Raccidi, Mattia

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Special Volume 3 (2012), pp. 405–410Mattia RaccidiWagons on the Move. The Study of Wagonsthrough Landscape Archaeologyin Wiebke Bebermeier – Robert Hebenstreit – Elke Kaiser – Jan Krause (eds.), LandscapeArchaeology. Proceedings of the International Conference Held in Berlin, 6th – 8th June 2012Edited by Gerd Graßhoff and Michael Meyer,Excellence Cluster Topoi, BerlineTopoi ISSN 2192-2608http://journal.topoi.orgExcept where otherwise noted,content is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution 3.0 License:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0Mattia RaccidiWagons on the Move. The Study of Wagonsthrough Landscape ArchaeologyWagon; hollow ways; landscape of movement; landscape archaeology; Ancient Near East.First attestations of wheeled-vehicles in the Ancient Near East come from Uruk. Theproto-cuneiform signs from the end of the 4th millennium BC represent a sledge sus-tained by four wheels or two rollers that could be considered as archetype of the 3rdmillennium BC wagons. The evolution of wheeled-vehicles is confirmed by the discoveryof four-wheeled chariots in tombs at Ur and Kish dating back to the first half of the 3rdmillennium BC, in addition to the so-called Standard of Ur that represents a processionof four-wheeled war chariots.During the second half of the 3rd millennium BC in Syria, a rapid increase in docu-mentation relating to wagons is attested. Terracotta models, seals or seal impressions andwritten sources from many Syrian sites (such as Ebla, Mari, Terqa, Hama, Tell Brak/Nagar,Tell Bi’a/Tuttul, Tell Beydar/Nabada, Tell Mozan/Urkesh, Tell Barri/Kahat, Tell Arbid,Tell Selenkahiye etc. . . ) prove the use and diffusion of both two- and four-wheeled vehi-cles. Although no full-size chariots have been found in Syria, it is possible to reconstructtheir morphology and their function based on the documentation mentioned above.The study of the vehicles’ morphology (number of wheels, body morphology, shapeand position of the axles) through comparison between different categories of documenta-tion was adopted first by M.A. Littauer and J.H. Crouwel in their book.1 They recognisedthree different types of vehicles: a four-wheeled “battle car,” a two-wheeled “straddlecar” and a two-wheeled “platform car.” A more detailed typology, based on the study ofterracotta models (Fig. 1) and glyptic representations is: 1) Two-wheeled platform body. 2)Two-wheeled box body. 3) Two-wheeled platform body with footboard. 4) Four-wheeledplatform body. 5) Four-wheeled box body. 6) Four-wheeled covered vehicle.2This approach on the study of the wagon is valuable, especially for reconstruction oftheir form, but is too limited to allow an understanding of their function. Glyptic repre-sentations and written sources provide partial information on their use. In particular warchariots and cultic wagons are often represented on 3rd millennium BC Syrian glyptic,3while texts, in addition to the previous vehicles, provide information on a type of wagonused to carry loads. This wagon type was identified by the terms GIŠMAR.GID2.DA,GIŠGIGIR-SUM from Ebla texts.4To date, previous studies on this topic have considered wagons as disjointed from thelandscape in which they were used; they were objects without space. The main goal ofthe research aims to deepen the understanding of the function of the Early Bronze Agewagons through the study of the landscape in which they were used.For the following images all rights are reserved, in contrast to eTopoi’s Creative Commons licence usage:Fig. 1.1 Littauer and Crouwel 1979.2 Raccidi 2012.3 Jans and Bretschneider 1998.4 Conti 1997.406 Mattia RaccidiFig. 