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. III
Centro Superior de Estudios sobre el Oriente Próximo y Egipto
Madrid 2008
Colección Actas
©
ISBN (OBRA COMPLETA): 978-84-8344-140-4
ISBN (VOL. III): 978-84-8344-147-3
Depósito legal: GU-129/2009
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, Pedro Bao, Roberto Peñas, Pedro Suárez, Pablo Sebastagoítia, Jesús
González, Raúl Varea, Javier Lisbona, Carmen Suárez, Amanda Gómez, Carmen Úbeda,
Cristina López, José Mª Pereda, Rosa Plaza, Lorenzo Manso, Juan Trapero
Congress Venue
Sede del Congreso
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras
Sponsorships
Apoyos y patrocinios
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia
Ministerio de Cultura
Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores
Comunidad de Madrid
Themes of the Congress
Temas del Congreso
1. History and Method of Archaeological Research
La historia y la metodología de la investigación arqueológica
2. The Archaeology and the Environment of the Ancient Eastern Cities and Villages
La arqueología y el entorno de las ciudades y las aldeas antiguas
3. Arts and Crafts in the Ancient Near East
La artesanía y el arte en el Oriente Antiguo
4. Reports on the Results from the Latest Archaeological Seasons
Informes sobre los resultados de las recientes campañas de excavación
Index - Índice
VOL. I
Á. Gabilondo Pujol, Prólogo...................................................................................... 17
P. Matthiae, Opening Speech........................................................................................ 21
J. Mª Córdoba, M. Molist, Mª C. Pérez, I. Rubio, S. Martínez, Bienvenida........ 25
Opening Lectures to Main Themes - Apertura de las sesiones temáticas
N. Chevalier, Considérations sur l’histoire de l’archéologie, ses origines et son développement
actuel.............................................................................................................. 31
S. Mazzoni, Arts, crafts and the state: A dialectic process............................................ 37
Papers and posters - Comunicaciones y pósters
M. Abdulkarim, O. Olesti-Vila, Territoire et paysage dans la province romaine de
la Syrie. La centuriatio d’Emesa (Homs) ............................................................... 55
G. Affani, Astragalus bone in Ancient Near East: Ritual depositions in Iron Age
in Tell Afis ........................................................................................................... 77
A. Ahrens, Egyptian and Egyptianizing stone vessels from the royal tomb and palace
at Tell Mišrife/Qa7na (Syria): Imports and local imitations................................... 93
B. Ajorloo, The neolithization process in Azerbaijan: An introduction to review............... 107
C. Alvaro, C. Lemorini, G. Palumbi, P. Piccione, From the analysis of the archaeological
context to the life of a community. «Ethnographic» remarks on the Arslantepe
VIB2 village .......................................................................................................... 127
Sh. N. Amirov, Towards understanding religious character of Tell Hazna 1 oval............. 137
Á. Armendáriz, L. Teira, M. Al-Maqdissi, M. Haïdar-Boustani, J. J. Ibáñez, J. González
Urquijo, The megalithic necropolises in the Homs Gap (Syria). A preliminary
approach................................................................................................................. 151
A. Arroyo, Akpinar.................................................................................................... 163
L. Astruc, O. Daune-Le Brun, A. L. Brun, F. Hourani, Un atelier de fabrication
de récipients en pierre à Khirokitia (Néolothique pré-céramique récent, VIIe millénaire
av. JC, Chypre........................................................................................................ 175
G. Baccelli, F. Manuelli, Middle Bronze Khabur Ware from Tell Barri/Kahat ..... 187
B. Bader, Avaris and Memphis in the Second Intermediate Period in Egypt (ca. 1770-
1770-1550/40 BC)............................................................................................... 207
F. Baffi, Who locked the door? Fortification walls and city gates in Middle Bronze Age
inner Syria: Ebla and Tell Tuqan.......................................................................... 225
L. Barda, El aporte de los mapas y descripciones antiguas en el ensayo de reconstrucción
de sitios arqueológicos, periferias y rutas (con uso del SIG)...................................... 245
C. D. Bardeschi, A propos des installations dans la cour du Temple Ovale de Khafajah..... 253
C. Bellino, A. Vallorani, The Stele of Tell Ashara. The Neo-Syrian perspective............ 273
D. Ben-Shlomo, Iconographic representations from Early Iron Age Philistia and their
ethnic implications................................................................................................... 285
A. I. Beneyto Lozano, Manifestaciones artísticas desde Oriente Próximo a Al-Andalus 305
L. Bombardieri, C. Forasassi, The pottery from IA II-III levels of Late-Assyrian
to Post-Assyrian period in Tell Barri/Kahat.......................................................... 323
B. Brown, The Kilamuwa Relief: Ethnicity, class and power in Iron Age North
Syria....................................................................................................................... 339
A. Brustolon, E. Rova, The Late Chalcolithic settlement in the Leilan region of Northeastern
Syria: A preliminary assessment.............................................................. 357
S. M. Cecchini, G. Affanni, A. Di Michele, Tell Afis. The walled acropolis (Middle
Bronze Age to Iron Age I). A work in progress..................................................... 383
B. Cerasetti, V. A. Girelli, G. Luglio, B. Rondelli, M. Zanfini, From monument to
town and country: Integrated techniques of surveying at Tilmen Höyük in South-East
Turkey.................................................................................................................... 393
N. Chevalier, Fouiller un palais assyrien au XIXe siècle: Victor Place à Khorsabad....... 403
L. Chiocchetti, Post-Assyrian pottery from the Italian excavations at Fort Shalmaneser,
1987-1990 ............................................................................................................ 417
X. Clop García, Estrategias de gestión de las materias primas de origen mineral en Tell
Halula: primera aproximación................................................................................ 441
A. Colantoni, A. Gottarelli, A formalized approach to pottery typology: The case of
some typical shapes from the Late Bronze Age in Northern Syria .......................... 455
A. M. Conti, C. Persiani, Arslantepe. The building sequence of the EB3 settlement
....................................................................................................................... 465
C. Coppini, Mitannian pottery from Tell Barri........................................................... 477
J. Mª Córdoba, Informe preliminar sobre las últimas campañas en al Madam (2003-2006).... 493
F. Cruciani, The atributes of Ishtar in Old Syrian glyptic and the Mesopotamian literary
tradition.................................................................................................................. 509
A. Daems, Alternative ways for reading some female figurines from Late Prehistoric
Mesopotamia and Iran............................................................................................ 519
10 Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
A. D’Agostino, Between Mitannians and Middle-Assyrians: Changes and links
in ceramic culture at Tell Barri and in Syrian Jazirah during the end of the 2nd
millennium BC....................................................................................................... 525
A. D’Agostino, S. Valenti, N. Laneri, Archaeological works at Hirbemerdon Tepe
(Turkey). A preliminary report or the first three seasons......................................... 549
M. B. D’Anna, R. Laurito, A. Ricci, Walking on the Malatya Plain (Turkey): Preliminary
remarks on Chalcolithic pottery and occupation. 2003-2005 Archaeological
Survey Project......................................................................................................... 567
I. de Aloe, A preliminary report on the 1995 Tell Leilan survey: The pottery from
the Hellenistic to the Sasanian Period ..................................................................... 575
F. Dedeoglu, Cultural transformation and settlement system of Southwestern Anatolia
from Neolithic to LBA: A case study from Denizili/Çivril Plain.................. 587
K. De Langhe, Early Christianity in Iraq and the Gulf: A view from the architectural
remains .......................................................................................................... 603
T. De Schacht, W. Gheyle, R. Gossens, A. De Wulf, Archaeological research
and CORONA: On the use, misuse and full potential of historical remote sensing
data................................................................................................................. 611
C. del Cerro, Life and society of the inhabitants of al Madam (UAE). Interdisciplinary
study of an Iron Age village and its environment.................................................... 619
G. M. Di Nocera, Settlements, population and landscape on the Upper Euphrates between
V and II millennium BC. Results of the Archaeological Survey Project 2003-2005
in the Malatya Plain .............................................................................................. 633
S. Di Paolo, Dalle straordinarie avventure di Lady Hester Stanhope alla «Crociata» archaeologica
di Butler: la politica «religiosa» dei viaggi delle esplorazioni scientifiche nella
regione di Damasco tra XIX e XX secolo.............................................................. 647
R. Dolce, Considerations on the archaeological evidence from the Early Dynastic Temple
of Inanna at Nippur.............................................................................................. 661
