DOCSLIB.ORG

Ancient Mesopotamia the Eden That Never Was

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

Ancient Mesopotamia The Eden that Never Was Susan Pollock The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP, United Kingdom The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk 40 West 20th Street, New York,NY 10011–4211, USA http://www.cup.org 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Susan Pollock 1999 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1999 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeset in Plantin 10/12 pt in QuarkXPress™ [] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data ISBN 0 521 57334 3 hardback ISBN 0 521 57568 0 paperback Contents List of figures page vii List of tables x Acknowledgments xii 1 Introduction 1 An overview 3 Archaeological work in Mesopotamia 10 Theoretical framework 22 Discussion 25 2 Geographic setting and environment 28 Landforms and climate 29 The changing environment 34 Neighboring regions and resource disparities 39 Summary 44 3 Settlement patterns 45 Cities 46 Villages 51 Mounds and settlement patterns 52 Summary 75 4 Making a living: tributary economies of the fifth and fourth millennia 78 The tributary economy 79 Ubaid economy 81 Fourth-millennium economy 93 Summary 115 5 A changing way of life: the oikos-based economy of the third millennium 117 The oikos 117 A case study: the Diyala region 123 Comparisons with other regions 138 Further insights from the study of animal and plant remains 140 Summary 147 v vi Contents 6 The growth of bureaucracy 149 The decipherment of cuneiform script 150 Record-keeping technologies 154 Origins of writing 165 Further development of writing 167 The power of writing 169 Discussion 171 7 Ideology and images of power 173 Ideology 173 Monuments 174 Religion 186 Summary 194 8 Death and the ideology of community 196 Death: the great leveler 199 Radical change in the fourth millennium 204 Conspicuous consumption in death 205 Summary 216 9 Conclusions 218 Political economy, feminism, and ancient Mesopotamia 218 Future directions 223 Bibliographical essay 224 Bibliography 228 Index 250 Figures 01.1 Mesopotamia page 2 01.2 Pottery from the Ubaid and Uruk periods 4 01.3 “Man in net skirt” with his characteristic beard and distinctive headdress 7 01.4 Pottery from the Jemdet Nasr, Early Dynastic, and Akkadian periods 8 01.5 The inscribed cliff face at Bisutun 12 01.6 Sites investigated by the nineteenth-century pioneers of Mesopotamian archaeology 14 01.7 The remains of a tunnel at Susa 18 02.1 The alluvial plains of Mesopotamia 30 02.2 Levees, backslopes, and basins created by an aggrading river 33 02.3 Irrigated fields and gardens in the subdesert 34 02.4 The deforested Zagros Mountains 38 02.5 Desertification in the alluvial lowlands 39 02.6 The piedmont near Birecik in southeastern Turkey 40 02.7 The Mahidasht Plain in the Zagros Mountains in western Iran 41 02.8 Open woodland in the Zagros Mountains 42 03.1 Ubaid house from Tell Madhhur 49 03.2 Early Dynastic house from Khafajah 50 03.3 Temple from Eridu 51 03.4 One of the mounds at Kish 52 03.5 The Uruk Mound at Abu Salabikh 53 03.6 Mud-brick manufacture 54 03.7 What remains of the walls of the Temple Oval at Khafajah 54 03.8 Areas of intensive settlement surveys in southern Mesopotamia and neighboring regions 55 03.9 Settlement pattern maps for the Ubaid, Early/Middle Uruk, and Late Uruk periods 56 3.10 Settlement pattern maps for the Jemdet Nasr and Early Dynastic I periods 59 vii viii List of figures 3.11 Settlement pattern maps for the Early Dynastic II–III and Akkadian periods 61 3.12 Numbers of settlements and total settled area over time 64 3.13 Numbers of settlements and total settled area in the three subregions of southern Mesopotamia 65 3.14 Proportional contributions of sites of different sizes to total settled area in the Nippur-Adab and Uruk subregions 68 04.1 Abandoned houses made of bundled reed frames, with walls and roofs of mats, in southern Mesopotamia 79 04.2 An axe made of clay fired at a high temperature from Jemdet Nasr 80 04.3 A piece of bitumen that was used to secure a string that tied a reed mat or mat container 81 04.4 Gaming board and “ram in the thicket” sculpture from Ur 82 04.5 Ubaid-period sites mentioned in the text 84 04.6 Sizes of Ubaid-period houses and temples 86 04.7 The level II Ubaid-period village at Tell Abada 88 04.8 Pottery densities in the buildings from Tell Abada level II 89 04.9 The high platform at Susa 90 4.10 Beveled-rim bowls 