Uruk expansion or integrated development? A petrographic and geochemical perspective from Gurga Chiya, Iraqi Kurdistan

Abstract

The Late Chalcolithic (LC; c.4500-3100BCE) was an important period in the developmental history of ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, north-eastern Syria and south-eastern Turkey). New forms of sociopolitical and economic organisation are observed, characterised by household/settlement hierarchies, centralised production, craft specialization and redistribution. The Uruk Phenomenon of the latter 4th millennium BCE (LC3-5 in northern Mesopotamia and Middle-Late Uruk Period in southern Mesopotamia) coincides with the world's first urban societies in northern and southern Mesopotamia. This phenomenon includes the extension of long-distance trade and the spread of material culture (including pottery), architectural elements and administrative devices from southern Iraq across Mesopotamia. Nevertheless, the reasons for the spread of this material culture are a major point of contention in archaeological debate. Within this paper, we apply a combined quantitative and qualitative methods featuring macroscopic observations, ceramic petrography and pXRF to a selection of 38 pottery sherds from Gurga Chiya, a small site located within the Shahrizor Plain, Iraqi Kurdistan. Results demonstrate that the pottery analysed was all locally produced, perhaps at Gurga Chiya itself. Potential reasons for the transmission of the Uruk Phenomenon and its appearance at Gurga Chiya are discussed. We suggest that frequent, low-level contacts between Gurga Chiya and communities of the Shahrizor and adjacent regions as a prospective reason for the transmission of this cultural package into the region.

The Later Prehistory of the Shahrizor Plain, Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Further Investigations at Gurga Chiya and Tepe Marani

“…8). Macroscopic examination implies the same clay sources as the preceding Halaf and following LC4 periods, for which petrographic analysis has established a local origin (Himmelman 2014; Lewis 2017). This may be supported by the presence of what appear to be pot wasters and highly fired clay chunks, possibly kiln lining, scattered throughout the collapsed Ubaid period building, although such material may have derived from house walls and roofing during the intense conflagration that destroyed the building.…”

The Forerunners on Heritage Stones Investigation: Historical Synthesis and Evolution

“…The first civilizations appeared in Sumeria [81] where adobe was commonly used for construction. The rocks were reserved for temples and palaces and in any case, walls.…”

Recent scientific research, training and consultancy on ancient ceramics at UCL Institute of Archaeology

“…Recent and ongoing PhD projects include pre-Hispanic Venezuela (Lozada-Mendieta 2019), Harappan period India (Ceccarelli et al 2021), Iron Age Uganda (Page 2021), sixth-century ad China (Huang and Freestone 2017;Huang et al 2020;Huang 2022), Ubaid Persian Gulf, Inka period Chile, Neolithic Greece and Bronze and Iron Age Jordan. Annually, masters and undergraduate dissertation projects deliver targeted analysis on equally diverse material, some of which is published (for example, Lewis et al 2020;Sorresso and Quinn 2020;Ho and Quinn 2021;Barouda et al 2023;Valancius et al 2023). Such projects integrate a range of analytical methods, such as macroscopic and thin-section petrography, macro-trace analysis, instrumental geochemistry and scanning electron microscopy.…”