R. H. Dornemann, Status report on the Early Bronze Age IV Temple in Area E at
Tell Qarqur in the Orontes Valley, Syria ............................................................... 679
A. Egea Vivancos, Artesanos de lo rupestre en el alto Éufrates sirio durante la época romana.. 711
A. Egea Vivancos, Viajeros y primeras expediciones arqueológicas en Siria. Su contribución
al redescubrimiento de Hierapolis y su entorno ........................................................ 731
B. Einwag, Fortified citadels in the Early Bronze Age? New evidence from Tall Bazi
(Syria).................................................................................................................... 741
M. Erdalkiran, The Halaf Ceramics in Hirnak area, Turkey..................................... 755
F. Escribano Martín, Babilonia y los españoles en el siglo XIX................................. 767
M. Feizkhah, Pottery of Garrangu style in Azarbaijan (Iran).................................... 775
E. Felluca, Ceramic evidences from Bampur: A key site to reconstruct the cultural development
in the Bampur Valley (Iran) during the third millennium BC................................. 797
E. Felluca, S. Mogliazza Under-floor burials in a Middle Bronze Age domestic quarter at Tell
Mardikh – Ebla, Syria........................................................................................... 809
Index - Índice 11
VOL. II
S. Festuccia, M. Rossi, Recent excavations on the Ebla Acropolis (Syria).................. 17
S. Festuccia, M. Rossi Latest phases of Tell Mardikh - Ebla: Area PSouth Lower
Town ...................................................................................................................... 31
J.-D. Forest and R. Vallet, Uruk architecture from abroad: Some thoughts about
Hassek Höyük....................................................................................................... 39
M. Fortin, L.-M. Loisier, J. Pouliot, La géomatique au service des fouilles archéologiques:
l’exemple de Tell ‘Acharneh, en Syrie...................................................................... 55
G. Gernez, A new study of metal weapons from Byblos: Preliminary work..................... 73
K. T. Gibbs, Pierced clay disks and Late Neolithic textile production.......................... 89
J. Gil Fuensanta, P. Charvàt, E A. Crivelli, The dawn of a city. Surtepe Höyük excavations
Birecik Dam area, Eastern Turkey ............................................................... 97
A. Gómez Bach, Las producciones cerámicas del Halaf Final en Siria: Tell Halula (valle
del Éufrates) y Tell Chagar Bazar (valle del Khabur)............................................. 113
E. Grootveld, What weeds can tell us Archaeobotanical research in the Jordan Valley ... 123
E. Guralnick, Khorsabad sculptured fragments............................................................ 127
H. Hameeuw, K. Vansteenhuyse, G. Jans, J. Bretschneider, K. Van Lerberghe,
Living with the dead. Tell Tweini: Middle Bronze Age tombs in an urban context... 143
R. Hempelmann, Kharab Sayyar: The foundation of the Early Bronze Age settlement
....................................................................................................................... 153
F. Hole, Ritual and the collapse of Susa, ca 4000 BC................................................ 165
D. Homès-Fredericq The Belgian excavations at al-Lahun (biblical Moab region), Jordan.
Past and future....................................................................................................... 179
J. J. Ibáñez et al., Archaeological survey in the Homs Gap (Syria): Campaigns of 2004 and
2005....................................................................................................................... 187
A. Invernizzi, El testimonio de Ambrogio Bembo y Joseph Guillaume Grelot sobre
los restos arqueológicos iranios................................................................................. 205
K. Jakubiak, Pelusium, still Egyptian or maybe Oriental town in the Western Synai.
Results of the last excavations on the Roman city................................................... 221
S. A. Jasim, E. Abbas, The excavations of a Post-Hellenistic tomb at Dibba, UAE..... 237
Z. A. Kafafi, A Late Bronze Age jewelry mound from Tell Dayr ‘Alla, Jordan......... 255
E. Kaptijn, Settling the steppe. Iron Age irrigation around Tell Deir ‘Alla, Jordan Valley .... 265
C. Kepinski, New data from Grai Resh and Tell Khoshi (South-Sinjar, Iraq) collected
in 2001 and 2002................................................................................................. 285
A. Klein-Franke, The site in Jabal Qarn Wu’l near %iziaz in the region of San5an
(Yemen) .................................................................................................................. 297
G. Kozbe, A new archaeological survey project in the South Eastern Anatolia: Report of
the Cizre and Silopi region ..................................................................................... 323
P. Kurzawski, Assyrian outpost at Tell Sabi Abyad: Architecture, organisation of
space and social structure of the Late Bronze settlement ......................................... 341
12 Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
R. Laurito, C. Lemorini, E. Cristiani, Seal impressions on cretulae at Arslantepe:
Improving the methodological and interpretative references........................................ 351
A. R. Lisella, Clay figurines from Tell Ta’anek ........................................................... 361
M. Lönnqvist, Kathleen M. Kenyon 1906-1978. A hundred years after her birth.
The formative years of a female archaeologist: From socio-politics to the stratigraphical
method and the radiocarbon revolution in archaeology......................................... 379
K. O. Lorentz, Crafting the Head: The human body as art? ...................................... 415
C. Lorre, Jacques de Morgan et la question de l’origine de la métalurgie dans le Caucase.... 433
S. Lundström, From six to seven Royal Tombs. The documentation of the Deutsche
Orient-Gesellschaft excavation at Assur (1903-1914) – Possibilities and limits of
its reexamination.................................................................................................... 445
N. Marchetti, A preliminary report on the 2005 and 2006 excavations at Tilmen
Höyük.................................................................................................................... 465
O. Marder, I. Milevski, R. Rabinovich, O. Ackermann, R. Shahack-Gross, P. Fine,
The Lower Paleolithic site of Revadin Quarry, Israel............................................. 481
R. Martín Galán, An example of the survival of ancient Mesopotamian architectonical
traditions in Northern Jazireh during the Hellenistic period.................................... 491
A. C. Martins, Oriental antiquities and international conflicts. A Portuguese episode
during the 1st World War............................................................................... 515
K. Matsumura, Hellenistic human and animal sacrifices in Central Anatolia: Examples
from Kaman-Kalehöyük.......................................................................................... 523
P. Matthiae, The Temple of the Rock of Early Bronze IV A-B at Ebla: Structure,
chronology, continuity .............................................................................................. 547
M. G. Micale, The course of the images. Remarks on the architectural reconstructions
in the 19th
and 20th
centuries: The case of the Ziqqurrat........................................ 571
L. Milano, Elena Rova, New discoveries of the Ca’Foscari University – Venice Team
at Tell Beydar (Syria)............................................................................................. 587
I. Milevski, Y. Baumgarten, Between Lachish and Tel Erani: Horvat Ptora, a new
Late Prehistoric site in the Southern Levant ........................................................... 609
O. Muñoz, S. Cleuziou, La tombe 1 de Ra’s al-Jinz RJ-1: une approche de la
complexité des pratiques funéraires dans la peninsule d’Oman à l’Âge du Bronze ancien 627
L. Nigro, Tell es-Sultan/Jericho from village to town: A reassessment of the Early
Bronze Age I settlement and necropolis................................................................... 645
L. Nigro, Prelimiray report of the first season of excavation of Rome «La Sapienza»
University at Khirbet al-Batrawy (Upper Wadi az-Zarqa, Jordan).................. 663
A. T. Ökse, Preliminary results of the salvage excavations at Salat Tepe in the Upper
Tigris region............................................................................................................ 683
V. Orsi, Between continuity and tranformation: The late 3rd Millennium BC ceramic
sequence from Tell Barri (Syria) ............................................................................. 699
A. Otto, Organization of Late Bronze Age cities in the Upper Syrian Euphrates
Valley..................................................................................................................... 715
M. Özbaharan, Musular: The special activity site in Central Anatolia, Turkey................. 733
F. Pedde, The Assur-Project. An old excavation newly analysed .................................. 743
Index - Índice 13
C. Persiani, Chemical analysis and time/space distribution of EB2-3 pottery at Arslantepe
(Malatya, Turkey) ...................................................................................... 753
L. P. Petit, Late Iron Age levels at Tell Damieh: New excavations results from the Jordan
Valley..................................................................................................................... 777
L. Peyronel, Making images of humans and animals. The clay figurines from the Royal
Palace G at Tell Mardikh-Ebla, Syria (EB IVA, c. 2400-2300 BC)................. 787
P. Piccione, Walking in the Malatya Plain (Turkey): The first Half of the III millennium
