A Preliminary Report of the Archaeological Excavations at Hirbemerdon Tepe, Southeastern Turkey

Laneri, Nicola; D'Agostino, Anacleto; Schwartz, Mark; Valentini, Stefano; Pappalardo, Giuseppe

doi:10.2143/ana.32.0.2012555

Cited by 6 publications

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“…Another stylistic type found in lower percentages in Middle Bronze Age contexts of this region is Band Painted Ware. 49 While the pottery from Hirbemerdon Tepe shares 49 A coherent typology for the Middle Bronze Age pottery discovered within the architectural complex has already been established in other reports (Laneri et al 2006(Laneri et al , 2008(Laneri et al , 2009; D'Agostino 2012). some decorative features with a ceramic type known as Khabur Ware (from the Khabur area in northeastern Syria), 50 archaeometric analyses (discussed later in this report) have demonstrated that this specific pottery assemblage represents a local variant of Red Brown Wash Ware.…”

Section: The Pottery Assemblage and Its Regional Contextmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…In fact, it appears from these archaeological data that each building was probably associated with a specific function connected to craft production or other specialized activities. 28 For example, the rooms located in the 28 Laneri et al 2006Laneri et al , 2007Laneri et al , 2008Laneri et al , 2009 table 2. Modeled and unmodeled radiocarbon dates using the 2σ range (probability 95.4%).…”

Section: The Built Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…19 Algaze et al 1991;Laneri 2004. 20 Laneri 2006Laneri et al 2006. 21 Laneri et al 2006 The samples were prepared and measured by the Leibniz Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Stable Isotope Research in Kiel, Germany (Nadeau et al 1997(Nadeau et al , 1998Grootes et al 2004).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Ritual and Identity in Rural Mesopotamia: Hirbemerdon Tepe and the Upper Tigris River Valley in the Middle Bronze Age

Laneri

Schwartz

et al. 2015

American Journal of Archaeology

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nicola laneri, mark schwartz, jason ur, anacleto d'agostino, remi berthon, mette marie hald, and anke marsh field report www.ajaonline.org Excavations at the relatively small but strategically placed site of Hirbemerdon Tepe, located along the west bank of the upper Tigris River in modern southeastern Turkey, have yielded significant results. During the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1600 B.C.E.), the site was situated in an ecologically stratified landscape that included river terraces suitable for agriculture as well as forested uplands ideal for pastoral and hunting activities. A significant result of these excavations, which were conducted by the Hirbemerdon Tepe Archaeological Project, was the discovery of a well-preserved architectural complex with associated ritual artifacts on the northern side of the high mound. This report describes and situates this Middle Bronze Age site within its geographic, cultural, and ecological context. It examines the emergence of this small regional center and investigates the role of ritual activities in the development of socially integrated communities in the frontier zone of northern Mesopotamia during the beginning of the second millennium B.C.E. 1 introduction Over the last 20 years, archaeologists have incorporated the detailed study of small-scale rural communities into their analyses of large-scale urban societies. These efforts are critical to a holistic understanding of regional social complexity. 2 Furthermore, these investigations have established new research trajectories that emphasize the social organization of societies lacking major urban centers. The complex relationships between domestic, ceremonial, and economic elements have been highlighted in studies of ancient smallscale societies in both the Old and New Worlds. 31 We would like to thank the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey for its support and the permit for archaeological work at Hirbemerdon Tepe since 2003. The project was jointly planned with the Archaeological Museum of Diyarbakır as part of the Ilısu Dam Rescue Project. To the project's director, Mehmet Çelebi, go our warmest acknowledgments. The Hirbemerdon Tepe Archaeological Project has been financially supported by the University of Catania, the Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente, Grand Valley State University, Harvard University, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Curtiss T. and Mary G. Brennan Foundation, the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, the Credito Siciliano, and other private donors. Finally, we would like to thank Seth Richardson and the anonymous reviewers for the AJA for their comments, which were useful for revising this report. Figures are from the Hirbemerdon Tepe Archaeological Project archive unless otherwise noted.

