56 research outputs found
Cruells W., Mateiciucová I. and Nieuwenhuyse O. (eds.) 2017. Painting Pots – Painting People: Late Neolithic Ceramics in Ancient Mesopotamia. Oxford and Philadelphia: Oxbow Books
No full textBaldi Johnny Samuele. Cruells W., Mateiciucová I. and Nieuwenhuyse O. (eds.) 2017. Painting Pots – Painting People: Late Neolithic Ceramics in Ancient Mesopotamia. Oxford and Philadelphia: Oxbow Books. In: Paléorient, 2018, vol. 44, n°1. pp. 167-168
A Ceramic Tale of Three Oikumenai from the Qara Dagh Area (Iraqi Kurdistan)
No full textAbout a decade ago, by paraphrasing Charles Dickens, G. Stein and R. Özbal wrote a very inspiring article – “A tale of two oikumenai” – about Ubaid and Uruk origins and expansions. Later, a third main “oikumene” in Ancient Near Eastern history is represented by the emergence of the first empires. Since 2015, the French archaeological mission in the Qara Dagh area (Sulaymaniyah Province, Iraqi Kurdistan), directed by Régis Vallet, offers new and unsuspected information about these three dynamics of contact between southern and northern Mesopotamia. The first “oikumene”, consisting in the diffusion of the Ubaid horizon, can be documented as a very early (during the first half of the 6th millennium BC) process of acculturation gradually fashioning a new material way of life by intertwining southern and northern traditions.
On the one hand, Halaf and Ubaid appear as entities that cannot be essentialized as mere cultural packages, while on the other hand they both have close ties with other entities (as the Samarra). The Uruk “oikumene” is documented in the Qara Dagh three centuries earlier than previously thought. Since the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, it is attested by a stone ramp leading to a citadel, by a monumental building, a village with domestic structures and by large craft areas. But, from a ceramic point of view, the supposed inconsistency between northern Late Chalcolithic and southern Uruk productions does not appear as an obvious reality, but rather as an ongoing evolution due to complex relationships between two traditions emerging from a widely shared post-Ubaid substrate.
Eventually, the appearance of the Akkadian and Ur III empires can be observed from the unique perspective of a sequence of huge ceramic workshop all along the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. Since the Early Dynastic III phase, both the spatial organization of the production units and the technical features of the assemblage reveal a progressive change in scale, intensity and organization of a more and more centralized and homogeneous production, intended for a regional-based distribution.
The ceramic analysis suggests a reassessment of the emergence of these three global phenomena picturing (at least concerning the area east of the Tigris river) a multifaceted image of relations between the North and the South as far as mobility of things and people, respective technical identities as well as modalities of their cultural and economic contacts. The analysis of the ceramic chaînes opératoires in their spatial contexts allowed us to encompass the stylistic approach in a more comprehensive procedure aiming at recognizing distinct technical traditions and, therefore, the underlying groups of producers, with their specificities and reciprocal relations.
Obviously, each “oikumene” constitutes an historical process characterized by its own dynamics. And, at this level, the technical-spatial analysis of the ceramic traditions offers new insights on specific mechanisms. But, more in general, simplistic dichotomies between northern and southern people or “cultures” appear to be misleading and ineffective to describe intricate realities that, since the very beginning of the proto-urban phase, never evolve in a separate way. In this sense, compared to the better known western portion of the Mesopotamian alluvium (the Euphrates basin), the region east of the Tigris river seems to question the traditional schematic division between North and South
Delineating the End of a World: Reassessing the Ubaid/post-Ubaid Transition in Greater Mesopotamia
No full textTell Feres al-Sharqi in the LC 1-2 period. Serial production and regionalisation of ceramic traditions : a perspective from a small rural site
No full textThis paper focuses on the ceramic material of Tell Feres al-Sharqi , a little rural site in north-eastern Syria (Has sake province). The classification of the different ware types together with the morphological typology indicate that, despite numerous clear regional parallels, the LC 1 assemblage is not easily assignable to any specific cultural area : it expresses the general fragmentation of the northern Mesopotamian panorama. Later, during the appearance of two major widespread ceramic provinces in northern Greater Mesopotamia during LC 2, Tell Feres shares the specificities of the eastern cultural area. This homogenization concerns shapes, fabrics, ceramic functions and significant new cultural phenomena, such as the serial production of some containers and a more and more specialised manufacture.Cet article se concentre sur le matériel céramique de Tell Ferès al-Sharqi, petit établissement rural situé au Nord-est de la Syrie (province d'Hasseke). Malgré de nombreux parallèles régionaux, cet assemblage céramique n'est pas, en LC 1, attribuable à une zone culturelle très précise : la classification des différents types de pâtes, ainsi que la typologie morphologique, trahissent un morcellement culturel du monde Nord-Mésopotamien. C'est plus tard, en LC 2, lors de l'apparition au Nord de la Mésopotamie de deux vastes provinces céramiques principales, que Tell Ferès se range dans la zone orientale. Ce processus d'homogénéisation concerne les formes, les matériaux, les caractéristiques fonctionnelles ainsi que des innovations particulièrement significatives, telles que la production en série de certains types de pots ou le développement d'un artisanat spécialisé.Baldi Johnny Samuele. Tell Feres al-Sharqi in the LC 1-2 period. Serial production and regionalisation of ceramic traditions : a perspective from a small rural site. In: After the Ubaid. Interpreting change from the Caucasus to Mesopotamia at the dawn of urban civilization (4500-3500 BC). Papers from The Post-Ubaid Horizon in the Fertile Crescent and Beyond. International Workshop held at Fosseuse, 29th June-1st July 2009. Istanbul : Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes-Georges Dumézil, 2012. pp. 129-161. (Varia Anatolica, 27
Entre traumatisme et résilience : quelques notes pour une archéologie des blessures récentes de Beyrouth
No full textBeyrouth, ruines et cicatrices récentes, photo J. Baldi Le dernier recueil poétique de Vénus Khoury-Ghata (Où vont les arbres, 2011) n’est que l’un des plus récents ouvrages de la très vaste littérature traitant, d’une manière ou d’une autre, de la guerre au Liban. Le conflit est évoqué dans un monde où les arbres, calcinés, dépeuplés d’oiseaux et aux couleurs parfois étrangement déplacées, semblent rappeler La Guerre d’Henri Rousseau dit « le Douanier ». Cependant, celle-ci est une calamité ..