BC (EBA I and II). Some preliminary remarks on the results of the 2003-2005
Archaeological Survey Project.................................................................................. 807
VOL. III
F. Pinnock, Artistic genres in Early Syrian Syria. Image and ideology of power in a
great pre-classical urban civilisation in its formative phases...................................... 17
A. Polcaro, EB I settlements and environment in the Wadi az-zarqa Dolmens and ideology
of death........................................................................................................... 31
M. Pucci, The Neoassyrian residences of Tell Shekh Hamad, Syria............................ 49
P. Puppo, La Tabula «Chigi»: un riflesso delle conquiste romane in Oriente ................ 65
S. Riehl, Agricultural decision-making in the Bronze Age Near East: The development of
archaeobotanical crop plant assemblages in relation to climate change....................... 71
A. Rochman-Halperin, Technical aspects of carving Iron Age decorative cosmetic
palettes in the Southern Levant.......................................................................... 93
M. Rossi, Tell Deinit-Syria MEDA Project n. 15 (2002-2004). Restoration training
programs................................................................................................................. 103
M. Sala, Khirbet Kerak Ware from Tell es-Sultan/ancient Jericho: A reassessment in
the light of the finds of the Italian-Palestinian Expedition (1997-2000)............... 111
S. G. Schmid, A. Amour, A. Barmasse, S. Duchesne, C. Huguenot, L. Wadeson,
New insights into Nabataean funerary practices...................................................... 135
S. Silvonen, P. Kouki, M. Lavento, A. Mukkala, H. Ynnilä, Distribution of
Nabataean-Roman sites around Jabal Harûn: Analysis of factors causing site
patterning ............................................................................................................... 161
G. Spreafico, The Southern Temple of Tell el-Husn/Beth-Shean: The sacred architecture
of Iron Age Palestine reconsidered........................................................... 181
M. T. Starzmann, Use of space in Shuruppak: Households on dispaly....................... 203
T. Steimer-Herbet, H. Criaud, Funerary monuments of agro-pastoral populations
on the Leja (Southern Syria)................................................................................... 221
G. Stiehler-Alegría, Kassitische Siegel aus stratifizierten Grabungen........................... 235
I. M. Swinnen, The Early Bronze I pottery from al-Lahun in Central Jordan: Seal
impressions and potter’s marks................................................................................ 245
H. Tekin, The Late Neolithic pottery tradition of Southeastern Anatolia and its vicinity ....... 257
H. Tekin, Hakemi Use: A newly established site dating to the Hassuna / Samarra period
in Southeastern Anatolia................................................................................. 271
14 Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
D. Thomas, The ebb and flow of empires – Afghanistan and neighbouring lands in the
twelfth-thirteenth centuries ....................................................................................... 285
Y. Tonoike, Beyond style: Petrographic analysis of Dalma ceramics in two regions
of Iran................................................................................................................... 301
B. Uysal, The technical features of the Ninevite 5 Ware in Southeastern Anatolia ...... 313
C. Valdés Pererio, Qara Qûzâq and Tell Hamîs (Syrian Euphrates valley): Updating
and comparing Bronze Age ceramic and archaeological data ......................... 323
S. Valentini, Ritual activities in the «rural shirines» at Tell Barri, in the Khabur
region, during the Ninevite 5 period ........................................................................ 345
K. Vansteenhuyse, M. al-Maqdissi, P. Degryse, K. Van Lerberghe, Late Helladic
ceramics at Tell Tweini and in the kingdom of Ugarit............................................ 359
F. Venturi, The Sea People in the Levant: A North Syrian perspective........................ 365
V. Verardi, The different stages of the Acropolis from the Amorite period at Tell
Mohammed Diyab.................................................................................................. 383
V. Vezzoli, Islamic Period settlement in Tell Leilan Region (Northern Jazíra): The
material evidence from the 1995 Survey.................................................................. 393
O. Vicente i Campos, La aplicación de las nuevas tecnologías de la información y la
comunicación en el yacimiento arqueológico de Tell Halula....................................... 405
N. Vismara, Lo sviluppo delle metodologie della scienza numismatica e la scoperta di
una nuova area di produzione monetale: il caso dell’identificazione della emissioni della
Lycia in epoca arcaica............................................................................................. 417
T. Watkins, Natural environment versus cultural environment: The implications of creating
a built environment................................................................................................. 427
N. Yalman, An alternative interpretation on the relationship between the settlement
layout and social organization in Çatalhöyük Neolithic site: A ethnological research
in Central Anatolia................................................................................................ 439
E. Yanai, Ein Assawir, Tel Magal and the peripheral settlement in the Northern Sharon
from the Neolithic period until the end of the Early Bronze Age III...................... 449
E. Yanai, Cemetery of the Intermediate Bronze Age at Bet Dagan.............................. 459
E. Yanai, The trade with Cypriot Grey Lustrous Wheel Made Ware between Cyprus,
North Syrian Lebanese coast and Israel.................................................................. 483
Workshops - Talleres de debate
Workshop I
Houses for the Living and a Place for the Dead
N. Balkan, M. Molist and D. Stordeur
(eds.)
Introduction: House for the living and place for the dead. In memory of Jacques
Cauvin ................................................................................................................... 505
P. C. Edwards, The symbolic dimensions of material culture at Wadi Hammeh 27.......... 507
Index - Índice 15
F. R. Valla, F. Bocquentin, Les maisons, les vivants, les morts: le cas de Mallaha (Eynan),
Israël ...................................................................................................................... 521
E. Guerrero, M. Molist, J. Anfruns, Houses for the living and for the dead? The case
of Tell Halula (Syria)............................................................................................ 547
D. Stordeur, R. Khawam, Une place pour les morts dans les maisons de Tell Aswad
(Syrie). (Horizon PPNB ancien et PPNB moyen).................................................. 561
I. Kuijt, What mean these bones? Considering scale and Neolithic mortuary variability...... 591
B. S. Düring, Sub-floor burials at Çatalhöyük: Exploring relations between the
dead, houses, and the living ..................................................................................... 603
P. M. M. G. Akkermans, Burying the dead in Late Neolithic Syria .......................... 621
T. Watkins, Ordering time and space: Creating a cultural world................................... 647
Workshop III
The Origins of the Halaf and the Rise of Styles
O Niewenhuyse, P. Akkermans, W. Cruells and M. Molist
(eds.)
Introduction: A workshop on the origins of the Halaf and the rise of styles.................. 663
W. Cruells, The Proto-Halaf: Origins, definition, regional framework and chronology.............. 671
O. Nieuwenhuyse, Feasting in the Steppe – Late Neolithic ceramic change and the rise
of the Halaf........................................................................................................... 691
R. Bernbeck, Taming time and timing the tamed......................................................... 709
M. Le Mière, M. Picon, A contribution to the discussion on the origins of the Halaf
culture from chemical analyses of pottery................................................................. 729
B. Robert, A. Lasalle, R. Chapoulie, New insights into the ceramic technology
of the Proto-Halaf («Transitional») period by using physico-chemical methods........ 735
H. Tekin, Late Neolithic ceramic traditions in Southeastern Anatolia: New insights from
Hakemi Use........................................................................................................... 753
M. Verhoeven, Neolithic ritual in transition............................................................... 769
Programme - Programa
16 Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
Feasting in the Steppe - Late Neolithic ceramic change
and the rise of the Halaf
Olivier Nieuwenhuyse, Leiden
Abstract
The Transitional or Proto-Halaf stage stimulates a re-evaluation of some of the basic concepts
that we archaeologists employ to envisage the Late Neolithic, in particular that of
an archaeological culture. The traditional framework for the later Neolithic remains
strongly culture-historical, implicitly assuming homogeneous bounded entities such as
the Hassuna, Samarra or Halaf culture. These terms are misleading when it comes to
understanding Late sixth Millennium BC societies in the Near East. Using the regional
perspective of Tell Sabi Abyad, I illustrate a gradual, progressive series of ceramic-technological
and stylistic changes that ultimately resulted in Halaf-style ceramics. Contrary
to what still appears to be the commonly accepted scholarly consensus, the changes that
we observe in the Jazira were part of processes that also incorporated the geographical
areas traditionally ascribed to the Hassuna and Samarra cultures of northern and central
Iraq.
