Sign and Image: Representations of Plants on the Warka Vase of Early Mesopotamia

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 representation of natural language

Uruk Colonies and Anatolian Communities: An Interim Report on the 1992-1993 Excavations at Hacinebi, Turkey

The first Mesopotamian city-states in the Uruk period (ca. 3800-3100 B. C.) pursued a strategy of commercial expansion into neighboring areas of the Zagros Mountains, Syria, and southeastern Anatolia. Recent research in these areas has located several Uruk outposts, in what is apparently the world\u27s earliest-known colonial system. Although some Uruk colonies have been excavated, virtually nothing is known about either the operation of this system or its role in the development of local polities in Anatolia. Excavations at the site of Hacinebi, on the Euphrates River trade route, investigate the effects of the Uruk Expansion on the social, economic, and political organization of southeastern Anatolia during the fourth millennium B. C. Hacinebi has two main Late Chalcolithic occupations - a pre-contact phase A and a later contact phase B with high concentrations of Uruk ceramics, administrative artifacts, and other Mesopotamian forms of material culture. The Hacinebi excavations thus provide a rare opportunity to investigate the relationship between the Uruk colonies and the local populations with whom they traded, while clarifying the role of long-distance exchange in the development of complex societies in Anatolia. Several lines of evidence suggest that the period of contact with Mesopotamia began in the Middle Uruk period, earlier than the larger colonies at sites such as Habuba Kabira-South and Jebel Aruda in Syria. The concentrations of Uruk material culture and the patterns of food consumption in the northeastern corner of the Local Late Chalcolithic settlement are consistent with the interpretation that a small group of Mesopotamian colonists lived as a socially distinct enclave among the local inhabitants of Hacinebi. There is no evidence for either Uruk colonial domination or warfare between the colonists and the native inhabitants of Hacinebi. Instead, the presence of both Anatolian and Mesopotamian seal impressions at the site best fits a pattern of peaceful exchange between the two groups. The evidence for an essential parity in long-term social and economic relations between the Mesopotamian merchants and local inhabitants of Hacinebi suggests that the organization of prehistoric Mesopotamian colonies differed markedly from that of the better-known 16th-20th century European colonial systems in Africa, Asia, and the Americas

Administrative Evidence from Hacinebi Tepe : an Essay on the Local and the Colonial

Excavations at Hacmebi have revealed three phases of Late Chalcolithic occupation, each with extensive residue of administrative practice. This article summarizes the long term development of the local Anatolian Late Chalcolithic administrative toolkit and practice. The close chronological control of the evidence from Hacmebi allows us to refine our relative dating of other sites in the Jezira, including Gawra and Tell Brak. The local Anatolian Late Chalcolithic administrative complex is then contrasted with the administrative materials found in Phase B2 (ca. 3600-3350 ВС) contexts containing southern Mesopotamian Uruk style ceramics. This Uruk associated administrative assemblage is distinct from the local administrative assemblage. Its virtual identity to administrative materials from the southern alluvium supports the interpretation that peoples of Uruk cultural affiliation resided at the site.Les fouilles conduites à Hacmebi ont permis de reconnaître trois phases du Chalcolithique récent, chacune présentant de nombreux témoins que l'on a pu mettre en relation avec les systèmes administratifs. Cet article résume le développement sur le long terme - au cours du Chalcolithique récent - des pratiques administratives et de leurs outils. Un contrôle chronologique serré des témoins retrouvés à Hacmebi nous ont permis d'affiner la datation relative d'autres sites de la Djezireh dont Gawra et Tell Brak. Le système administratif local anatolien de la période considérée est confronté aux restes liés à V administration recueillis à Hacmebi dans les contextes de la phase B2 (environ 3 600-3 350 avant J.-C.) qui contenaient de la céramique de style urukéen du Sud mésopotamien. Ces objets administratifs type Uruk se distinguent de l'assemblage administratif local. Leur identité virtuelle avec les objets liés à l'administration des terres alluviales du Sud étayent la thèse que des personnes ayant une affiliation culturelle urukéenne résidaient à Hacmebi.Pittman Holly. Administrative Evidence from Hacinebi Tepe : an Essay on the Local and the Colonial. In: Paléorient, 1999, vol. 25, n°1. L'expansion urukéenne : perspectives septentrionales vues à partir de hacinebi, hassek höyük et gawra. pp. 43-50