95 4.11 Motifs on Late Uruk- and Jemdet Nasr-period seals and sealings 97 4.12 Uruk- and Jemdet Nasr-period sites mentioned in the text 99 4.13 Relative proportions of sheep and goats at fourth-millennium sites in Mesopotamia and southwestern Iran 108 4.14 Survivorship curves for sheep and goats at Uruk-period Sharafabad, Umm Qseír, and Rubeidheh 109 4.15 Proportions of animal bones in different contexts at the Uruk Mound, Abu Salabikh 113 05.1 Oikoi and kin-based households 118 05.2 Age and gender effects on the structure of social position and economic benefits in the kin-based household and the oikos 119 05.3 Khafajah in Early Dynastic I 126 05.4 A stone statue from Tell Asmar in a pose suggestive of worship 127 05.5 A neighborhood bakery in Urfa 130 05.6 Khafajah in the later part of the Early Dynastic II period 132 05.7 The Khafajah neighborhood in the Early Dynastic III period 133 05.8 Early Akkadian levels at Tell Asmar 135 05.9 Relative proportions of sheep and goats at third-millennium sites 141 5.10 Relative proportions of skeletal parts of sheep and goats at three third-millennium sites 144 List of figures ix 06.1 The cuneiform sign an as word and as syllable 150 06.2 Schmandt-Besserat’s proposal for the evolution of writing 155 06.3 Tokens 156 06.4 A bulla or clay envelope 157 06.5 Numerical tablets 158 06.6 Uses of clay sealings 160 06.7 Motifs on Late Ubaid-period seals and sealings 161 06.8 Continuity between protocuneiform and cuneiform signs 163 06.9 A protocuneiform tablet documenting the disbursement of quantities of barley to several persons 165 07.1 The ziggurat at Ur 175 07.2 The palace at Kish 176 07.3 The city wall at Habuba Kabira 177 07.4 The Stele of the Vultures 182 07.5 The Stele of Naram-Sin 183 07.6 The Lion Hunt Stele 185 07.7 The Uruk Vase 190 08.1 A Late Ubaid-period inhumation burial from Eridu 199 08.2 Early Dynastic-period grave goods 212 Tables 1.1 Chronological chart page 2 3.1 Settled area in the Nippur-Adab and Uruk regions during the Uruk period 71 3.2 Annual rates of settlement abandonment and founding in the Uruk, Nippur-Adab, and Ur-Eridu regions 73 3.3 Abandonment and founding rates in the Uruk and Nippur- Adab regions by site size 74 4.1 Counts and percentages of animal bones from Ubaid-period sites 83 4.2 Tools,facilities, and by-products of production at selected Ubaid-period sites 85 4.3 Tools,facilities, and by-products of production in the Ubaid- period house at Tell Madhhur 87 4.4 Characteristics of anthropomorphic figures portrayed in late- fourth-millennium imagery 102 4.5 Activities of anthropomorphic figures portrayed in late-fourth- millennium imagery 103 4.6 Counts and percentages of animal bones from fourth- millennium sites in southern Mesopotamia and southwestern Iran 106 4.7 Counts and percentages of animal bones from fourth- millennium sites in the Hamrin region and the northern Mesopotamian lowlands 107 5.1 Archaeological indicators of activities at Khafajah and Asmar 125 5.2 Activities in Khafajah buildings 128 5.3 Activities in Asmar buildings 136 5.4 Counts and percentages of animal bones from Early Dynastic- and Akkadian-period sites 142 7.1 Estimated labor expenditures for monument construction 180 7.2 Selected deities and their attributes 187 7.3 Changes in ideological messages over time 195 8.1 Common attributes of Late Ubaid-period burials 198 x List of tables xi 8.2 Distinctive features of Late Ubaid-period burial practices in different communities 202 8.3 Attributes of third-millennium burials in cemeteries 207 8.4 Attributes of third-millennium burials outside cemeteries 209 1 Introduction Mesopotamia is known to scholars and laypeople alike as the cradle of civilization. Home to some of the earliest cities in the world, famous for the law codes of its kings and for the invention of writing, the first home of the biblical Abraham, it has achieved a reputation as the birthplace of many of the hallmarks of Western civilization. Its name comes from a Greek word meaning the “land between the rivers” – the alluvial plains of the Tigris and the Euphrates, including large portions of the modern countries of Iraq and Syria (fig. 1.1). The ancient inhabitants of this region maintained contacts with people living beyond it, including those of the lowlands of southwestern Iran, the valleys of the Zagros Mountains, and the foothills of the Taurus Range.
Recommended publications
  • An In-Depth Study of the Tell Brak Eye Idols in the 4Th Millennium BCE: with a Primary Focus on Function and Meaning