Keywords: Late Neolithic, Halaf, culture concept, ceramics.
Cultures in the Late Neolithic
Perhaps the most pervasive difficulty we currently face in the Late Neolithic
archaeology of the Near East is that of terminology and classification. To a
large degree this is an empirical issue, which has to do with control over
absolute dating1
and understanding ceramic technologies and styles.2
What is
termed Dark-Faced Burnished Ware at one site may mean something quite different
at another. Different scholars hold widely different views on what constitutes
Samarra or Hassuna pottery, what might be the relationships between these two
categories, or how they relate to northern Syrian or southeastern Anatolian
ceramic traditions.3
Huge amounts of work remain to be done in these respects.
However, the issue quickly moves beyond pottery-typological studies. It may
be argued that the very concepts we employ to construct the Late Neolithic are
problematic. As scholars have lamented, there is a persistent tendency amongst
many Near Eastern prehistorians to think about the later Neolithic in terms of
regionally bounded, homogeneous entities.4
We are probaby all familiar with textbooks
on the prehistory of the ancient Near East that present the long Late
1
See Cruells, this volume.
2
See Robert et al., this volume, LeMiere and Picon, this volume.
3
See Bernbeck, this volume, Tekin, this volume.
4
P.M.M.G. Akkermans 1997, ‘Old and New Perspectives on the Origins of the Halaf Culture’, in:
Rouault O. and Wäfler, M. (eds.), La Djéziré et l’Euphrate syriens de la Protohistoire à la fin du second millénaire av.
J.-C., Paris, Editions Récherches Civilizations: 55-68, P.M.M.G. Akkermans and G. Schwartz 2003, The
Neolithic period (ca. 6900-5300 cal. BC) in the form of culturally distinct,
regionally bounded archaeological cultures. Recent work has in fact increased
the number of culture-historical entities to be placed on our distribution maps.
For the rolling steppes of the northern Jazirah, the geographic space covering
northern Syria, southeastern Anatolia and northern Iraq, which is where we can
presently follow the gradual emergence of the Halaf, we may now distinguish
the Pre-Halaf, Pre-Proto-Hassuna, Proto-Hassuna, Altmonochrome, Hassuna,
Samarra, and, ultimately, the Halaf cultures.
In theory, these cultural entities are deemed to be polythetic: they are made up
of multiple aspects of their material culture.5
The Halaf culture is an excellent
example: the «Halaf package» supposedly includes distinct types of pottery, types
of architecture and settlement organization, the use of stamp seals, and a particular
mode of subsistence.6
In practice, much of this framework is based upon
pottery: our perception of clear differences between the ceramics attributed to
each entity. Thus, in the present consensus, the Pre-Halafians occupied northern
Syria (the Balikh), the Proto-Hassunans northeastern Syria (the Khabur) and
northern Iraq, the Hassunans followed upon the Proto-Hassunans in northern
Iraq, while meanwhile the socio-economically advanced Samarrans occupied
central Iraq. The Halaf culture, in this view, replaced the Pre-Halaf and ProtoHassuna
and Hassuna cultures, while remaining distinct from the Samarrans.
Although most scholars accept that there was at least some overlap
between these culture areas, most would also argue that the variation within
each of them was less important than variation between them. We have been
trained to think of the Late Neolithic in terms of regional «core areas», to be
kept analytically distinct from «peripheral areas» receiving occasional influences
from the core. The distinction between a Halaf core area in northern Syria and
Iraq versus a «Halaf-influenced» province in western Syria offers a good exam-
ple.7
The polythetic concept of a culture has, of course, been most succinctly formulated
by David Clarke.8
I would argue that it is Clarke’s culture concept,
strongly skewed towards pottery style, that ultimately lies at the basis of much
692 Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
Archaeology of Syria: From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies (ca.16,000-300 BC), Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press, R. Bernbeck 1994, Die Auflösung der häuslichen Produktionsweise, Berlin, Dietrich
Reimer Verlag, S. Campbell 1992, Culture, Chronology and Change in the Later Neolithic of North Mesopotamia,
Edinburgh, Ph.D. thesis University of Edinburgh, S. Campbell 1998, ‘Problems of Definition: the Origins
of the Halaf in North Iraq’, in: Lebeau M. (ed.), About Subartu. Studies devoted to Upper Mesopotamia, Turnhout,
Brepols (Subartu IV): 39-52, O.P. Nieuwenhuyse 2007, Plain and Painted Pottery. The Rise of Late Neolithic
Ceramic Styles on the Syrian and Northern Mesopotamian Plains, Turnhout, Brepols (Papers on Archaeology of
the Leiden Museum of Antiquities).
5
D. Clarke 1968, Analytical Archaeology, London, Methuen.
6
P.M.M.G. Akkermans 1993, Villages in the Steppe - Later Neolithic Settlement and Subsistence in the Balikh
Valley, Northern Syria, Michigan, Ann Arbor (International Monographs in Prehistory): 3, S. Campbell 1992,
Culture, Chronology and Change in the Later Neolithic of North Mesopotamia, Edinburgh, Ph.D. thesis University
of Edinburgh.: 5, R. Matthews 2003: The Archaeology of Mesopotamia. Theories and Approaches, London, Routledge
21.
7
T. E. Davidson 1977, Regional Variation within the Halaf Culture, Edinburgh, Ph.D. thesis University of
Edinburgh.
8
D. Clarke 1968 Analytical Archaeology, London, Methuen.
of our present culture-historical framework for the Late Neolithic of the Near
East (Fig 1).
Quite recently a number of scholars have strongly argued in favour of potterybased
culture areas and cultural «frontiers» in the Late Neolithic. For instance, Balossi
argues that there was a culturally autonomous «Dark-Faced Burnished Ware
regional culture» in western Syria, understood as a regionally closed set of interactions
that resulted in similar production and consumption of DFBW ceramics.9
In a
similar manner, Aurenche and Kozlowski argue for the existence of cultural frontiers
in the Late Neolithic of northern Mesopotamia that separated three regionally distinct
sets of interactions: Zagros, Proto-Hassuna and Pre-Halaf.10
Of course, there was
some overlap in material traits, but items that are found in the «wrong» group can be
explained as «élements isolés», which perhaps resulted from trade or the «transfer»
of ideas across boundaries.11
The «empty» areas in between each of these reified
entities have now become «frontiers» in need of explanation. These approaches recapitulate
very similar earlier discussions on the geographical distributions of the Late
Neolithic Hassuna and Samarra cultures. The present consensus is that these two
entities were culturally, socio-economically and geographically distinct.
This particular conceptualization of human cultural expression has been
criticized from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective. It offers a starkly
normative view of human societies, in which actors are seen as passive replicators
of cultural systems and structures.12
It is likely to reify in a wholly artificial manner
what was, in effect, a fluid cultural idiom, creating artificial constructs whose
putative origins then need to be explained.13
As Reinhard Bernbeck argues, even
the simple practice of naming chronological periods may result in post-hoc entities
that are unlikely to bear any relationship with cultural identities in the past.14
Such
entities have an inbuilt danger of becoming «real life» actors on the prehistoric
stage. This danger is exemplified, for instance, in the various migration theories
that were popular in the past to explain Halaf origins.15
Feasting in the Steppe - Late Neolithic ceramic change and the rise of the Halaf 693
9
F. Balossi-Restelli 2006, The Development of «Cultural Regions» in the Neolithic of the Near East. The «DarkFaced
Burnished Ware Horizon», Oxford, Archaeopress, BAR International Series 1482.
