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Tepe
Gawra lay some 23
km NE from Nineveh,
by the river Khusr, in an environment
favorable to agriculture. Its great proximity with the mountains and
the contacts with the hillmen living up there is
one of the reasons that make Gawra a site
different from others in Assyria.
The longest
continuous sequence, that spans from the 6th millennium
to the mid 2nd milleniun,
has been divided in levels 1-20, level 20 being the oldest. Levels 20-9
cover the period before writing and may itself cover a time span as long as
2000 years. As we will see with the evidences in both architecture and
pottery, level 20 was probably late Halaf (circa
5000 B.C), Gawra 19-17 parallels Eridu 13-11, and Gawra 13-11 Eridu 7-6. That those developments happen at the same
time or not is still matter to debate. It should be noted that level 20 has
no parallel in the south, at least none that we’ve found so far.
As in Eridu, we have interesting architectural remains,
showing several styles that may disappear after a while to be used again,
sometimes hundreds of years later. For one, we find the “tholos”, circular, domed building, typical of
northern architecture, which already had made an apparition in late Halaf at Arpachiyah.
Here it occurs at level 20, with one 5m diameter mud building with three
irregularly placed buttresses.
Then there
are only 2 more discovered at level 17, before it makes a last reappearance
at level 11A, with one of the finest examples of this architecture.
This 17-roomed house’s plan is almost a perfect circle of 18-19m
diameter and walls 1m thick. Given the interior architecture, this must
have served religious purposes on top of being a dwelling house with
storage rooms. Thus, round plans have survived longer here than in
the south, where reed huts, we’ve seen, have long disappeared before Uruk, probably because, since it was more crowded,
ground space was more valuable.
Rectangular
temples also occur from level 19,
with one building of big dimensions but poor quality. Another one, better
organized with tripartite plan, is found at the next level. Then, this kind
of plan doesn’t reappear for a while: maybe at level 15 with 9 rooms
radiating from a nave, and at level 14, with the first walls on stone
foundations. But it is unsure if either of those actually served religious
purposes, although it seems a strong possibility.
At level 13
we have three beautiful temples occupying the biggest part of the acropolis,
arranged around a great courtyard. Their corners were oriented by the
cardinal points of the compass, a characteristic they share with their
successors. Their mud-bricks walls were, as was the rule at Gawra (with the exception of the “Round House” we’ve
seen above at level 11A), thin, strengthened by buttresses creating
niches and painted in brilliant colors.
We don’t now
how those temples came to an end, but level 12 witnessed a conflagration
and a massacre. There was there one building that could have been a
temple, with a 11m long central chamber called the “White Room”
because of its plaster. It followed the tripartite plan and had typical
temple features such as the niches in one of the short ends of the
room. It was for this reason that a smaller building at the same level was
also identified as temple.
Level 11A,
on top of featuring the “Round House”, marks the beginning of changes
paralleled in the south, with the transition from ‘Ubaid
to Uruk. We see here the 1st
temple of square plan, type which will continue until Early Dynastic.
It was a little less than 10x10m –the next ones will increase in size- with
chambers along an oblong sanctuary with niche in the end wall. There was a
wide doorway and a porch, a feature that was probably influenced by
those who still dwelt in the mountains. Moreover, this plan may have
been exported far away, as it may be the origin of the much later Megaron style that will appear in Troy,
and then in the Mycean world. We will need more
evidences to ascertain that.
At level 11,
the temple was essentially the same, only better built, with a clay and
cement podium near the entrance. This feature will appear at levels 9-8 as
well. At that last level, there will be 3 temples, the last of this type,
marking the end of the Uruk period.
There are
no such systematic developments that can be put in evidence when it comes
to dwellings, the plans being untidy
and irregular. The best planning was found at level 19, with two
compounds of 50+ rooms around spacious courtyards. Also, a recurring
pattern of defensive planning appears from level 12 onwards; yet there has
been no defensive wall found so far, but the height of the mound was
already a protection in itself. Besides, it looks as if, from this same
level 12, richer dwellings started to be built on the acropolis for more
safety, taking the place reserved mostly till then to temples.
Unlike the
custom of Eridu, most bodies found in graves
were contracted or flexed –only one out of about 500 was found extended.
Those graves could be found either by or under houses, or around or in
temples, and it is believed that there must be some cemetery at the foot of
the mound.
When we
enter the Uruk period, a new burial practice
appears, that of the built tomb, that could be either in mud-brick,
stone (those stone cists seem to be used only for children), or a mix of
both. Timber was frequently used, as well as plaster, and 2 had wooden
floors. It seems that there was even a commemorative chapel of sorts built
directly over a tomb.