    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.
  • Writing and City Life

    Writing and City Life

    29 THEME2 writing and city life CITY life began in Mesopotamia*, the land between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers that is now part of the Republic of Iraq. Mesopotamian civilisation is known for its prosperity, city life, its voluminous and rich literature and its mathematics and astronomy. Mesopotamia’s writing system and literature spread to the eastern Mediterranean, northern *The name Syria, and Turkey after 2000 BCE, so that the kingdoms of Mesopotamia is that entire region were writing to one another, and to the derived from the Pharaoh of Egypt, in the language and script of Mesopotamia. Greek words mesos, Here we shall explore the connection between city life and writing, and then look at some outcomes of a sustained meaning middle, tradition of writing. and potamos, In the beginning of recorded history, the land, mainly the meaning river. urbanised south (see discussion below), was called Sumer and Akkad. After 2000 BCE, when Babylon became an important city, the term Babylonia was used for the southern region. From about 1100 BCE, when the Assyrians established their kingdom in the north, the region became known as Assyria. The first known language of the land was Sumerian. It was gradually replaced by Akkadian around 2400 BCE when Akkadian speakers arrived. This language flourished till about Alexander’s time (336-323 BCE), with some regional changes occurring. From 1400 BCE, Aramaic also trickled in. This language, similar to Hebrew, became widely spoken after 1000 BCE. It is still spoken in parts of Iraq. Archaeology in Mesopotamia began in the 1840s. At one or two sites (including Uruk and Mari, which we discuss below), excavations continued for decades.
  • SUMERIAN LITERATURE and SUMERIAN IDENTITY My Title Puts