10
O. Aurenche and S.K. Kozlowski 1999, La Naissance du Néolithique au Proche-Orient, Paris, Editions
Errance, O. Aurenche, S.K. Kozlowski and M. LeMière 2004, «La notion de frontière dans le protonéolithique
et le néolithique du Proche-Orient», in: Aurenche O., LeMière M. and Sanlaville P. (eds.), From
the River to the Sea. The Palaeolithic and the Neolithic on the Euprates and in the Northern Levant, Oxford, BAR International
Series 1263: 355-366.
11
O. Aurenche, S.K. Kozlowski and M. LeMiere 2004, «La notion de frontière dans le protonéolithique et le
néolithique du Proche-Orient», in: Aurenche O., LeMière M. and Sanlaville P. (eds.), From the River to the Sea. The
Palaeolithic and the Neolithic on the Euprates and in the Northern Levant, Oxford, BAR International Series 1263: 358.
12
I. Hodder and S. Hudson 2003, Reading the Past. Current Approaches to Interpretation in Archaeology, Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press (third edition)Jones 1997.
13
S. Campbell 1992, Culture, Chronology and Change in the Later Neolithic of North Mesopotamia, Edinburgh,
Ph.D. thesis University of Edinburgh, S. Campbell 1999, «Archaeological constructs and past reality on the
Upper Euphrates», in: del Olmo Lete G. and Montero Fenollos J. L. (eds.), Archaeology of the Upper Syrian
Euphrates: the Tishrin Dam Area, Barcelona, University of Barcelona: 573-583.
14
R. Bernbeck, this volume.
15
O.P. Nieuwenhuyse 2007, Plain and Painted Pottery. The Rise of Late Neolithic Ceramic Styles on the Syrian and
Northern Mesopotamian Plains, Turnhout, Brepols (Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities).
Is the Halaf culture really distinct from its neighbours and predecessors, in
terms of what we archaeologists observe on the ground? Perhaps not surprising,
most constituting elements of the «Halaf package» have now been shown to have
spatio-temporal distributions that easily cross traditionally accepted culture-historical
boundaries. Circular buildings (tholoi), for instance, are commonly found in
Pre-Halaf and Transitional contexts.16
At Tell Sabi Abyad they can now be traced
back to the final stages of the Early Pottery Neolithic.17
Stamp seals were no Halaf
invention, but instead became popular among Late Neolithic communities during
the Pre-Halaf stage.18
As Marc Verhoeven argues, it is presently difficult, if not
impossible, to find our pottery-based culture-historical entities reflected in changes
in ritual practice.19
This leaves us with the pottery. After all, the Halaf culture was first named
after a new, conspicuously distinct type of pottery.20
At the very least, then, the
Halafian ceramic tradition is unequivocally distinct from the Standard Hassuna,
Pre-Halaf, Proto-Hassuna and Samarra traditions. Or is it not?
The Pre-Halaf to Halaf Transitional («Proto-Halaf») at Tell Sabi Abyad
At Tell Sabi Abyad the Proto-Halaf phase starts with the introduction of a
small proportion of a wholly new kind of pottery: finely made, mineral-tempered
Standard Fine Ware bearing a complex, intricate style of decoration.21
The proportion
of Fine Ware rose rapidly, until eventually it replaced most of the other
categories (Fig. 2). Alongside this major shift in the composition of the ceramic
assemblage, there were modifications in technology, vessel shape and decorative
style. Gradually these led from the rough, relatively simple shapes and designs
from the Pre-Halaf era to the intricately painted, complex shapes that are so
694 Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
16
M. Verhoeven 1999, An Ethnographical Ethnography of a Late Neolithic Community. Space, Place and Social
Relations at Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria, Istanbul, Nederlands Historisch Archeologisch Instituut, W. Cruells, this
volume.
17
P.M.M.G. Akkermans, pers. comm., February 2006.
18
K. Duistermaat 1996, «The seals and sealings», in: Akkermans P.M.M.G. (ed.), Tell Sabi Abyad. The
Late Neolithic Settlement, Istanbul, Nederlands Historisch Archeologisch Instituut: 339-401, K. Duistermaat
2000, «A view on Late Neolithic sealing practices in the Near East. The case of Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria», in:
Perna M. (ed.), Administrative Documents in the Aegean and their Near Eastern Counterparts, Proceedings of the
International Colloquium Naples: 13-31, K. Duistermaat 2002, «Two clay sealings», in: Suleiman A. and
Nieuwenhuyse O.P. (eds.), Tell Boueid II. A Late Neolithic Village on the Middle Khabur (Syria), Turnhout, Brepols
(Subartu XI): 149-152, P.M.M.G. Akkermans and K. Duistermaat 1997, «Of storage and nomads. The
sealings of Late Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria», Paléorient 22/2: 17-44, P.M.M.G. Akkermans and K.
Duistermaat 2004, «More seals and sealings from Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria», Levant 36: 1-11.
19
M. Verhoeven, this volume.
20
M.A.S. Von Oppenheim and H. Schmidt 1943, Tell Halaf I: die prähistorische Funde, Berlin, Walter de
Gruyter.
21
M. LeMière and O.P. Nieuwenhuyse 1996, «The Prehistoric Pottery», in: Akkermans P.M.M.G. (ed.),
Tell Sabi Abyad. The Late Neolithic Settlement, Istanbul, Nederlands Historisch Archeologisch Instituut: 119-
284, A. Van As, L. Jacobs and O.P. Nieuwenhuyse, 1998, «The Transitional Fine Ware Pottery of Tell Sabi
Abyad, Syria. A Pilot Study», Newsletter of the Department of Pottery Technology 14/15, Leiden, Leiden University
Press: 25-47.
characteristic of the Halaf. What I wish to discuss briefly here is how these innovations
relate to commonly accepted notions of Hassuna, Samarra and Halaf pottery
and show why it is difficult to use these terms. Although Tell Sabi Abyad thus
far offers the best context, it is important to emphasize that similar processes are
observed at sites such as Tell Halula, Hakemi Use and Chagar Bazar.22
In terms of ceramic technology, the Standard Fine Ware during the Transitional
stage (levels 7-4) is closely comparable to both Standard Hassuna and Samarra
Fine Ware pottery. The differences between these cultural categories appear to be
mainly stylistic (how vessels were decorated), and not technological (how they were
made). We tested this by comparing the Standard Fine Ware from Tell Sabi Abyad
with decorated Fine Ware from three other sites traditionally ascribed to different
culture-historical entities: Tell Shemshara (Hassuna/Samarra), Tell Baghouz (Samarra)
and Tell Boueid II (Transitional/Samarra).23
Most briefly, the painted Fine Wares
from these sites may be attributed to a single technological group. Notwithstanding
some clear internal variation it is sufficiently distinct vis-à-vis other groups. This is certainly
not to claim that the painted Fine Wares from these sites are identical. Small
differences in the choice of clay or the application of pigments, however, are best
understood as local applications of a broadly similar technological chain of operations
for making this particular type of pottery.24
What technological elements did these Fine Wares have in common? Perhaps
most basically, potters selected a finely mineral-textured, «sandy» clay that could be
worked without much further processing. Transitional-period sherds often have a
slightly «gritty» feel. Besides, the calcareous clays selected contained various salts
that tended to bleach the surface to a light colour during drying and firing. Fine
Ware vessels were rarely burnished, but instead had their surfaces carefully
smoothed. This tended to further enhance the light surface colour, by bringing the
finer particles and salts to the surface. In addition, the potters used paints based
on forms of iron oxide.25
They applied new firing techniques that resulted in a
dark-coloured paint on a light surface background. Increased control of oxygen
fluctuations during the firing separated these new Fine Wares from all other painted
pottery groups from the Pre-Halaf and Transitional stages.26
Feasting in the Steppe - Late Neolithic ceramic change and the rise of the Halaf 695
22
See W. Cruells, this volume, H. Tekin, this volume. Readers will notice that at Tell Sabi Abyad during
its Pre-Halaf to Early Halaf stages the pottery assemblage included several distinct ware categories. I
shall concentrate exclusively on only one of them: Standard Fine Ware. This restriction leaves out much of
the broader picture, as the other categories underwent significant modifications as well, and each constituent
element should be properly understood in the context of all others.