1 | Wagon terracotta models from Tell Arbid. After Bielinski 2004, Fig. 11.The investigated area is part of the so-called “Khabur Triangle,” corresponding to mo-dern north-eastern Syria. This area in particular is located between thewadi Jaghjagh (east)the wadi Aweidj (west) and the wadi Radd (south) and comprises many importantBronze Age sites (such as Tell Brak/Nagar, Tell Beydar/Nabada, Tell Arbid, Tell Barri/Ka-hat, Tell Chagar Bazar/Ashnakkum) with conspicuous documentations related to wagons(models, glyptic representations, written sources).First studies on the landscape of the Khabur region date back to the 1930s of thelast century. Anton Poidebard flew over the Khabur basin producing numerous aerialphotographs with the aim of studying the landscape of the eastern frontier of the RomanEmpire.5 In the 1950s, the archaeologists Willem Van Liere and Jean Lauffray were thefirst to recognize and map hollow ways associated with Bronze Age Tells and Byzantinesites.6 In recent years, many surveys have been made: in the area around Tell Beydar,7 inthe region to the west of the wadi Jaghjagh8 and in the hinterland of Tell Brak.9 The twoarchaeologists who have studied the landscape and hollow ways of northern Mesopotamiaare Tony Wilkinson10 and Jason Ur.11 Ur has mapped more than 6000km of hollow waysbetween the Khabur basin and northern Iraq based on CORONA satellite photographs.125 Poidebard 1934.6 Van Liere and Lauffray 1954.7 Wilkinson 2000.8 Lyonnet 1996; Lyonnet 1998; Lyonnet 2000.9 Ur, Karsgaard, and Oates 2011.10 Wilkinson 1993; Wilkinson et al. 2010.11 Ur 2003; Ur 2009; Ur 2011; Ur and Wilkinson 2008.12 Ur 2011.Wagons on the Move. The Study of Wagons through Landscape Archaeology 407Fig. 2 | Bronze Age sites with internal (black) and external (red) hollow ways, based on OIP 137–3, Ur2011.The hollow ways are the main feature studied in this paper. According to Wilkinsonand Ur, they represent the modern remains of ancient tracks or paths produced by thecontinuous passage of human, animal and vehicle traffic. They can be divided into twotypes: broad and narrow. Broad hollow ways (60–120m wide; 0.50–1.50m deep) areassociated with Bronze Age sites and have a radial pattern around the main Bronze AgeTell of the region. Narrow hollow ways (30–60m wide) are instead associated with Byzan-tine and Islamic sites. Hollow ways are clearly visible via remote sensing, especially byCORONA satellite photographs. They appear as dark linear lines in the landscape, oftenwith light margins due to the concavity of the feature (broad HWs). Some of them aroundTell Brak were archaeologically investigated by Wilkinson.13The first step of the present research was to identify Bronze Age sites in the investi-gated area based on data from surveys.14 A total of 120 Bronze Age sites were identified.Subsequently, broad hollow ways, connected to Bronze Age sites, were remapped startingfrom Map OIP 137-3.15 They are divided into two main types: internal and externalhollow ways for a total of more than 1125 km (Fig. 2). Internal hollow ways (645.05km)represent the spokes around the main Bronze Age sites and in most cases do not havethe function of connecting sites each other. External hollow ways (480.60km) insteaddo not have a radial pattern and connect sites together. The end of the internal hollowways represents the boundary of the cultivation zones, beyond them there are the pasturezones.16Starting from these assumptions, two main analyses have been made. The first is use-ful to understand the boundaries of the area of relevance of the settlements.17 It is basedon a comparison of the Thiessen/Voronoy polygons and the cultivated zone delimitedby the internal hollow ways. The second analysis is useful for understanding whetherthe principle of maximum efficiency is applicable for the hollow ways. It consists of thecomparison between the hollow ways (internal and external) and the Delauney network.In the central part of the investigated area, a correspondence always greater than 50% hasbeen found.13 Wilkinson et al. 2010.14 Data of surveys are incomplete to identify all Bronze Age sites. For the present paper, data of surveyshave been completed by Ur sites classification Ur 2011, 60.15 Ur 2011.16 Ur 2009, 193–197.17 The area of relevance is understood as the territory better controllable from a settlement.408 Mattia RaccidiThe study of the hollow ways attests to a dense