The new data from the sites of Girdi Qala and Logardan (Iraqi Kurdistan) are starting to change the picture of Uruk culture expansion. In the Central Zagros Piedmont, it began as early as the second half of the local Late Chalcolithic 2 (LC2), contemporary with South Mesopotamian Early Uruk. The Uruk presence is documented not only by a large ceramic assemblage, characterized by a broad range of shapes and techniques, but also by numerous production facilities which show that Uruk pottery was made on-site by resident craftsmen. These discoveries lead us to revise traditional conceptions of the Uruk expansion, based on the simple dichotomy between local populations and Uruk colonists. We can now assess the actual forms of intercultural exchange that were taking place over an unexpectedly long period of time.

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Highlights:• Magnetic signatures of urban structures.• Understand water distribution in a megalopolis thanks to geophysics prospecting.

Habuba Kabira was extensively explored in the seventies and has become a major site for our understanding of the urban process in the Fertile Crescent in the 4th millennium ВС. The large amount of archaeological data collected from the site has, so far, been poorly used. However, a careful spatial analysis enables us to recognize the structure and the evolution of the site. Habuba Kabira was given a true urban layout, the first one in History for which we have evidence. Urukians were able to divide the urban field into regular parcels, to hierarchize the road system provided with a net of drain pipes. The urban layout was disturbed by various events, but its different stages can be reconstructed. The process was supervised by a few families of high social status. Furthermore, the evolution of the monumental complex on the tell Kannas acropolis seems to have followed the progressive growth of the city, a phenomenon which supports a new interpretation of outstanding buildings. This set of evidence figures out an urban society which was much more hierarchiz.ed and integrated than expected at that time. Finally, this approach draws new perspectives in palaeodemography.

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