    SUMERIAN LITERATURE and SUMERIAN IDENTITY My Title Puts

    CNI Publicati ons 43 SUMERIAN LITERATURE AND SUMERIAN IDENTITY JERROLD S. COOPER PROBLEMS OF C..\NONlCl'TY AND IDENTITY FORMATION IN A NCIENT EGYPT AND MESOPOTAMIA There is evidence of a regional identity in early Babylonia, but it does not seem to be of the Sumerian ethno-lingusitic sort. Sumerian Edited by identity as such appears only as an artifact of the scribal literary KIM RYHOLT curriculum once the Sumerian language had to be acquired through GOJKO B AR .I AMOVIC educati on rather than as a mother tongue. By the late second millennium, it appears there was no notion that a separate Sumerian ethno-lingui stic population had ever existed. My title puts Sumerian literature before Sumerian identity, and in so doing anticipates my conclusion, which will be that there was little or no Sumerian identity as such - in the sense of "We are all Sumerians!" ­ outside of Sumerian literature and the scribal milieu that composed and transmitted it. By "Sumerian literature," I mean the corpus of compositions in Sumerian known from manuscripts that date primarily 1 to the first half of the 18 h century BC. With a few notable exceptions, the compositions themselves originated in the preceding three centuries, that is, in what Assyriologists call the Ur III and Isin-Larsa (or Early Old Babylonian) periods. I purposely eschew the too fraught and contested term "canon," preferring the very neutral "corpus" instead, while recognizing that because nearly all of our manuscripts were produced by students, the term "curriculum" is apt as well. 1 The geographic designation "Babylonia" is used here for the region to the south of present day Baghdad, the territory the ancients would have called "Sumer and Akkad." I will argue that there is indeed evidence for a 3rd millennium pan-Babylonian regional identity, but little or no evidence that it was bound to a Sumerian mother-tongue community.
  • "Oval" Temples in Southern Mesopotamia

    "Oval" Temples in Southern Mesopotamia

    Dorota Ławecka Early Dynastic "Oval" Temples in Southern Mesopotamia Światowit : rocznik poświęcony archeologii przeddziejowej i badaniom pierwotnej kultury polskiej i słowiańskiej 9 (50)/A, 35-47 2011 Ś wiATowiT · IX (L)/A · 2011 D o r o t a L a w e c k a E a r l y D y n a s t i c “ O v a l ” T e m p l e s in S o u t h e r n M e s o p o t a m i a Three sanctuaries surrounded by an oval perimeter The spot, where the temple was erected, had been wall and dating from tire Early Dynastic Period are known carefully prepared, with a large expenditure of work. The from Southern Mesopotamia.1 One (at Khafajah) is locat­ nearly oval temenos is enclosed with a double line of walls. ed in die Diyala Valley, die remaining two have been dis­ A courtyard stretches between the two walls, near to the covered at die southern sites of Al-Ubaid and Al-Hiba. entrance into the sacred precinct; a house located there Due to their general similarity, these structures are often (called “House D”) is interpreted by P. Delougaz as tire seen and discussed as a single type or interpreted as the dwelling of a priest. The surface of the courtyard raises ca. upshot of a common Mesopotamian tradition of religious 0.7 m above the surrounding ground, so it is accessed via architecture. In bodi case, emphasis is laid on the similari­ four stone steps.
  • Representations of Plants on the Warka Vase of Early Mesopotamia

    Representations of Plants on the Warka Vase of Early Mesopotamia

    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons University of Pennsylvania Museum of University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Papers Archaeology and Anthropology 2016 Sign and Image: Representations of Plants on the Warka Vase of Early Mesopotamia Naomi F. Miller University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Philip Jones University of Pennsylvania Holly Pittman University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/penn_museum_papers Part of the Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons, Archaeological Anthropology Commons, Botany Commons, Near and Middle Eastern Studies Commons, and the Near Eastern Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation (OVERRIDE) Miller, Naomi F., Philip Jones, and Holly Pittman. 2016. Sign and image: representations of plants on the Warka Vase of early Mesopotamia. Origini 39: 53–73. University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons, Philadelphia. http://repository.upenn.edu/penn_museum_papers/2 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/penn_museum_papers/2 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Sign and Image: Representations of Plants on the Warka Vase of Early Mesopotamia Abstract The Warka Vase is an iconic artifact of Mesopotamia. In the absence of rigorous botanical study, the plants depicted on the lowest register are usually thought to be flax and grain. This analysis of the image identified as grain argues that its botanical characteristics, iconographical context and similarity to an archaic sign found in proto-writing demonstrates that it should be identified as a date palm sapling. It confirms the identification of flax. The correct identification of the plants furthers our understanding of possible symbolic continuities spanning the centuries that saw the codification of text as a eprr esentation of natural language.
  • Eblaites - Oxford Reference