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Section: The Pottery Assemblage and Its Regional Contextmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: The Built Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ritual and Identity in Rural Mesopotamia: Hirbemerdon Tepe and the Upper Tigris River Valley in the Middle Bronze Age

Laneri

Schwartz

et al. 2015

American Journal of Archaeology

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“…The settlement pattern of this period is characterised by: a) a major architectural complex, mostly dated to the first half of the second millennium BC, on the High Mound; b) scattered architectural features dedicated to working activities in the Outer Town; and c) a possible temporary settlement in the Lower Town ( fig. 3; Laneri, et al 2006). More specifically, the archaeological excavations in the Outer Town have brought to light two different sub-phases related to this main period of occupation: sub-phase B, dating to the late third to early second millennium BC; and sub-phase A, dating to the first half of the second millennium BC.…”

Section: Hirbemerdon Tepementioning

confidence: 99%

Hirbemerdon Tepe: a late third to mid second millennium BC settlement of the upper Tigris valley

2007

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Cycles of Civilization in Northern Mesopotamia, 4400–2000 BC

2010

J Archaeol Res

198

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Abstract:The intensification of fieldwork in northern Mesopotamia, the upper region of the TigrisEuphrates basin, has revealed two cycles of expansion and reduction in social complexity between 4400-2000 BC. These cycles include developments in social inequality, political centralization, craft production and economic specialization, agropastoral land use, and urbanization. Contrary to earlier assessments, many of these developments proceeded independently from the polities in southern Mesopotamia, although not in isolation. This review considers recent data from excavations and surveys in northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, and southeastern Turkey with particular attention to how they are used to construct models of early urban polities.Key words: Mesopotamia, complex society, urbanism, collapse 1 IntroductionOver a span of more than two millennia, northern Mesopotamia witnessed the emergence of urban complex society, its collapse and rebirth, and a further episode of collapse. This time span (ca. 4400-2000 BC) has been intensively studied by archaeologists over the last two decades, largely because of twin push (the closure of Iraq to foreign archaeology) and pull (salvage campaigns in advance of dam projects) forces. As a result, what was once considered to be the periphery of early urbanism and state formation in southern Mesopotamia (modern southern Iraq) has emerged as a region of interest in its own right. In many ways we now have a superior understanding of major social developments in the north (e.g., urbanism, craft production, agricultural and pastoral organization, the development of the landscape) than we do for the south, and improvements in chronology have revealed that many aspects of social complexity that were once assumed to have been imported from southern Mesopotamia have earlier and entirely indigenous origins.This review describes the development of social complexity from 4400 BC to the collapse of urban society at the end of the 3rd millennium BC in northern (or upper) Mesopotamia, defined here as the Tigris and Euphrates River valleys and the plains and steppe between them that fall today in northern Iraq, northern Syria, and southeastern Turkey (Fig. 1).Much archaeological research in the region, and in the Near East in general, adopts a culture historical approach that emphasizes typology and the development of sequences of material culture; here the emphasis is on anthropologically oriented research published since 1990.Geographically, the focus is on the river valleys and alluvial plains of Syria, and particularly the Upper Khabur basin of Hassake province. Occasionally I refer to sites beyond northern Mesopotamia proper when they are relevant to the discussion, particularly the western Syrian 2 cities of Ebla and Umm al-Marra; the important Syrian city of Mari, on the Euphrates near the Iraqi border, is largely southern Mesopotamian in orientation and will be not be discussed (although see Margueron 2004).In Mesopotamian archaeology generally, social complexity is described throug...

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A Preliminary Report of the Archaeological Excavations at Hirbemerdon Tepe, Southeastern Turkey

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

Ritual and Identity in Rural Mesopotamia: Hirbemerdon Tepe and the Upper Tigris River Valley in the Middle Bronze Age

Ritual and Identity in Rural Mesopotamia: Hirbemerdon Tepe and the Upper Tigris River Valley in the Middle Bronze Age

Hirbemerdon Tepe: a late third to mid second millennium BC settlement of the upper Tigris valley

Cycles of Civilization in Northern Mesopotamia, 4400–2000 BC

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