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POTTS, D.T. — Mesopotamian Civilization: the Material Cusses Textual Evidence on Crafts and Materials When Appro- Foundations

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POTTS, D.T. — Mesopotamian Civilization: the Material Cusses Textual Evidence on Crafts and Materials When Appro- Foundations 333 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ASSYRIOLOGIE 334 Mesopotamia currently on the market (p. viii), as a quick comparison with P.R.S. Moorey’s monumental Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: the Archaeological Evidence (Oxford, 1994) shows. This book appeared during the conception of the book under review and appears in its bibliography, but seems not to have been fully integrated in the body of the text (see for example the treatment of vari- ous mineral materials in ch. 4). Moorey offers a meticulous study of those aspects of the Mesopotamian material culture that can be identified in the archaeological record: his book comprises six parts devoted to common stones, ornamental ASSYRIOLOGIE stones, animal materials (bone, ivory and shell), ceramics and glass, metals and finally bricks and building crafts and dis- POTTS, D.T. — Mesopotamian Civilization: the material cusses textual evidence on crafts and materials when appro- foundations. The Athlone Press, London 1997. (23 cm, priate (for a detailed appraisal of the book see C.C. Lamberg- xxi + 366 pp.) Athlone Publications in Egyptology and Karlovsky, JAOS 117 [1997] 87-102). Potts’s book is also Ancient Near Eastern Studies. ISBN 0 485 93001 3. primarily devoted to the study of Mesopotamia’s raw mate- £ 60. rials and industries, but his approach is markedly different from that of Moorey. For example, Potts’s main goal in dis- The author of this book is a leading and prolific expert on cussing Mesopotamia’s inedible resources (ch. 4) is to chal- the archaeology and history of the Arabian Gulf area and lenge the prevailing notion that Mesopotamia lacked most Southwest Asia, who has previously advocated the integra- natural resources other than clay or reeds; whereas Moorey tion of the investigation of material remains with the data deals with the technical aspects of forming, firing and deco- from pertaining written records in the study of the ancient rating pottery, Potts argues for a functional understanding of past (see most notably his impressive survey of the history ceramic forms as a response to a range of functional of the Arabian Gulf from 1990). The book under review is a demands, whereby changes in typology can be explained, strong plea for an integrated approach to ancient inter alia, by changes in food preparation and storage tech- Mesopotamian material culture. The author sets the agenda nology (ch. 5). Potts also addresses topics that left little to no in its preface: his intention is to fill the niche in the current trace in the archaeological record, such as agriculture or ship bibliography on ancient Mesopotamia between the purely building, and reserves ample space for a discussion of archaeological or art historical manuals and the handbooks Mesopotamia’s climate, geophysical characteristics and its devoted to the portrayal of the intellectual and cultural his- hydraulic regime, topics absent in Moorey’s book. Finally, tory of Mesopotamia. He wanted to write “something like an several chapters are devoted to non-material aspects of ethnography of ancient Mesopotamia, combining an under- Mesopotamian culture, such as religion and social structure, standing of its material and its mental culture” (p. viii). as can be expected in a book designed to form an ethno- The book is intended to sharpen the senses of Assyriologists graphic description of Mesopotamian culture. While Ancient and archaeologists for the potential riches of such an inte- Mesopotamian Materials and Industries will remain the stan- grated approach and to form a reference compendium on the dard reference manual for all students of Mesopotamia’s material foundations of Mesopotamian civilization for stu- archaeological artefacts, Potts’s monograph will probably dents and ill-equipped institutional libraries. The author pre- offer interesting and sometimes unexpected perspectives on sents his material in fourteen chapters, which can be divided the same material, and is likewise of interest for students of in four sections. The first four chapters are devoted to the Mesopotamia’s intellectual culture. geophysical and demographic setting of Mesopotamia and to When writing a synthesis of a large research field such as its resources: agriculture, animal husbandry, and inedible ani- Mesopotamian studies, every author is forced to select what mal, mineral and vegetable products. In the second part to include and what to leave out. Such is also the case in this (ch. 5-7) the author highlights a number of topics relating to book, and the author points out that it is a personal repre- ancient technology in discussing watercrafts, pottery pro- sentation of the Mesopotamian past. He discusses a selection duction and metals. The third section (ch. 8-11) is devoted to of topics which he considers “essential areas which must be the discussion of social and cultural phenomena and their cor- understood in order to have a basic grasp