Again it
seems that food was placed in the grave, probably to keep the dead away
from the living (see at Eridu). It may well
be for the same reason that erotic terracotta figures have been
found too. Playing-pipes and flutes have been discovered as well.
In the best
equipped tombs during the Uruk period, were found
also a great number of beads, for which all kinds of stones were used,
many imported. There are also many objects made of gold, as well as
ivory combs, proofs of the prosperity of the city.
All those
differences between graves, some richer both in architectural and in
content terms, may well be considered as “evidence for differential wealth
and social position”.
Metal
also allows us to assess the technological progresses. From the ‘Ubaid period, less than half a dozen metal objects have
been found, all pure, cold-hammered copper, but this number
increases steadily to attain 334 pieces in Early Dynastic. Although metallurgy
started earlier here in the north, at the end of the Early Dynastic period,
the south’s output was greater both in number and quality.
The stone
work is the same as elsewhere in Mesopotamia.
There are great improvements illustrated in level 11A with refined objects
like a black marble hammer and some beautiful stone vases. Obsidian is used
from the early ‘Ubaid.
At the same
time, seals appear –earlier than in the south, where they
were extremely rare before the Uruk period. A lot
of them have been found in a level 13 well, with both men and animals
portrayed, and with some vivid everyday life representations.
Also, still
in the ‘Ubaid levels, there were many
terracotta statuettes, most heads being of animal form (see the man’s
statuette at Eridu) as well as a representation
of a leopard and the remarkable “spectacle” idols.
Pottery
once again is a major source of information. Level 20 holds some late Halaf pottery alike to that of Arpachiyah.
From the next levels onwards appears the famous ‘Ubaid
ware, both a marked change and continuity. The new ‘Ubaid
ware includes slender bowls sparingly decorated, and, generally
speaking, the quality is falling, despite some fine specimens. The
greatest differences are the ogival curves of
bowls’ shapes, the undecorated inside and the lack of stipple
–particularity of the Halaf ware.
However, some
painted pieces, like one bowl found at level 17, display a great
resemblance to the former style. Also, a series of bowls and vases put
to ecclesiastic use found in level 13 were richly decorated with geometric
and stylized foliage designs; one may even bear the representation of a
building. At the end of ‘Ubaid (level 12) appears
the “sprig design” (vegetation), and a few animals; there’s even a
landscape, a pattern found at Sialk III.
I want to
underline as well the typical Hajji Muhammad features of south Mesopotamia,
like the squat, lenticular, hole-mouthed vessel
with the trumpet-shaped spout, the red paint on cream slip and the lack of
reserve in the geometrical designs, that were
found in Gawra 19-17.
With the
burning of Gawra 12, the next period displays
few common points: few or no painting, most shapes being different. There
isn’t much in common with the contemporary ware of the south anymore
either.
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Again, I
won’t cover those as thoroughly as the CAH, but I wanted to make a few
points nonetheless.
Arpachiyah, 6 km east of the Tigris, is known mostly as an example of Halaf culture. However, there were 4 levels attributed
to the ‘Ubaid period, but we do not know how much
time separated both periods, as the level between the 2 was defective. ‘Ubaid itself mustn’t have last more than a couple of
centuries, probably during the second half of the period, as most of the
pottery is equivalent to that of Eridu 7-6.
Still, there were more delicate pieces found, reflecting earlier
traditions.
The graves contained mostly simple inhumations, yet one body was
extended, and buried with a red-and-black painted vase. However, there was
only one grey ware vase, a type common at the same time at Nineveh.
There has been no evidence so far of occupation after this period.
Indeed, during the Uruk phase, the district was
dominated by the neighbouring Nineveh (or Koyunçik). We don’t
know anything about its ‘Ubaid phase (maybe it
had been abandoned after the Halaf period). At
level 3, however, were found seals impressions and clay sickles that may
indicate, despite the lack of typical ‘Ubaid ware
–the one that was found was a burnished grey one-, that this level may
overlap with the end of ‘Ubaid.
In the next level, Ninevite 4, the
presence of the Glöckentöpfe, and then the marked
resemblance of most pottery with that of Babylonia proves the close ties between the two regions.
This pottery is of the late Jamdat Nasr-Early Dynastic style. There is therefore a gap
between this one and that of Ninevite 3, which
was late ‘Ubaid-early Uruk
and resembling the ware that was developed elsewhere in the north.
