Tell Abada

Tell Abada
Author: Sabah Abboud Jasim
Publisher: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
Total Pages: 590
Release: 2021-12-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1614910693

In the winter of 1978, an extensive archaeological campaign was launched in the Hamrin Basin area in the east-central part of Iraq to salvage many archaeological sites before their flooding, due to the construction of a large dam. This volume documents the excavations carried out in two of the sites-Tell Abada and Tell Rashid-dating back to the Ubaid period in the fifth millennium BC. The first site (Tell Abada) is of particular importance; it is an almost complete village with three occupational levels unearthed. Several residential houses and buildings with distinctive architectural features are exposed. Industrial workshops dedicated to the manufacture of pottery vessels are present. Of express interest was the first-time discovery of pottery-making equipment, notably the potter's wheel. An equally exciting discovery is the presence of many fire installations dedicated to pottery vessels' ?burning. The pottery products are enormous, varied, and richly decorated, reflecting aesthetic features and agility. The presence of the pottery in a very well stratified sequence enhances our understanding of Ubaid pottery, clarifies its chronological classifications, and establishes cultural links with other Ubaid sites in the region. Among other remarkable discoveries are many infant burial urns, granaries, water ducts, and proto-tablets. The varied aspects of the cultural material revealed throughout the excavations provides significant insight into daily life, settlement patterns, craft specialization, religious practices, and socioeconomic status, and sheds new light on the Ubaid period in general in Mesopotamia.

Upon this Foundation

Upon this Foundation
Author: Elizabeth F. Henrickson
Publisher: Museum Tusculanum Press
Total Pages: 484
Release: 1989
Genre: History
ISBN: 9788772890708

Upon this Foundation. - The 'Ubaid Reconsidered

Before Writing, Vol. I

Before Writing, Vol. I
Author: Denise Schmandt-Besserat
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 310
Release: 1992
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780292707832

Before Writing gives a new perspective on the evolution of communication. It points out that when writing began in Mesopotamia it was not, as previously thought, a sudden and spontaneous invention. Instead, it was the outgrowth of many thousands of years' worth of experience at manipulating symbols. In Volume I: From Counting to Cuneiform, Denise Schmandt-Besserat describes how in about 8000 B.C., coinciding with the rise of agriculture, a system of counters, or tokens, appeared in the Near East. These tokens—small, geometrically shaped objects made of clay—represented various units of goods and were used to count and account for them. The token system was a breakthrough in data processing and communication that ultimately led to the invention of writing about 3100 B.C. Through a study of archaeological and epigraphic evidence, Schmandt-Besserat traces how the Sumerian cuneiform script, the first writing system, emerged from a counting device. In Volume II: A Catalog of Near Eastern Tokens, Schmandt-Besserat presents the primary data on which she bases her theories. These data consist of several thousand tokens, catalogued by country, archaeological site, and token types and subtypes. The information also includes the chronology, stratigraphy, museum ownership, accession or field number, references to previous publications, material, and size of the artifacts. Line drawings and photographs illustrate the various token types.

The Iraqi Marshlands and the Marsh Arabs

The Iraqi Marshlands and the Marsh Arabs
Author: Sam Kubba
Publisher: Trans Pacific Press
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2011
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780863723339

This text is for those wishing to develop an understanding of a cultural legacy and lifestyle that survives today only as a fragmented cultural inheritance. The book illustrates how the economy and lives of the Ma'dan (Marsh Arabs) that spans over 5000 years remained similar to the ancient practices of their Sumerian forebears.

The Archaeology of Mesopotamia

The Archaeology of Mesopotamia
Author: Roger Matthews
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2013-01-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1135134537

The only critical guide to the theory and method of Mesopotamian archaeology, this innovative volume evaluates the theories, methods, approaches and history of Mesopotamian archaeology from its origins in the nineteenth century up to the present day. Ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), was the original site of many of the major developments in human history, such as farming, the rise of urban literate societies and the first great empires of Akkad, Babylonia and Assyria. Dr. Matthews places the discipline within its historical and social context, and explains how archaeologists conduct their research through excavation, survey and other methods. In four fundamental chapters, he uses illustrated case-studies to show how archaeologists have approached central themes such as: * the shift from hunting to farming * complex societies * empires and imperialism * everyday life. This will be both an ideal introductory work and useful as background reading on a wide range of courses.