Conclusions: Late Chalcolithic Northern Mesopotamia. Setting the Agenda in the Debate on the Rise of Urbanization in the Ancient Near East
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Introduction: The Late Chalcolithic of Northern Mesopotamia in Context. Building on a Long and Eventful Debate
No full textMany 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
Coba bowls, mass-production and social change in Post-Ubaid times
No full textThe widespread and serially-produced Coba bowls are the hallmark of the Post-Ubaid ceramic horizon. If different morphological and technological traditions discernible among these bowls are recognizable from one region to the text, the social practices associated with them seem to be the same throughout northern Mesopotamia. This apparent contrast -between general homogeneity and regional specificities- seems to result from the regionalization of the Post-Ubaid cultural and ceramic horizon, when the uniformity of the Ubaid village territorial system was broken by the emergence of a few major centres. But it is also linked to the progressive standardization of ceramic practices. On the basis of the archaeological contexts and the technological and formal specificities of Coba bowls, it is possible to suggest an interpretation of these containers as vessels used during communal meals involving some negotiation of social relations or the redistribution of food. In any case, the emergence of such a phenomenon over a wide region, together with a more and more repetitive and specialized production system, indicate important social transformations and strong cultural integration processes that had developed by the early 4th millennium BC.Les Coba bowls, produits en série à l'intérieur d'une vaste région, sont emblématiques de l'horizon céramique Post-Obeid. Quoique différentes traditions morphologiques et technologiques soient reconnais-sables au sein des diverses productions régionales, les pratiques sociales associées à ce type de contenant paraissent comparables dans toute la Mésopotamie du Nord. Cette apparente contradiction paraît résulter de la régionalisation de l'horizon culturel et céramique post-obeidien, suite au morcellement du système territorial obeidien confronté à l'émergence de quelques centres régionaux. Mais elle résulte aussi de la progressive standardisation des pratiques céramiques. Partant des contextes archéologiques et des particularités technologiques et formelles des Coba bowls, on peut supposer que ces récipients ont été utilisés lors de repas communautaires impliquant une négociation des relations sociales ou une redistribution de rations alimentaires. Quoi qu'il en soit, l'émergence d'un tel phénomène à travers une région si vaste, associée à un système de production de plus en plus répétitif et spécialisé, indique le développement de transformations sociales et de profonds processus d'intégration culturels dès la fin du 5eme millénaire av. n.è. particularités technologiques et formelles des Coba bowls, on peut supposer que ces récipients ont été utilisés lors de repas communautaires impliquant une négociation des relations sociales ou une redistri¬ bution de rations alimentaires. Quoi qu'il en soit, l'émergence d'un tel phénomène à travers une région si vaste, associée à un système de production de plus en plus répétitif et spécialisé, indique le développement de transformations sociales et de profonds processus d'intégration culturels dès la fin du 5eme millénaire av. n.è.Baldi Johnny Samuele. Coba bowls, mass-production and social change in Post-Ubaid times. In: After the Ubaid. Interpreting change from the Caucasus to Mesopotamia at the dawn of urban civilization (4500-3500 BC). Papers from The Post-Ubaid Horizon in the Fertile Crescent and Beyond. International Workshop held at Fosseuse, 29th June-1st July 2009. Istanbul : Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes-Georges Dumézil, 2012. pp. 393-416. (Varia Anatolica, 27
Coba bowls, mass-production and social change in Post-Ubaid times
No full textThe widespread and serially-produced Coba bowls are the hallmark of the Post-Ubaid ceramic horizon. If different morphological and technological traditions discernible among these bowls are recognizable from one region to the text, the social practices associated with them seem to be the same throughout northern Mesopotamia. This apparent contrast -between general homogeneity and regional specificities- seems to result from the regionalization of the Post-Ubaid cultural and ceramic horizon, when the uniformity of the Ubaid village territorial system was broken by the emergence of a few major centres. But it is also linked to the progressive standardization of ceramic practices. On the basis of the archaeological contexts and the technological and formal specificities of Coba bowls, it is possible to suggest an interpretation of these containers as