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An In-Depth Study of the Tell Brak Eye Idols in the 4Th Millennium BCE: with a Primary Focus on Function and Meaning

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An In-Depth Study of the Tell Brak Eye Idols in the 4Th Millennium BCE: with a Primary Focus on Function and Meaning 1 The Eyes Have It An In-Depth Study of the Tell Brak Eye Idols in the 4th Millennium BCE: with a primary focus on function and meaning Honours Thesis Department of Archaeology The University of Sydney Arabella Cooper 430145722 Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sydney, Australia, 2016. 2 “In the present state of our knowledge there are very few archaeological discoveries which can be described as unique, but one class of objects from Brak is unique-the eye-idols or images which turned up in thousands in the grey brick stratum of the earlier Eye-Temple" M.E.L Mallowan, 1947, Excavations at Brak and Chagar Bazar, 33. Cover Image: Figures 1-5. M.E.L Mallowan, 1947, Excavations at Brak and Chagar Bazar, 33. 3 Statement of Authorship The research described in this thesis, except where referenced, is the original work of the author and was a discrete project supervised by Dr Alison Betts. This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution. No other individual’s work has been used without accurate referencing and acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis. Arabella Cooper, November 2016 4 Acknowledgments As with any major study or work, you do not toil in isolation and the writing of this thesis is no different. I first would like to thank my supervisor Professor Alison Betts, and even more so the wonderful staff at the Nicholson Museum Candace Richards and Karen Alexander for their patience and advise. I would also like to thank Professor Stephen Bourke for kindly sending me very useful journal articles, and Ana Becerra at CCANESA for sharing her knowledge, experience and always having something kind to say. I would also like to acknowledge the advice and sources provided about Tell Brak by Professor Henry Wright, Professor Geoff Emberling and Professor Timothy Matney who was kind enough to show me some unpublished studies he undertook on the Eye-Idols which proved to be invaluable. To my friends in Archaeology Honours 2016, you know who you are and you know how much you mean to me. 5 Abstract Age has often been mistaken as an indication of simplicity in design, style and artistic technique in artefacts, but this is not the case when applied to the Eye-Idols from Tell Brak. Eye-Idols were first discovered by Professor M.E.L Mallowan during the 1937 and 1938 spring excavations of Tell Brak in north Syria. The Eye- Idols have been dated to the Early to Middle Northern Uruk period. They were found mainly in the Grey Eye- Temple Complex, which gained its name from these unique artefacts found in large numbers within. They appear to have been offerings deposited in a procedure of ritual discard, but the true meaning, function and cultic value of these unusual artefacts remains elusive and undetermined. In his original 1947 Excavation Report, Mallowan describes the discovery of thousands of Eye-Idols in an assortment of sizes and designs, but today the location of only a small number is known. Only on the most superficial level is the artefact type an example of a simple or basic design; instead they are purposely abstract and simple in their stylised representation of what is a possible human form. There is extensive archaeological evidence across northern and southern Mesopotamia from the Late Chalcolithic and into the Uruk period showing that artisans had the artistic and technical ability to construct and reproduce accurate and detailed examples of the human figure and face, but in the case of the Eye-Idols, the choice of simplicity is clearly deliberate. This study undertakes a more thorough analysis of the artefact type through the utilisation of scholarly texts, museum collections, recent excavations in Northern Mesopotamia and a hands-on study of the Nicholson Museum’s Collection of Eye-Idols. This has been done to better understand the value, meaning and importance of these small, apparently unassuming, but nevertheless complex artefacts, and the insights they reveal about those who created and used them 6 Table of Contents Statement of Authorship ............................................................................................................................ 3 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................................ 6 List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................. 8 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 27 Northern Mesopotamia ........................................................................................................................... 27 Tell Brak and the Eye Idols ...................................................................................................................... 28 The Significance of Understanding the Eye Idols...................................................................................... 29 Terminology ............................................................................................................................................. 31 Literature Review ..................................................................................................................................... 33 Methodology ............................................................................................................................................. 41 The Eye-Idols ............................................................................................................................................ 44 General Introduction to Eye-Idols ........................................................................................................... 44 Material .................................................................................................................................................. 45 Stone ....................................................................................................................................................... 45 Bone ....................................................................................................................................................... 46 Clay ........................................................................................................................................................ 46 Painting or Infilling the Eye Section ........................................................................................................ 47 Context of The Eye-Idol Artefact Type ................................................................................................... 48 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 48 Tell Brak ................................................................................................................................................. 48 The Eye-Temple at Tell Brak .................................................................................................................. 49 Stratigraphy of the Eye-Temple at Tell Brak ........................................................................................... 49 Hamoukar ............................................................................................................................................... 51 Redating the Eye-Idols ............................................................................................................................ 52 Religion at Tell Brak in the 4th Millennium BCE ..................................................................................... 54 The Typology of The Eye-Idols ................................................................................................................ 58 Introduction to Eye-Idol Typologies ........................................................................................................ 59 Type 1 – Single Eye-Idol Type ................................................................................................................ 60 7 Type 2 – Decorated Single Eye-Idol Type .............................................................................................. 60 2.1 – Eye-Idols with Chest Designs .................................................................................... 61 2.2 – Eye-Idols with Head wear .......................................................................................... 61 Type 3 – Multiple Eye-Idol Type ............................................................................................................ 61 3.1 – Multiple Eye-Idols with a Single Body ....................................................................... 62 3.2 – Multiple Eye-Idols with Smaller Examples upon the Larger ........................................ 62 3.3 – Decorated Multiple Eye-Idols ....................................................................................
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