Recent finds from the northern Mesopotamian city of Tell Brak

Tricky technology of making silver seed beads in the Early Bronze Age, NW Caucasus

“…Therefore, the technology of “garland” casting is an original, and, probably, the earliest solution in history that helped address the issue of large‐scale production of uniform cast beads. It is not yet clear whether this technology was developed in the Caucasus, or brought there from Western Asia, where the Maikop culture has its roots and where probably cast silver beads have been known since the middle of the 4th millennium bce (Emberling & McDonald, 2002, p. 950, fig. 3).…”

The Uruk expansion as dynamic process: A reconstruction of Middle to Late Uruk exchange patterns from bulk stable isotope analyses of bitumen artifacts

“…Bitumen bearing traces of matting or baskets may have been part of containers used in the packaging of other trade goods. Archaeological evidence from Tell Brak attests to the use of woven reeds to package or carry caches of precious stones (Emberling and McDonald, 2002). Bricks of bitumen with mat impressions were most likely ingots used as a unit of transport (Marschner et al 1978;Wright 1969).…”

“…During this period in the early fourth millennium BC, communities in northern Syria had already reached advanced levels of social complexity with little evidence of influence from southern Mesopotamia (Stein 2012). Tell Brak appears to have been a large and complex settlement well before the Uruk expansion (during periods LC1, 2, 3) with a size of up to 100 ha (Emberling and McDonald 2002;McMahon 2013;Oates et al 2007;Schwartz 2001;Ur et al 2007). Starting the late fifth millennium/early fourth millennium BC Tell Brak developed many of the hallmarks of a state society such as monumental architecture, high population density, long-distance trade, craft specialization, and powerful religious institutions Ur 2010).…”

Bulk stable carbon and deuterium isotope analyses of bitumen artifacts from Hacinebi Tepe, Turkey: reconstructing broad economic patterns of the Uruk expansion

“…Bitumen found on reed matting or baskets were most likely containers used in the packaging of other trade goods. Archaeological evidence from Tell Brak attests to the use of woven reeds to package or carry caches of precious stones (Emberling and McDonald, 2002). Objects that appear to be square ingots of bitumen with mat impressions were most likely used as a unit of transport.…”