    Eblaites - Oxford Reference

    Eblaites - Oxford Reference https://www-oxfordreference-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/view/10.10... The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East Edited by Eric M. Meyers Publisher: Oxford University Press Print Publication Date: 1997 Print ISBN-13: 9780195065121 Published online: 2011 Current Online Version: 2011 eISBN: 9780199892280 Eblaites. Scholars utilize the ethnonym Eblaites to refer to the people of Ebla, a major Bronze Age city-state in northern Syria. Discussions about the identity of peoples, especially in the Near East, typically rely on factors such as the identification of the language utilized and the gods worshiped. Thus, because the eblaite language is Semitic and many of the gods worshiped at Ebla occur elsewhere in the pantheons of other Semitic peoples, it is generally accepted that the Eblaites were a Semitic people. However, a host of problems specific to refining this statement continues to be debated. The classification of the Eblaite language within the Semitic family of languages is the center of a sharp debate. Some scholars view Eblaite as a dialect of Old Akkadian, in which case it would be proper to speak of the Eblaites as a branch of the East Semites (Akkadians, Assyrians, and Babylonians). Other scholars view Eblaite as a branch of West Semitic, with an especially close relationship to other West Semitic languages utilized in Syria (in particular, the roughly contemporary Amorite and the later-attested Aramaic). The majority of the evidence favors the latter opinion. To cite one example, the Eblaite first-person independent pronoun I is 'ana, exactly as in Amorite and Aramaic.
  • The Relevance of the Diyala Sequence to South Mesopotamian Sites

    The Relevance of the Diyala Sequence to South Mesopotamian Sites

    Ii>' THE RELEVANCE OF THE DIYALA SEQUENCE TO SOUTH MESOPOTAMIAN SITES HE Chicago Oriental Institute excavations in the Diyala region have con- T tributed much to our knowledge of the latter part of the Uruk period (including the Jamdat Nasr phase) as well as to more than six later stages of Mesopotamian history. The ceramic material of these periods has been thoroughly presented in Delougaz's long and valuable publication, Pottery from the Diyala Region. Some early and middle Uruk sherds were found, but not in their proper stratigraphical context; the earliest pottery excavated in situ dates from phases ' c ' and ' d ' of what Delougaz calls the ' Proto literate Period ',1 and these are equivalent to the late Uruk or Jamdat Nasr phase, which extends, in the E-anna sequence, from the end ofWarka IV to the beginning ofWarka II. This material comes from three sites: Tell Asmar, Tell Agrab, and Khafajah. At the two former sites deep soundings driven to virgin soil produced sherds of Protoliterate ' d " but the stratigraphical value of these soundings is limited, as the floor-levels could not be distinguished and the sequence had therefore to be determined by depth. Protoliterate' d ' material also came from in and under the earliest Abu Temple at Tell Asmar. Khafajah, however, produced much well-stratified material, especially from the Sin Temple; this was founded on debris of Protoliterate ' c ' during the same phase, and continuously repaired and rebuilt at least until ED III b. The long sequence based on the Sin Temple stratification is particularly important, as the pottery of Protoliterate ' c ' and , d ' is rather poorly represented at the type-site of Warka itself, and is fortu- nately amplified by reference to the Diyala material.
  • UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE MADRID Proceedings of the 5Th

    UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE MADRID Proceedings of the 5Th

    UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE MADRID Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East Madrid, April 3-8 2006 Edited by Joaquín Mª Córdoba, Miquel Molist, Mª Carmen Pérez, Isabel Rubio, Sergio Martínez (Editores) Madrid, 3 a 8 de abril de 2006 Actas del V Congreso Internacional de Arqueología del Oriente Próximo Antiguo VOL.I Centro Superior de Estudios sobre el Oriente Próximo y Egipto Madrid 2008 Colección Actas © ISBN (OBRA COMPLETA): 978-84-8344-140-4 ISBN (VOL. I): 978-84-8344-141-1 Depósito legal: GU-64/2008 Realiza: Palop Producciones Gráficas. Impreso en España. Diseño de cubierta: M.A. Tejedor. 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East V Congreso Internacional de Arqueología del Oriente Próximo Antiguo Scientific Committee Scientific Steering Committee Comité Científico Organizador Comité Científico Permanente Joaquín Mª Córdoba Manfred Bietak Sergio Martínez Barthel Hrouda (honorary member) Miquel Molist Hartmut Kühne Mª Carmen Pérez Jean-Claude Margueron Isabel Rubio Wendy Matthews Paolo Matthiae Diederik Meijer Ingolf Thuesen Irene J. Winter Executive Commission Comisión Ejecutiva Ana Arroyo, Carmen del Cerro, Fernando Escribano, Saúl Escuredo, Alejandro Gallego, Zahara Gharehkhani, Alessandro Grassi, José Manuel Herrero †, Rodrigo Lucía, Montserrat Mañé, Covadonga Sevilla, Elena Torres Technical collaborators Colaboradores técnicos Virginia Tejedor,
  • " King of Kish" in Pre-Sarogonic Sumer

    " King of Kish" in Pre-Sarogonic Sumer

    "KING OF KISH" IN PRE-SAROGONIC SUMER* TOHRU MAEDA Waseda University 1 The title "king of Kish (lugal-kiski)," which was held by Sumerian rulers, seems to be regarded as holding hegemony over Sumer and Akkad. W. W. Hallo said, "There is, moreover, some evidence that at the very beginning of dynastic times, lower Mesopotamia did enjoy a measure of unity under the hegemony of Kish," and "long after Kish had ceased to be the seat of kingship, the title was employed to express hegemony over Sumer and Akked and ulti- mately came to signify or symbolize imperial, even universal, dominion."(1) I. J. Gelb held similar views.(2) The problem in question is divided into two points: 1) the hegemony of the city of Kish in early times, 2) the title "king of Kish" held by Sumerian rulers in later times. Even earlier, T. Jacobsen had largely expressed the same opinion, although his opinion differed in some detail from Hallo's.(3) Hallo described Kish's hegemony as the authority which maintained harmony between the cities of Sumer and Akkad in the First Early Dynastic period ("the Golden Age"). On the other hand, Jacobsen advocated that it was the kingship of Kish that brought about the breakdown of the older "primitive democracy" in the First Early Dynastic period and lead to the new pattern of rule, "primitive monarchy." Hallo seems to suggest that the Early Dynastic I period was not the period of a primitive community in which the "primitive democracy" was realized, but was the period of class society in which kingship or political power had already been formed.
  • Archaeology of Mesopotamia Syllabus

    Archaeology of Mesopotamia Syllabus

    AE0037 Archaeology of Mesopotamia Fall 2006 Artemis A.W. and Martha Sharp Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World Brown University Syllabus MWF 12:00-12:50 (The so-called E-hour) Salomon Center Room 203 Instructor: Ömür Harmansah (Visiting Assistant Professor) Office Hours: Tuesday 10-12 am. (Or by appointment) Office: Joukowsky Institute (70 Waterman St.) Room 202 E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 401-863-6411 Course website where the up-to-date syllabus can be downloaded: http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/Harmansah/teach.html Course Description This course offers an analytical survey of the social and cultural history of the Near East, tracing the variety of cultural developments in the region from prehistory to the end of the Iron age (ca. 300 BC). Both archaeological evidence and textual sources are examined as relevant. The material culture and social practices of Mesopotamian societies constitute the main focus of the course. Archaeological landscapes, urban and rural sites, excavated architectural remains and artifacts are critically investigated based on archaeological, anthropological and art-historical work carried out in the region. Relevant ancient texts (mostly in Sumerian, Akkadian, and Luwian in translation) are studied as part of the material culture. Geographically the course will cover Mesopotamia proper, Syria, Anatolia and the Levantine coast (mostly staying within the boundaries of modern-day Iraq, Syria, and Turkey). In order to study the material evidence from antiquity critically, scholars frequently involve interpretive theories in their work. Throughout the semester, along with the detailed reading of various bodies of archaeological evidence, we will investigate a variety of theoretical approaches and concepts used within the field of Near Eastern archaeology.
  • Ideology, Social Space & Power in Uruk Societies