23
See B. Robert and colleagues, this volume, O.P. Nieuwenhuyse, L. Jacobs, A. Van As, T. Broekmans
and M. Adriaens, 2001, «Making Samarra Fine Ware - technological observations on the ceramics from Tell
Baghouz (Syria)», Paléorient 27/1: 147-165, O.P. Nieuwenhuyse, L. Jacobs and A. Van As, 2002, «The
ceramics», in: Suleiman A. and Nieuwenhuyse O.P. (eds.), Tell Boueid II. A Late NeolithicVillage on the Middle
Khabur (Syria), Turnhout, Brepols (Subartu XI): 35-124.
24
Much of the Standard Fine Ware was no doubt produced locally at Tell Sabi Abyad, but it also
appears to be the case that part of it was imported from elsewhere (LeMière and Picon, this volume).
25
See B. Robert et al., this volume.
26
O.P. Nieuwenhuyse 2007, Plain and Painted Pottery. The Rise of Late Neolithic Ceramic Styles on the Syrian
and Northern Mesopotamian Plains, Turnhout, Brepols (Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of
Antiquities).
Fine Ware technology did not remain static. At Tell Sabi Abyad, through time,
there was a gradual, progressive trend towards the use of finer clays for pottery
production. If in the earliest Transitional period levels (levels 7-6) clays were still
«sandy», and even occasionally included vegetal inclusions, in later levels hardly any
macroscopically visible inclusions remained, apart from small white lumps of calcium
carbonate («lime»). This trend may have come about by selecting cleaner clays, or
applying techniques for cleaning the clay such as levigation, or a combination of
those. The result (in levels 3-1) was Fine Ware pottery made in a fine, compact clay
that compares well with that of other Early Halaf sites (Fig. 3). Also, through time
potters gained increasing control over pigments and techniques of firing. In contrast
to Robert et al. (this volume), who suggest that the dark paints were the accidental
by-product of poor firing control, I would argue that dark paints over a light background
were precisely what Fine Ware potters strove to achieve. By Early Halaf
times they had mastered considerable expertise enabling them to produce a remarkably
uniform dark paint. Paints gradually became slightly glossy, too. Whereas matt
paints are typical for both Standard Hassuna and Samarra Fine Ware, the somewhat
glossy, dark paints are typical for Early Halaf painted pottery.
Alongside these innovations in ceramic technology, there were changes in pottery
morphology. The basic shaping methods for making Halaf pottery appear to have
been widely applied already during the Pre-Halaf stage, including pinching and coiling
and the use of moulds for shaping the base. The changes in vessel shape, therefore,
result from stylistic processes rather than from technological inventions. If we
ignore subtle distinctions between types and look at broader morphological classes
instead, the Pre-Halaf levels were mostly characterized by simple, convex-sided
shapes and by vessels with straight walls. Through time, we can observe the gradual
increase of S-shaped profiles and the rapid increase of vessels having a carinated profile
- shapes that are very commonly found in Hassuna and Samarra assemblages (Fig.
4). The ultimate result was the development of various types of carinated, collared
vessels, of which the Early Halaf «small cream bowl» is just one example.27
Finally, there were changes in decorative style. What we term «Transitional
period» appears to have been a stage during which the proportion of decorated
ceramics increased sharply (from about 20% in the Pre-Halaf to about 80% in the
Early Halaf). Alongside this development, most of the earlier, Pre-Halaf decorative
techniques went out of fashion, to be replaced by a single technique: painting
with dark paint. One possible reason why painting was preferred may have been
that it was more versatile and enabled the creation of more complex design structures
and motifs. And this is exactly what happened. Design «complexity» is
defined here as the total division of the empty vessel surface with structural
dividers: horizontal and vertical lines that define fields to be filled with motifs.
Through time, potters increasingly subdivided the vessel surface in increasingly
smaller horizontal design fields. In addition, they developed more complex ways
of separating fields, for instance by adding free lines between fields. At the same
time, the range of design motifs available to them expanded rapidly.28
696 Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
27
O.P. Nieuwenhuyse, 2007, op. cit.
28
O.P. Nieuwenhuyse 2007, op. cit.
Design structure and motifs are of course a major element in defining prehistoric
painted pottery styles in the Near East. Whereas Standard Hassuna
pottery is generally thought to be characterized by simple design structures, the
most complex design structures are generally attributed to Classic Samarra Fine
Ware pottery. I would argue that as far as our culture-historical terminology is
concerned, the more complex design structures that arose at the end of the
Transitional period at Tell Sabi Abyad and other Proto-Halaf sites in northern
Syria resemble what in other contexts we would easily see as «Classic Samarra»
(but see Bernbeck 1994, this volume, for a strongly critical view). Typical
«Samarra» design motifs include stepped patterns and «dancing ladies». This is
certainly not to say that all Standard Fine Ware pottery should be labelled
«Samarran» (indeed, most painted Standard Fine Ware would not fall within this
definition) or even that Tell Sabi Abyad was a «Samarra» site. Rather, I argue that
at Tell Sabi Abyad and other Proto-Halaf sites more complex design structures
arose within a diachronic continuum of stylistic change. Following the Transitional
period, Fine-Ware potters at Tell Sabi Abyad returned to simpler design
structures, again emphasizing broad, singular design fields, but filled them with
more complex motifs (Fig. 5). One possible reason for this shift may have been
that at the end of the Transitional period it may have been difficult to subdivide
the vessel surface further into smaller design zones.29
To summarize this oversimplified review, the picture at Tell Sabi Abyad suggests
that what is termed Transitional/Proto-Halaf was characterized by continuous
innovation in ceramic technology, morphology and decorative style. What triggered
these innovations?
Pots in context
As far as we can presently reconstruct, these ceramic innovations did not
occur in a vacuum. Starting from around 6300 cal. BC, just prior to the Transitional
period, Late Neolithic communities in the Balikh valley experienced a
series of far-reaching socio-economic changes. There seem to have been transformations
in the settlement pattern, leading to a characteristic «Halaf»-like pattern
of mainly short-lived, small sites surrounding the occasional larger, longlived
settlement of which Tell Sabi Abyad itself was an example.30
There were
changes in the ideological realm, as for instance seen in the adoption of new
types of figurines31
and the widespread use of stamp seals and clay tokens as
the expression of new concepts of ownership and property rights.32
Changes
in the faunal assemblage and the introduction of spindle whorls suggest that
ovicaprids were increasingly kept for their wool.33
There may also have been
Feasting in the Steppe - Late Neolithic ceramic change and the rise of the Halaf 697
29
O.P. Nieuwenhuyse 2007, op. cit.
30
P.M.M.G. Akkermans, 1993, op. cit., P.M.M.G. Akkermans and G. Schwartz, 2003, op. cit.
31
P.M.M.G. Akkermans and G. Schwartz, 2003, op. cit.: 142-143.
32
P.M.M.G. Akkermans and K. Duistermaat, 1997, op. cit.