The Archaeology of Mesopotamia

The Archaeology of Mesopotamia
Author: Dr. Roger Matthews
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 628
Release: 2003
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780415253178

This innovative volume evaluates the theories, methods, approaches and history of Mesopotamian archaeology from its origins in the 19th century up the to present day.

Encyclopedia of Prehistory

Encyclopedia of Prehistory
Author: Peter N. Peregrine
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 458
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1461500230

The Encyclopedia of Prehistory represents temporal dimension. Major traditions are an attempt to provide basic information also defined by a somewhat different set of on all archaeologically known cultures, sociocultural characteristics than are eth covering the entire globe and the entire nological cultures. Major traditions are prehistory ofhumankind. It is designed as defined based on common subsistence a tool to assist in doing comparative practices, sociopolitical organization, and research on the peoples of the past. Most material industries. but language, ideology, of the entries are written by the world's and kinship tics play little or no part in foremost experts on the particular areas their definition because they are virtually and lime periods. unrecoverable from archaeological con The Encyclopedia is organized accord· texts. In contrast, language, ideology, and ing to major traditions. A major tradition kinship ties arc central to defining ethno is defined as a group ofpopulations sharing logical cultures. similar subsistence practices. technology, There are three types of entries in the and forms oj sociopolitical organizati01I, Encyclopedia: the major tradition entry.

How Writing Came About

How Writing Came About
Author: Denise Schmandt-Besserat
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2010-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0292774869

An “utterly lucid, thoughtfully illustrated, and thoroughly convincing” book on the origins of the world’s oldest known system of writing (American Journal of Archaeology). One of American Scientist's Top 100 Books on Science, 2001 In 1992, the University of Texas Press published Before Writing, Volume I: From Counting to Cuneiform and Before Writing, Volume II: A Catalog of Near Eastern Tokens. In these two volumes, Denise Schmandt-Besserat set forth her groundbreaking theory that the cuneiform script invented in the Near East in the late fourth millennium B.C.—the world's oldest known system of writing—derived from an archaic counting device. How Writing Came About draws material from both volumes of this scholarly work to present Schmandt-Besserat’s theory in an abridged version for a wide public and classroom audience. Based on the analysis and interpretation of a selection of 8,000 tokens or counters from 116 sites in Iran, Iraq, the Levant, and Turkey, it documents the immediate precursor of the cuneiform script./DIV

Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 131, 2004 Lectures

Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 131, 2004 Lectures
Author: Professor P.J. Marshall, CBE, FBA
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 500
Release: 2005-12-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780197263518

The topical issues debated in this volume include the patenting of AIDS drugs, the future pensions crisis, Britain's universities, and Pan-Islam.There are studies of Shakespeare, Pope, Montaigne, Robert Graves, and William Faulkner. And there are lectures on the Inquisition, empires in history, and the journey towards spiritual fulfilment.

The Near East

The Near East
Author: Charles Keith Maisels
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2005-10-24
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1134664680

The transition from foraging, farming and the neolithic village to the city-state is a complex and fascinating period. Studies on the prehistory of the Near East by nineteenth and twentieth century pioneers in the field transformed archaeology through the creation of the 'Ages System' of Stone, Bronze and Iron. The Near East provides a developmental account of this period contextualised by discussion of the emergence of archaeology as a discipline. The Near East details the causes and effects - enviromental, organizational, demographic and technological - of the world's first village farming cultures some eight thousand years ago. Charles Maisels explains how cities such as Uruk and Ur, Nippur and Kish formed as a result of geological factors and the role of key organizational features of Sumerian society in introducing the world's first script, system of calculation and literature.