    Ideology, Social Space & Power in Uruk Societies

    IDEOLOGY, SOCIAL SPACE & POWER IN URUK SOCIETIES. – A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF NORTH AND SOUTH MESOPOTAMIAN SETTLEMENTS IN THE 4th MILLENNIUM B.C. KJETIL SUNDSDAL MASTERTHESIS IN ARCHAEOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN MAY 2008 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all I would like to thank my dearest girlfriend Veslemøy for endless listening to wining about social theories, ideology and material culture. Her patience and support has been indispensable. She has been responsible for getting me up in the morning, and without her I would never have made it! I owe a special thanks to Nils Anfinset. His inspiring lesson about the Uruk culture caught my interest in the subject, and his guidance has been most valuable. Without him this thesis would not have been written. I would like to thank Professor of Religion Einar Thomassen for discussions and literature about Mesopotamian religion. I would also like to thank my English teacher Elisabeth Hornemann who has corrected my endless mess of fouls, learned and guided me in use of the English language, and Kari Nordmo at the library, who has helped me with orders of books and articles. To my fellow students, and especially Lars Aas and Kjetil Lofsgaarden, I thank you for useful discussions, help and a pleasant working environment. Mr Aas has also lightened the office with inspiring songs. I will thank the archaeological football association for gymnastic lessons between all the studying, and Tor Arne Waraas for a discussion about Gordon Childe. I will thank Professor Guillermo Algaze at university of California, San Diego, Professor Roger Matthews at UCL, Professor Hans Nissen at Freie Universität Berlin and Whiting Professor Glen Schwartz at the John Hopkins University, who have responded to questions on e-mail, and for their inspiring and essentials works.
  • A Group of Cylinder Seals from the Diyarbakir Museum

    A Group of Cylinder Seals from the Diyarbakir Museum

    Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi SUSBID Journal Of Social Sciences Institute 2020: 32 - 56 SAYI: 15 ISSN: 2147-8406 Research Article / Araştırma Makalesi A GROUP OF CYLINDER SEALS FROM THE DİYARBAKIR MUSEUM Çağatay YÜCEL1 Umut PARLITI2 Abstract The geometric cylindrical seals that were brought to the museum through confiscation and acquisition were handled in the works stored in the purchasing depot of the Diyarbakır Archaeological Museum. The period of cylinder seals, their function and the expression scenes on them are examined. As a result of the evaluation of the cylinder seals included in the study, historical and cultural framework was tried to be formed by considering the socio-cultural structure of the age. The origin of the Mesopotamian societies, their life- styles, religions and their relations with each other are also discussed in connection with the cylinder seals chosen as the subject of the study. Parallel to this, the general definition of the seal has been made with respect to the cylinder seals included in the study. As a re- sult of the evaluation of cylinder seals, their contributions to Anatolian Archaeology were examined. The period of cylinder seals, their function and the expression scenes on them are examined. As a result of the evaluation of the cylinder seals included in the study, historical and cultural framework was tried to be formed by considering the socio-cultural structure of the age. Because cylinder seals are the most important works of art that reflect the belief and mythology of ancient societies. They are also the most important tool seals that deter- mine the economic activities of ancient societies.