33
P.M.M.G. Akkermans et al., 2006, op. cit., C. Cavallo 2000, Animals in the Steppe. A zooarchaeological
analysis of Later Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria, Oxford, BAR International Series 891.
changes in foodstuffs or cuisine associated with what we term the Transition to
the Halaf: a study of residue traces has yielded evidence of milk on a number
of sherds from the Pre-Halaf and Transitional periods.34
Among the coarse
Standard Ware, new vessel shapes were introduced that may have been related
to the processing of dairy products, such as funnels and sieves.35
The modifications that we see in the ceramics formed part of these wider
changes. At the end of the sixth millennium BC pottery seems to have gained
new roles, as the expression of status and prestige and as a marker of social
identity. Significantly, for the first time vessels were occasionally repaired when
they broke. Repairs, moreover, are found exclusively with the decorated Fine
Wares, not with any of the other pottery groups. Vessels also began to be part
of burial practices as gifts for the deceased. As I have argued elsewhere, competition
between Late Neolithic groups may have been an important factor
driving ceramic change and innovation.36
Specifically, the concept of emulation
may explain much of the ceramic change observed. In its most general sense,
emulation in material consumption and production may arise in competitive
situations in which social boundaries are permeable, and where artefacts serve
to express a relative social status of some sort.37
Stylistically or technologically
innovative items begin as rare novelties, then quickly become common goods.
Rapid material culture change and progressive innovation are typical results of
emulation processes.
Within the Syrian Late Neolithic much of this competition may have been
played out during feasting. If broad functional categories are applied to the Transitional
period and Early Halaf ceramics, it appears that through time the functional
category of vessels suitable for serving and consuming food and, in particular, drink
increases (Fig. 6). The archetypal Hassuna/Samarra/Halaf vessel is a drinking vessel.
Furthermore, it appears that many of the technological, morphological and stylistic
innovations observed seem to start in the group of vessels suitable for serving and
consumption, spreading afterwards to other functional categories. The earliest Standard
Fine Ware mostly consisted of serving vessels; only later did this new
technology and style incorporate other functional categories as well. The increasing
morphological and decorative complexity is strongly associated with this functional
category. Feasts would have offered a forum for rivalling groups to compete with
gift-giving and conspicuous consumption, while at the same time providing them
698 Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
34
M.S. Copley M.S., R. Berstan, S.N. Dudd, G. Dogherty, A.J. Mukherjee, V. Straker, S. Payne and R.P.
Evershed, 2003, «Direct chemical evidence for widespread dairying in prehistoric Britain», Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences 100 no. 4: 1524-1529.
35
O.P. Nieuwenhuyse, 2007, op. cit. However, the actual number of such finds is extremely low: at Tell
Sabi Abyad only one funel and two sieves were found.
36
O.P. Nieuwenhuyse, 2007, op. cit.
37
M. Dietler, 1990, «Driven by drink: the role of drinking in the political economy and the case of early
Iron Age France», Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 9: 352-406, D. Miller, 1982, «Structures and strategies:
an aspect of the relationship between social hierarchy and cultural change», in: Hodder I. (ed.), Symbolic
and Structural Archaeology, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press: 89-98, D. Miller, 1985, Artefacts as
Categories. A Study of Ceramic Variability in Central India, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press , J. Thomas,
1991, Rethinking the Neolithic, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
with the possibility to manipulate relations of debt and cement alliances with partners
from other groups.38
Feasting, of course, did not start in the later sixth millennium.
It may be argued that the manifold changes we observe in the ceramics reflect
a transformation in the role of feasting, its nature and scale, and above all, notions on
how such events ought to be dressed up. Significantly, scenes of, presumably,
dancing figures now begin to appear on the painted Fine Ware ceramics (Fig. 7).39
What culture? Some concluding remarks
Following traditionally accepted culture-historical nomenclature, it might be
possible to argue that the ceramic assemblage at Tell Sabi Abyad passed from a
«Pre-Halaf» stage through a «Hassuna-Samarra» stage into an «Early Halaf»
stage. However, to the degree that such terms imply rupture and socio-cultural
distinctiveness, they become meaningless when ceramic innovation is placed in
a long-term perspective and in a wider cultural context. Rather, at Tell Sabi
Abyad there appears to have been a continuum of ceramic innovation and
change starting at ca. 6200 cal. BC. Within this continuum, to be sure, we
archaeologists can construct chronological divisions on the basis of pottery
style. The term «Proto-Halaf» was coined from such a perspective.40
There
never was such a thing as a Proto-Halaf «culture»; the term refers exclusively to
changes in pottery style observed at a number of Late Neolithic sites in northern
Syria, southeastern Anatolia and northern Iraq.41
If this restriction is kept
sufficiently clear, the term may serve as a valuable addition to the Mesopotamian
terminological jungle.
Bernbeck (this volume) advocates that we restrict the naming of periods as
much as possible to small sections of time and space. In practice, this is already
happening. Stupefied by the difficulties of applying supra-regional terminologies
to local sequences of change, an increasing number of archaeologists have begun
building regional chronologies. Certainly, these still use local type sites to stand for
wider variation at the regional level - Tell Sabi Abyad for the Balikh, Halula for the
Syrian Euphrates, Chagar Bazar for the Khabur - but they are an important step
away from the traditional, over-generalizing pan-Mesopotamian schemes. What
was termed Proto-Halaf occurs in all of these areas (Balikh IIIA, Halula IV, CBI,
respectively42
), but regional terminologies are crucial for us to begin gaining an
insight into local peculiarities.
Feasting in the Steppe - Late Neolithic ceramic change and the rise of the Halaf 699
38
M. Dietler and B. Hayden, eds., 2001, Feasts. Archaeological and Ethnographic Perspectives on Food, Politics
and Power, Washington, Smithsonian, P. Halstead and J.C. Barrett, eds., 2004, Food, Cuisine and Society in Prehistoric
Greece, Oxford, Oxbow (Sheffield Studies in Aegean Archaeology 5).
39
Y. Garfinkel, 1998, «Dancing and the beginning of art scenes in the early village communities of the
Near East and Southeast Europe», Cambridge Archaeological Journal 8/2: 207-237, Y. Garfinkel, 2003, Dancing
at the Dawn of Agriculture, Austin, Texas University.
40
W. Cruells and O.P. Nieuwenhuyse, 2004, «The Proto-Halaf period in Syria. New sites, new data»,
Paléorient 30/1: 47-68.
41
W. Cruells, this volume.
42
W. Cruells, this volume.
On the other hand, too strong a focus on the small scale may ignore wider spatial
trends, without which the small-scale events make very little sense indeed. It is
these larger trends that the term Proto-Halaf tried to capture. Regional Late
Neolithic communities will of course not have perceived the supra-regional trends
that we the archaeologists construct. These communities will not have thought of
themselves as being «Halaf» (replace at will with Hassuna, Samarra, Pre-Halaf), or
on their way to becoming Halaf («Proto-Halaf»). On the other hand, there is much
in the archaeology of the Late Neolithic that points to a lively, quite deliberate participation
of small local groups in larger social institutions. There are the non-local
goods at Late Neolithic sites, such as precious stone, exotic shell, raw copper,
obsidian, bitumen or, indeed, non-local pottery. In terms of the ceramics, what is
striking is the apparent speed at which innovations occured over considerable distances.
Even if we allow for generous margins due to poor absolute dating and
accept the possibility that similar-looking styles followed different trajectories in
different areas, there seems to be no denying that local groups actively involved
themselves in the larger world they found themselves in. People will have been
aware of broader spatio-temporal trends and boundaries that shaped their lives,
even if they almost certainly had an entirely different conception of how these
were constituted than we have. Indeed, the «international» aspect of Late
Neolithic pottery styles from ca. 6200 cal. BC onwards may have been at the heart
of what they meant in social and symbolic terms.43
The current classificatory difficulties also arise from the history of our
research field, which presses us to translate new discoveries at Proto-Halaf sites
into the traditional Mesopotamian vocabulary. Even careful designations such as
«Samarra-related», «Northern Samarra», «Hassuna-influenced» or, indeed, «ProtoHalaf»
imply pre-existing culture-historical entities. It is crucial that ceramic assemblages
from Proto-Halaf sites are studied in their own right and in detail, after
which archaeologists may search for comparisons and contrasts with existing
categories. It is likely that this will contribute to a deconstructing of these traditional
entities. Today scholars increasingly become aware of biases in sampling
procedures and prejudices in selecting material for publication at many key sites
excavated in the past, sites that still form the backbone of our current typochronological
framework.