of what actually relation to the material culture: religion, kinship and social made Mesopotamia” (p. 302) and justifies this approach by identity, mortuary practises and uses of writing and sealing. pointing out that all scholarship is a synthesis of data gath- The final part (ch. 12-13) is devoted to material and cultural ered by means of a process of selection, whereby data is cho- connections of Mesopotamia with its eastern and western sen from the vast body of available information on the basis neighbours, and the book concludes with a final chapter con- of a set of preferences rooted in every scholar and fed by his taining reflections and prospects, an elaborate bibliography educational and social background. Although the author is and extensive indices. right in conceding that all scientific production is affected The book is a multidisciplinary investigation of the geo- by the personal interests and preferences of the scholar, graphic setting of Mesopotamian civilization and the human this condition cannot be used to justify a certain lack of bal- response to its environmental challenges, in other words a ance in topic choice that can be observed in this book. study of its culture as the product of technological and organ- For example, one chapter is devoted to ships and water isational adaptation to its surrounding world. The author is transport, but methods of overland transport are left unex- right in remarking that his approach and choice of topics plored, and arable farming is well treated whereas cattle breed- is different from those found in other general works on ing and date palm cultivation are only summarily discussed. 335 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LIX N° 3-4, Mei-Augustus 2002 336 Pottery production is described at length, but other uses of The book’s final chapter does not contain a summary clay are only hinted at briefly (p. 97) and brick production is or conclusion based on the preceding chapters, but is not discussed at all. Use of writing and sealing as adminis- devoted to an interesting evaluation of the construction of trative tools are discussed, but systems of weight and mea- the disciplines devoted to Mesopotamian studies and to a sure and weighing techniques, topics where written sources discussion of a potential strategy for future scientific and archaeological relics can often be matched successfully, progress. The author pleads for a better integration of the are only briefly mentioned (p. 178). The book deals with scientific results achieved by the archaeological and philo- Mesopotamian religion and its material aspects, but no com- logical disciplines and argues for co-operative “lateral plementary chapter on kingship and royal ideology and its thinking” involving philological research in collaboration material aspects is offered. Organic and mineral imports to with scientific analysis of artefacts to explore more com- Mesopotamia from its eastern neighbours during three mil- plex domains of the ancient past than traditional (archaeo- lennia are discussed is detail in ch. 12, but the complemen- logical) hypothesis-testing research methods could address. tary following chapter, devoted to the relations of It is remarkable that the most provoking breakthrough of Mesopotamia with its western neighbours, does not discuss the last decade, the combined effort of philologists, archae- Mesopotamia’s access to their raw materials but offers ologists, and specialists in astronomy and ceramics in revis- instead a discussion of Greek impact on Mesopotamia dur- ing second millennium chronology (H. Gasche et al., Dat- ing the last centuries BC. ing the Fall of Babylon [MHEM 4, Ghent, 1998]) is the The author states in the preface that the book focuses on result of the same type of scientific method as promoted in southern Mesopotamia, mainly during the third millennium this chapter. BC with scattered cases from later periods. The decision to A number of essays have been written in recent years on concentrate on the early historical period of Mesopotamian the problem of integrating textual and archaeological data to civilization might have been guided by the available sec- study Mesopotamia’s past. A common approach has been to ondary literature, since many studies of topics where texts study cuneiform tablets and other inscribed objects as archae- and archaeology meet, such as land use, crafts or trade, based ological artefacts in the perspective of their context in the on late third millennium textual sources are available. By archaeological record and in relation to other objects from focussing on southern Mesopotamia, i.e. the alluvial plain the same complex: “working with both inscribed and unin- south of Baghdad, some important archaeological sites scribed artifacts to understand the various categories of arti- remain outside of the focus of this book. Notably the absence facts better and to reconstruct the whole picture they describe of discussions of archaeological and textual data from Mari in more detail and more accurately than would be possible is regrettable, all the more since this Middle Euphrates city utilizing only one or two categories of artifacts”, according was perceived by the ancient Mesopotamians as part of to R.L.
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