vessels used during communal meals involving some negotiation of social relations or the redistribution of food. In any case, the emergence of such a phenomenon over a wide region, together with a more and more repetitive and specialized production system, indicate important social transformations and strong cultural integration processes that had developed by the early 4th millennium BC.Les Coba bowls, produits en série à l'intérieur d'une vaste région, sont emblématiques de l'horizon céramique Post-Obeid. Quoique différentes traditions morphologiques et technologiques soient reconnais-sables au sein des diverses productions régionales, les pratiques sociales associées à ce type de contenant paraissent comparables dans toute la Mésopotamie du Nord. Cette apparente contradiction paraît résulter de la régionalisation de l'horizon culturel et céramique post-obeidien, suite au morcellement du système territorial obeidien confronté à l'émergence de quelques centres régionaux. Mais elle résulte aussi de la progressive standardisation des pratiques céramiques. Partant des contextes archéologiques et des particularités technologiques et formelles des Coba bowls, on peut supposer que ces récipients ont été utilisés lors de repas communautaires impliquant une négociation des relations sociales ou une redistribution de rations alimentaires. Quoi qu'il en soit, l'émergence d'un tel phénomène à travers une région si vaste, associée à un système de production de plus en plus répétitif et spécialisé, indique le développement de transformations sociales et de profonds processus d'intégration culturels dès la fin du 5eme millénaire av. n.è. particularités technologiques et formelles des Coba bowls, on peut supposer que ces récipients ont été utilisés lors de repas communautaires impliquant une négociation des relations sociales ou une redistri¬ bution de rations alimentaires. Quoi qu'il en soit, l'émergence d'un tel phénomène à travers une région si vaste, associée à un système de production de plus en plus répétitif et spécialisé, indique le développement de transformations sociales et de profonds processus d'intégration culturels dès la fin du 5eme millénaire av. n.è.Baldi Johnny Samuele. Coba bowls, mass-production and social change in Post-Ubaid times. In: After the Ubaid. Interpreting change from the Caucasus to Mesopotamia at the dawn of urban civilization (4500-3500 BC). Papers from The Post-Ubaid Horizon in the Fertile Crescent and Beyond. International Workshop held at Fosseuse, 29th June-1st July 2009. Istanbul : Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes-Georges Dumézil, 2012. pp. 393-416. (Varia Anatolica, 27
A comparison of the ceramic assemblages from Tell Feres al-Sharqi and Hamoukar
No full textThe detailed analysis of the ceramic typologies of a little rural site (Tell Feres al-Sharqi) and a major regional centre (Tell Hamoukar) offers a synthetic overview on some wide ceramic and cultural tendencies of the LC 1-LC 2 period. Through the comparative analysis of the two assemblages, a few (wholly explicable) differences, as well as many striking similarities are brought to light. But beyond the mere presence or absence of a few specific shapes, the comparison of Tell Feres and Tell Hamoukar gives the opportunity to analyse from a useful dual perspective several wide-ranging cultural tendencies, such as the appearance of mass-produced bowls, the disappearance of painted traditions or the distribution of some specific ware types.L'analyse détaillée de la typologie céramique d'un petit site rural (Tell Ferès al-Sharqi ), associée à celle d'un centre régional majeur (Tell Hamoukar), permet d'offrir un tableau synthétique des tendances générales de la céramique et de la culture matérielle pendant la période LC 1-LC 2. A travers l'analyse de ces deux assemblages, des différences (facilement explicables) mais aussi un grand nombre de ressemblances frappantes sont mises en évidence. Au-delà de la simple présence ou de l'absence de certaines formes spécifiques, la comparaison des assemblages de Tell Ferès et de Tell Hamoukar permet d'analyser plusieurs grandes tendances culturelles, comme la production de bols en série, la disparition des traditions de céramique peinte ou la distribution de certains types de céramique particuliers, selon une double perspective, très fructueuse.Baldi Johnny Samuele, Abu Jayyab Khaled. A comparison of the ceramic assemblages from Tell Feres al-Sharqi and Hamoukar. In: After the Ubaid. Interpreting change from the Caucasus to Mesopotamia at the dawn of urban civilization (4500-3500 BC). Papers from The Post-Ubaid Horizon in the Fertile Crescent and Beyond. International Workshop held at Fosseuse, 29th June-1st July 2009. Istanbul : Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes-Georges Dumézil, 2012. pp. 163-180. (Varia Anatolica, 27
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