I here argue that the so-called Standard Fine Ware from the Proto-Halaf sites
belongs to the same broad category that also includes groups traditionally known
as Standard Hassuna and Samarra Fine Ware. To be sure, there are differences in
decorative technology and style. For instance, incised designs are found with Standard
Hassuna ceramics in northern Iraq and southeastern Anatolia, a combination
that so far appears to be entirely absent from northern Syria.44
Within the painted
canon, notwithstanding the broad similarities over large regions, local expressions
can certainly be pointed out.45
Considering the large geographic space involved,
700 Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
43
S. Campbell, 1992, op. cit., O.P. Nieuwenhuyse, 2007, op. cit.
44
R.V. Gut, 1995, Das prähistorische Ninive. Zur relativen Chronologie der frühen Perioden Nordmesopotamiens,
Mainz, Phillip von Zabern.
45
R. Bernbeck, 1994, op. cit., R. Bernbeck, this volume.
local interpretations are probably just what we should expect. In the past, such
local expressions were usually overlooked in favour of over-emphasizing homogeneity.
But contrary to what still appears to be a general consensus today, to me
this variation presently does not suggest clear regional boundaries in terms of
ceramics during the Proto-Halaf period. For instance, it can be demonstrated that
the assemblage from the Samarra type site Tell Baghouz is actually intermediate
between the «classic Samarra» and the «northern Samarra» sites.46
A valuable contribution ceramic specialists may make in this respect, is to
deconstruct culture-historical entities simply by taking them apart.47
For instance,
we may look at the separate distributions of Standard Fine Ware, Orange Fine
Ware, and Dark-Faced Burnished Ware, and explore their social, economic and
symbolic meanings. Plotting the spreads of these three key-elements of many Late
Neolithic cultural entities yields a diffuse pattern of overlapping distributions with,
at best, fuzzy boundaries (Fig. 8). What this simple example shows is that pottery
groups in the Late Neolithic had overlapping but not identical distributions, suggesting
that they figured in different networks of exchange of goods, ideas and
people. In this example I took Tell Sabi Abyad as the entirely arbitrary focal point,
but similar figures using other focal points are likely to result in similar fuzzy-edged
pictures. Specialists may discuss the role of Dark-Faced Burnished Ware or Standard
Fine Ware within Late Neolithic societies, while avoiding much problematic
culture-historical terminology. In this specific example, whereas Dark-Faced Burnished
Ware may have constituted a specialized cooking ware, painted Fine Wares
may have been important for their role in some sort of competitive feasting.48
It is often heard that in spite of the inherent weaknesses of the existing terminology
we can hardly afford to do without. We need to have some terms and,
after all, we all know what we talk about, don’t we? What alternatives do we have?
One useful alternative to the notion of polythetic cultures may be the metaphor
of a social field.49
As used among anthropologists, a social field may be understood
as a field of interactions and social influences, both intended and unintended,
whether perceived by other parties or not.50
Within this field, activities in one local
segment affect possibilities in others, whether the individual participants are aware
of each other’s existence or not. Participants find themselves affected by social
events that extend far beyond their immediate kin. Social fields in pre-state
societies often cover large swatches of geographic space, and exist despite, or
independently from, boundaries in language or subsistence strategies.
Feasting in the Steppe - Late Neolithic ceramic change and the rise of the Halaf 701
46
O.P. Nieuwenhuyse, 1999, «Tell Baghouz reconsidered: a collection of “Classic” Samarra sherds
from the Louvre», Syria 76: 1-18.
47
following an early suggestion by I. Hodder, 1978, «Simple corelations between material culture and
society: a review», in: Hodder I. (ed.), The Spatial Organisation of Culture, London, Duckworth: 3-24.
48
M. LeMière and M. Picon, 1999, «Les débuts de la céramique au Proche Orient», Paléorient 24/2: 5-26.
49
R. Layton, 1997, An Introduction to Theory in Anthropology, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press: 38-
39, R.L. Welsch and J.E. Terrell, 1998, «Material culture, social fields and social boundaries on the Sepik
Coast of New Guinea», in: Stark M.T. (ed.), The Archaeology of Social Boundaries, Washington, Smithsonian
Institution: 50 - 78, E.R. Wolf, 1982, Europe and the People without History, Berkely, University of California
Press.
50
R.L. Welsch and J.E. Terrell 1998, op. cit.: 52.
Importantly, social fields are not normative. Participants certainly follow
«rules», expectations and agreed-upon principles about how people ought to
behave, but there is plenty of room for actively manipulating one’s own participation
and that of others.51
Welsch and Terrell52
show how on the Sepik coast of
New Guinea competitive manipulation was part of such rules, along with prescribed
notions of generosity and friendship. Here, various goods and ideas
travelled in different directions along pathways in multiple social fields, depending
on the local context and the individual participants’ decisions. Social identities
were to a large extent situational and contextually constituted; correspondingly, the
material expression of identity was itself multiple. In terms of Late Neolithic pottery
technologies and decorative styles in the Near East, then, different technologies
and styles may have held different meanings and may have figured in different
social contexts. Looking at the aggregate from a huge distance, we archaeologists
can often perceive a «communality of culture», but there is no a priori reason to
assume that social fields must result in clear regional boundaries. The possibility of
discrete regional boundaries that persisted over time in the Late Neolithic,
expressed in pottery style, is certainly not excluded, but if such boundaries («frontiers»)
can in fact be demonstrated they seem to have constituted an anomaly.
Pottery styles in the late sixth millennium BC gained new, more overtly symbolic
roles. The introduction and subsequent development of intricately painted
Fine Wares point to the development of new patterns of ceramic consumption
that connected regional communities living far apart. The practices that this
pottery represent may have represented something novel at the time, but they were
there to stay. For almost a millennium, people would express their identities by
making and using magnificently painted serving vessels.
702 Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
51
F. Barth, 1967, «On the study of social change», American Anthropologist 69: 661-669.
52
L.R. Welsch and J.E. Terrell, 1998, op. cit.: 55-68.23
See B. Robert and colleagues, this volume, O.P.
Nieuwenhuyse, L. Jacobs, A. Van As, T. Broekmans and M. Adriaens, 2001, «Making Samarra Fine Ware
- technological observations on the ceramics from Tell Baghouz (Syria)», Paléorient 27/1: 147-165, O.P.
Nieuwenhuyse, L. Jacobs and A. Van As, 2002, «The ceramics», in: Suleiman A. and Nieuwenhuyse O.P.
(eds.), Tell Boueid II. A Late NeolithicVillage on the Middle Khabur (Syria), Turnhout, Brepols (Subartu XI):
35-124.
Feasting in the Steppe - Late Neolithic ceramic change and the rise of the Halaf 703
Fig. 1: The polythetic culture model, showing the boundaries of four hypothetical
cultures A, B, C, and D within a larger culture group (after Clarke 1968
[1978]: fig. 72).
Fig. 2: The rising proportion of Fine Ware pottery during the Transitional stage
(«Proto-Halaf») at Tell Sabi Abyad (levels 7-4).
704 Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
Fig. 3: Changes in clay selection and fabric preparation leading to finer fabrics
at Tell Sabi Abyad during the Transitional (levels 7-4) and Early Halaf
(levels 3-1) periods.
Fig. 4: Changes in vessel shape leading to increased morphological complexity
at Tell Sabi Abyad during the Transitional (levels 7-4) and Early Halaf
(levels 3-1) periods.
Feasting in the Steppe - Late Neolithic ceramic change and the rise of the Halaf 705
Fig. 5: Changes in decorative style leading to increased design structure
complexity at Tell Sabi Abyad during the Transitional (levels 7-4) and Early
Halaf (levels 3-1) periods.
706 Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
Fig. 6: Changes in ceramic consumption at Tell Sabi Abyad during
the Transitional (levels 7-4) and Early Halaf (levels 3-1) periods.
Feasting in the Steppe - Late Neolithic ceramic change and the rise of the Halaf 707
Fig. 7: Figures of (presumably) dancing figures painted on Early Halaf
Fine Ware vessels fom Tell Sabi Abyad.
708 Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
Fig. 8: Overlapping distributions of some of the major ceramic groups attested
during the so-called Proto-Halaf period.