One last site of interest is that of Jebel
Sinjar, a series of villages within range of the rainbelt along the southern flanks of the Sinjar. Those sites show influences from many parts of
the Near
East: the
Glockentöpfe of Uruk,
the burnished grey ware from Nineveh, even some vessels from Mersin in Cilicia.
At one of the mound, that of Grai Resh, there was one building (Uruk-Jamdat
Nasr) of particular interest, as it may well have
been a temple, given its tripartite plan and the niche. Moreover, the corners
were oriented by the cardinal points, as it was the case, as we’ve seen, at
Gawra. On top of that, there were wings at one of
the ends, giving a cruciform plan: this temple is, therefore, influenced
both by the simple plan of Gawra and the more
complex one of Brak. Most of the small finds were
typical of an Uruk agricultural settlement.
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There is no
site in Syria
I know of so far that would deserve the same treatment as Tepe Gawra or even Ur,
for instance. Still, what is interesting during the period corresponding to
‘Ubaid and Uruk-Jamdat-Nasr,
is the allocation of the various evidences found in the region.
Brak does not lie far from Assyrian sites (32km from Jebel
Sinjar) and it is therefore not surprising to
find ‘Ubaid ware, as well as the “Glockentöpfe” and the spectacle idols. The ‘Ubaid ware was succeeded by what appears to be a mix of
new forms from Babylonia and adaptation of Halaf
designs, a sealing-wax red ware which may be link to one found in Iran, at Susa. Also the architecture, as the ‘Eye Temple’ quoted above, are reminiscent of that of Uruk, which lies some 1300km circa SE.
In sum, it is a link between the Assyrian culture and the Khabur valley, which used to be a rich country in terms
of agriculture, as we’re led to believe given the high number of
settlements there. However, there is no ‘Ubaid
remains found so far between the Halaf and Early
Dynastic levels, probably meaning that the technical evolutions were not
imported there (i.e., the ‘Ubaid populations did
not migrate there). Now, does that mean that the Halaf
culture developed there contemporarily with ‘Ubaid
and early ‘Uruk, or that the region wasn’t
occupied for a prolonged period is still a matter of debate.
The Balikh valley, west from the Khabur, was on one hand a good pastoral land, but in
the other the communication along the river was difficult and must have
been malarial. This explains that, although there were settlements, there
have never been big towns developed there. The region mostly felt into the
orbit of Mesopotamia, although there has been evidences common with
that of the Orontes valley, further west. Typically, a ware was a
hybrid between new ‘Ubaid shapes and old Halaf patterns was found at Tell Mefesh,
while grey and red Uruk sherds
were found at Tell Jidleh.
It appears that, as one continues up the Euphrate,
evidences of ‘Ubaid are almost non-existent. In
the region of the Middle and Upper Euphrate, although they are directly connected with Mesopotamia, there has been no evidence of ‘Ubaid ware found, with one exception, a fragment of a
goblet found at Til-Barsib. There have been,
however, remains of Ninevite 3 pottery –a ware
contemporary with ‘Ubaid- bent nails and sherds from some “Glockentöpfe”
recovered.
The Orontes valley and the Amuq
plain were became increasingly populated at the time, with a peaceful
environment is one is to judge by the lack of defences. The pottery found
there at the period we’re considering is classified as “’Ubaid-like” at first, then there is a break (evidences
seem to indicate a massive population displacement) before appear a Ninevite 3-type ware, but no typical Uruk, although there were other objects like seals and
idols typical of that style.
So far, it seems that the further we go from Jebel
Sinjar, the lesser the connection with ‘Ubaid is. It’s therefore quite a surprise to find, by
the Mediterranean coast, at Ras Shamra, classical ‘Ubaid
ware, which appeared after a Halaf level and a
short apparition of a ware typical of Lebanon and Palestine separated by an obvious sack of the city,
probably an indication of an invasion. Whether those where in turn invaded
by ‘Ubaid populations or not is not clear. What
is though is the mysterious disappearance of this ‘Ubaid
population after five centuries, who will be succeeded only by people
importing there Early Dynastic culture; it would mean therefore that the
site was not occupied during the Uruk-Jamdat Nasr period.
Let’s close, for now, this chapter with Byblos: there is no sign of ‘Ubaid,
no really a surprise considering that, in this location, they were likely
to have more connection with the Palestine than with Mesopotamia because of the sea. Ras
Shamra was on the cost too, but the cultural
changes must be linked with the different invasions it suffered, and not
with the regional context.
TO IRAN
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