network of tracks or paths connectingBronze Age sites with each other and with their cultivation zones, but which kind ofwagons passed through this landscape and for which kind of use?Through comparison between wagon documentation and the study of the landscape,it is possible to identify two types of four-wheeled wagon used during the Bronze Agefor two main purposes: work on the fields (these vehicles passed through internal hollowways) and trips between sites (these vehicles passed through internal and external hollowways).Wagons on the Move. The Study of Wagons through Landscape Archaeology 409BibliographyBielinski 2004P. Bielinski. “Tell Arbid. The 2003 Compaign of Polish-Syrian Excavation. Prelimi-nary Report”. Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean XV (2004), 335–353.Conti 1997G. Conti. “Carri ed equipaggi nei testi di Ebla”. In Miscellanea Eblaitica 4. Ed. byP. Fronzaroli. Quaderni di Semitistica 19. Firenze: Università di Firenze, 1997, 23–71.Jans and Bretschneider 1998G. Jans and J. Bretschneider. “Wagon Representations in the Early Dynastic Glyp-tik. They Came to Tell Beydar with Wagon and Equid”. Subartu. Subartu IV 4.2(1998), 155–195.Littauer and Crouwel 1979M. A. Littauer and J. H. Crouwel.Wheeled Vehicles and Ridden Animals in the AncientNear East. Handbook of Oriental studies. Leiden/ Köln: Brill, 1979.Lyonnet 1996B. Lyonnet. “La prospection archéologique de la partie occidentale du Haut-Khabur(Syrie du Nord-Est): méthodes, résultats et questions autour de l’occupation aux IIIeet IIe millénaires av. n. è.”. Amurru. Amurru 1 (1996), 363–376.Lyonnet 1998B. Lyonnet. “Le peuplement de la Djéziré occidentale au début du 3e millénaire, villescirculaires et pastoralisme: Questions et hypothèses”. Subartu 4.1 (1998), 179–193.Lyonnet 2000B. Lyonnet, ed. Prospection archéologique du Haut-Khabur occidental (Syrie du N.E.).Vol. 1. Bibliotheque archeologique et historique T 155. Beirut: Institut Françaisd’Archéologie du Proche-orient, 2000.Poidebard 1934A. Poidebard. La trace de Rom dans le désert de Syrie. Archéologique et Historique 18.Paris: P. Geuthner, 1934.Raccidi 2012M. Raccidi. “Chariot Terracotta Models from Tell Arbid and Tell Barri. A Typolog-ical and Functional Analysis”. In Proceedings of the 7th International Congress on theArchaeology of the Ancient Near East. Ed. by R. Matthews and J. Curtis. Vol. 3. Berlin:Harrassowitz Verlag, 2012, 673–682.Ur 2003J. Ur. “CORONA Satellite Photography and Ancient Road Networks: A NorthernMesopotamian Case Study”. Antiquity 77 (2003), 102–115.Ur 2009J. Ur. “Emergent Landscapes of Movement in Early Bronze Age Northern Meso-potamia”. In Landscapes of Movement: Paths, Trails, and Roads in Anthropological Per-spective. Ed. by J.E. Snead, C. Erickson, and Darling W.A. Philadelphia: Universityof Pennsylvania Museum Press, 2009.410 Mattia RaccidiUr 2011J. Ur. Urbanism and cultural landscapes in northeastern Syria. The Tell Hamoukarsurvey, 1999–2001. Chicago: Oriental Institute Publications, 2011.Ur, Karsgaard, and Oates 2011J. Ur, P. Karsgaard, and J. Oates. “The spatial dimension of early MesopotamianUrbanism: The Tell Brak suburban survey, 2003–2006”. Iraq 73 (2011), 1–19.Ur and Wilkinson 2008J. Ur and T.J. Wilkinson. “Settlement and Economic Landscapes of Tell Beydar andits Hinterland”. Subartu 21 (2008), 305–327.Van Liere and Lauffray 1954W. Van Liere and J. Lauffray. “Nouvelle prospection archéologique dans la HauteJezireh syrienne”. Les annales archéologiques de Syrie 4-5 (1954), 129–148.Wilkinson 1993T. Wilkinson. “Linear Hollows in the Jazira, Upper Mesopotamia”. Antiquity 67(1993), 548–562.Wilkinson 2000T. Wilkinson. “Archaeological Survey of the Tell Beydar Region, Syria, 1997: A Pre-liminary Report”. Subartu 6 (2000), 1–37.Wilkinson et al. 2010T. Wilkinson et al. “The Geoarchaeology of Route Systems in Northern Syria”.Geoarcheology 25 (2010), 745–771.Mattia Raccidi, Università degli Studi di Napoli L’Orientale, Via I Maggio 19, Borgo SanLorenzo (FI) 50032, Italy, m.raccidi@hotmail.it

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