Landeskunde. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1971. Wolfart, Reinhard. Geologie von Syrien und dem Libanon. Berlin: Gebruder Borntraeger, 1967. Wooley, Leonard. “Excavations at UR of the Chaldees.” Antiquaries Journal 3 (1923): 311-333. van Zeist, W. and H. Woldering "Holocene Vegetation and Climate of Northwestern Syria," Paleohistoria 22 (1980): 111-125. Zohary, Michael. 1973. Geobotanical Foundations of the Middle East, Volumes I and II. Stuttgart: Gustav Fischer Verlag.