Book Series Subartu, vol. 48

Late Chalcolithic Northern Mesopotamia in Context

Papers from the Workshop held at the 11th ICAANE in Munich, April 5th  2018

Paola Sconzo, Marco Iamoni, Luca Peyronel, Johnny Samuele Baldi (eds)

  • Pages: xxii + 263 p.
  • Size:216 x 280 mm
  • Illustrations:52 b/w, 16 col., 9 tables b/w., 20 maps b/w, 1 maps color
  • Language(s):English
  • Publication Year:2022

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  • ISBN: 978-2-503-59604-4
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BIO

Johnny Samuele Baldi is a prehistoric and protohistoric archaeologist, specialist in ceramic techniques between Mesopotamia and the Levant, researcher at the CNRS (UMR 5133 Archéorient, Lyon).

Marco Iamoni is an archaeologist specialised in the Bronze Age of the Levant and the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic of Northern Mesopotamia. He co-directs archaeological projects in Lebanon and Iraqi Kurdistan and is currently associate professor at the University of Udin.

Luca Peyronel is an archaeologist specialised in ancient Near Eastern cultural interactions, exchange networks and economic structures. He is professor of Near Eastern Archaeology and Art History at the University of Milan. He is the director of the Italian Archaeological Expedition in the Erbil Plain (Kurdistan Region of Iraq) and the Italian Archaeological Project at Kültepe (Turkey) and he worked at Tell Mardikh-Ebla and Tell Tuqan (Syria).

Paola Sconzo is specialist in the archaeology of Mesopotamia and the Levant, contributing to projects in Italy, Syria, and Iraqi Kurdistan. Dr. Sconzo is currently a post-doctoral researcher in the frame of the SFB 1070 at the University of Tübingen, where she leads the EHAS field survey. 

Summary

Many of the debates that have until recently driven research into Mesopotamia’s proto-urban phase (5th– 4th millennia BCE) have now been reassessed thanks to new fieldwork in Iraqi Kurdistan and new data into the relationships between the north and south of the Alluvium from hitherto poorly-documented regions. These debates were re-examined in the light of this new material during a workshop held at the ICAANE in 2018 in Munich, leading to unprecedented perspectives on the patterns of early urbanization, social mobility, and the organization of Late Chalcolithic communities. Drawing on research first presented at ICAANE, and building on the most recent data from surveys and excavations, this volume engages with one key question from different angles: namely, how can we reconcile detailed analysis of the multifaceted local variations of proto-urbanism with the supra-regional, intricate, and more widespread nature of this same phenomenon across Mesopotamia?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface and Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Late Chalcolithic of Northern Mesopotamia in Context: Building on a Long and Eventful Debate JOHNNY SAMUELE BALDI, MARCO IAMONI, LUCA PEYRONEL & PAOLA SCONZO

Unravelling Early Urbanism and Cultural Encounters in Late Chalcolithic North-eastern IraqTIM BOAZ BRUUN & CARLO COLANTONI

Beyond Subsistence? Settlement Strategies of the Late Chalcolithic Period in the Selevani Plain (Upper Iraqi Tigris)MARCO IAMONI & PAOLA SCONZO 

Un air de famille. Preliminary Observations on the Ubaid and Late Chalcolithic Horizon of the Shahrizor Plain (Iraqi Kurdistan)MARIA BIANCA D’ANNA, OLIVIER NIEUWENHUYSE & SIMONE MÜHL

The ‘Uruk Conundrum’ in the Shahrizor, Iraqi-Kurdistan: Petrographic Developments, Ceramic Variation and Cultural Connections at Gird-i Shamlu and Gurga ChiyaMICHAEL P. LEWIS

Towards a Definition of the Late Chalcolithic Period in the Erbil Plain: The Contribution of the Helawa Pottery SequenceAGNESE VACCA & LUCA PEYRONEL 

North-eastern Mesopotamian Ceramic Sub-Assemblages and their Potential for Identifying Communication Networks: The Formation of Red/Grey Ware Assemblages during Late Chalcolithic 1 and 2KHALED ABU JAYYAB

Bits of Uruk Before and Outside the Uruk Colonial Sphere. The Qara Dagh Area and Some Early Thoughts on a Reassessment of the Uruk Expansion JOHNNY SAMUELE BALDI

What Complexity? Late Chalcolithic Developments at the Site of Arslantepe in the Upper Euphrates Region FRANCESCA BALOSSI RESTELLI

On the Edge of Mesopotamia: The Presence of Uruk and Uruk-related Material Culture in the Upper Tigris RegionİNAN AYDOĞAN, METIN BATIHAN & HALUK SAĞLAMTIMUR

The Late Chalcolithic Canaanean Blade System in Northern Mesopotamia: Connections with the Uruk Phenomenon?FRANCESCA MANCLOSSI

Conclusions: Late Chalcolithic Northern Mesopotamia. Setting the Agenda in the Debate on the Rise of Urbanization in the Ancient Near East JOHNNY SAMUELE BALDI, MARCO IAMONI, LUCA PEYRONEL & PAOLA SCONZO