Ancient Lagash. Current Research and Future Trajectories. Proceedings of the Workshop held at the 10th ICAANE in Vienna, April 2016

The State of Lagash was one of the major political powers in the Sumerian world of the 3rd millennium BC, with archaeological attestations at least since the 5th millennium BC. Located in present-day southern Iraq, this State incorporated three main cities: Girsu (Tello), Lagash (Tell al-Hiba), and Nigin (Tell Zurghul). The volume presents the results of studies and excavations carried on in these sites until 2015, providing new data for their historical interpretation. The volume collects contributions to the research at al-Hiba, under the supervision of H. Pittman, a section dedicated to the first archaeological campaign undertaken at the site of Nigin under the direction of D. Nadali and A. Polcaro, and the research on the site of Girsu under the joint direction of S. Rey and F. Husain

Eine Elfenbeintafel der "Flame and Frond"-Schule aus den neo-hethitischen Ausgrabungen in Arslantepe / Melid. Regionalismus und Gemeinschaften im eisenzeitlichen Anatolien

This paper presents a new outstanding discovery from 2016 at the site of Arslantepe (Malatya, SE Turkey), a finely made ivory plaque found in an Iron Age context approximately dated at the beginning of the 8th century BCE. The object belongs to the well-known "Flame and Frond" ivory carving school and its discovery at Arslantepe suggests intriguing cross-cultural relationships with the Levantine and northern Mesopotamian worlds. The article describes and discusses the new find within the corpus of the Ist millenium BCE Near Eastern production of ivory and luxury goods. It aims at evaluating innovative aspects of intercultural communication as well as the legacy of ancient traditions in the formation of the new artistic trends at Arslantepe and within the flourishing of the Iron Age societies.L’articolo presenta una nuova ed importante scoperta avvenuta nel 2016 nel sito di Arslantepe (Malatya, Turchia SO). Si tratta di una placchetta d’avorio finemente realizzata e proveniente da un contesto dell’Età del Ferro, datato grossomodo all’inizio del VIII secolo a.C. L’oggetto appartiene alla famosa scuola eburnea denominata “Flame and Frond”, e la sua presenza ad Arslantepe suggerisce affascinanti relazioni culturali con il Levante e la Mesopotamia settentrionale. L’articolo descrive e discute il nuovo ritrovamento nel contesto degli avori e degli oggetti di lusso vicino orientali del I millennio a.C. L’obiettivo è di esaminare gli aspetti innovativi di scambio interculturale così come il retaggio lasciato dalle più antiche tradizioni nella formazione delle nuove tendenze artistiche ad Arslantepe e nell’ambito dell’evoluzione delle rigogliose società dell’Età del Ferro.In diesem Beitrag wird ein neuer herausragender Fund aus dem Jahr 2016 in Arslantepe (Malatya, Südtürkei) vorgestellt: eine fein gearbeitete Elfenbeinplatte, die in einem eisenzeitlichen Kontext gefunden wurde, der ungefähr auf den Beginn des 8. Jh. v. Chr. datiert wird. Das Objekt gehört zu der bekannten Elfenbeinschnitzschule "Flame and Frond", und seine Entdeckung in Arslantepe lässt auf interessante kulturübergreifende Beziehungen zur levantinischen und nordmesopotamischen Welt schließen. Der Artikel beschreibt und diskutiert den neuen Fund innerhalb des Korpus der nahöstlichen Elfenbein- und Luxusgüterproduktion des 1. Jahrtausends v. Chr. Er zielt darauf ab, innovative Aspekte der interkulturellen Kommunikation sowie das Erbe antiker Traditionen bei der Entstehung der neuen künstlerischen Trends in Arslantepe und in der Blütezeit der eisenzeitlichen Gesellschaften zu bewerten

Arslantepe - Cretulae: An Early Centralised Administrative System Before Writing

Final and complete publication of more than 2200 clay sealings (cretulae) with seal impressions found in significative assemblages in the palatial building of the 4th millennium BC at Arslantepe-Malatya, analysed in their contexts from both a functional and artistic point of view in an interdisciplinary perspective. They document a very early system of recording the economic transactions before writing in a centralised society and a political centre of power. The origin of a complex bureaucracy is reconstructed and related to the rise of the State. A DVD with the complete catalogue of the materials is also attached