ARCHAEOLOGY
2001
ARCHAEOLOGY OF SOUTHWESTERN ASIA, EGYPT
AND THE INDUS REGION, FROM AGRICULTURE TO URBAN CIVILIZATION
Summary Course Content: The archaeological record of Southwestern Asia
(“the Middle East”) from the beginnings of agriculture and animal husbandry
(c.10,000 BC) to the high point of Sumerian and Akkadian civilization during
the third millennium BC. Comparative surveys of the Egyptian and Indus Valley
civilizations prior to about 2000 BC.
This course will commence with a discussion of the Southwest Asian
environment, with particular reference to those regions of the Fertile Crescent
where agriculture commenced. Late glacial into early Holocene climatic and
sea level conditions are particularly important. We examine also the final
hunter gatherers in the Nile Valley, the Levant and the Zagros regions of
Iraq and Iran.
From here the focus moves to the initial domestication of cereals
and legumes. Why did agriculture develop? What were its major repercussions
on population densities and social organisation? The spotlight in this section
will be on the Levant – modern Jordan, Israel, Syria and Lebanon, with extensions
into SE Turkey and N Iraq. Animal domestication will also be examined, although
this is now believed to postdate plant domestication by perhaps 1000 years.
We will move next to examine the earliest agricultural villages
in Southwest Asia. These belong to the so-called “Pre-Pottery Neolithic (phases
A and B), with pottery making an appearance about 2000 years after the beginnings
of agriculture. Many important archaeological sites belong to the Pre-Pottery
Neolithic right around the Fertile Crescent, with extensions into Turkey
and Cyprus – Jericho, Ain Ghazal, Abu Hureyra, Ali Kosh, Cayonu, Khirokitia.
Excavation reports on these sites will be examined.
With the invention of pottery by about 6500 BC and the contemporary
growth of a true mixed farming economy with both crops and animals, further
expansion of the Middle Eastern agricultural way of life occurred with remarkable
success. Egypt and southeastern Europe, central Asia and Pakistan had by
this time also undergone widespread cultural changes from hunting and gathering
to agriculture, with economies based essentially on Southwest Asian crops
and animals. The archaeology of this phase is particulary rich, epitomised
by sites such as Catalhoyuk with its mural art, the Hassuna-Samarra-Halaf
cultures of northern Mesopotamia with their fine painted ceramics, Jeitun
in Turkmenistan and Mehrgarh in Pakistan.
By 6000 BC the first settlements of irrigation agriculturalists
had been established in lower Mesopotamia and the Nile. Irrigation on fertile
alluvium produces much higher agricultural yields than rainfall cultivation
on dry slopes – the result was a boom in population density. In Mesopotamia,
the necessary cultural developments were now in place for the development
of urbanisation – the world’s first cities. During the fourth millennium
BC the cities of southern Mesopotamia (Sumer) developed state-level bureaucracies,
centralised governments, writing, the wheel, increasing dependance on cupreous
metallurgy, organised warfare and even (according to some scholars) trading
empires. Egyptian developments took a more rural course, though with a far
greater emphasis on elite burial ritual than was the case in Mesopotamia.
Burials, after all, are what Egypt is famous for.
By 3000 BC, with writing in use for the recording of temple and
state transactions, the literate civilisations of Egypt and Sumer take centre
stage. We will look at the archaeology of many famous Sumerian, Semitic and
"Proto-Elamite" sites which belong in the crucial period from 4000 to 2000
BC – Eridu, Uruk, Ur with its magnificant Royal Cemetery of c2600 BC, the
Diyala valley cities, Tell Mardikh (Ebla), Tepe Gawra, Susa, Habuba Kabira,
Tepe Yahya. Social and economic developments in this period, as understood
from written documents, will be examined, with particular reference to temple
and palace organisation, trade, irrigation, and “foreign relations” (including
war).
At the same time as the Sumerians began the process of entering
history, the Egyptians established their first dynasty (starting c.3100 BC),
later entering the Pyramid Age by about 2750 BC. We examine Hierakonpolis,
Abydos, Saqqara and the pyramids of Giza and Meidum. We also examine the
great easterly counterpart of these Egyptian and Sumerian developments –
the civilisation of the Indus Valley of Pakistan and northwestern India (the
Harappan).
By the time we approach 2000 BC, with Sumerian civilisation about
to be replaced by that of the Semitic-speaking Babylonians, with Egypt in
its Middle Kindgom, and with the Harappan soon to enter its decline, we should
also be approaching the end of the course. The next 4 millennia after 2000
BC are as much fun as the previous 8, but there is a limit to how much we
can cram into one semester. However, if there is time it would be interesting
to examine what happened in India after the Harappan decline. It would also
be interesting to compare these Old World ancient civilizations in structural
terms with the much younger civilizations of the Americas – Teotihuacan and
the Maya in particular.
A final comment. No, the Indus Valley civilisation did not die!
Neither did Latin or Sanskrit, or the Mayas or the people of Easter Island.
During this course we will discuss such matters of cultural life and death,
of what survives to the present and what does not. The shape of the present
Middle East – Arabs, Israelis, Iranians, Kurds, Caucasians, Turks, Indians/Pakistanis
and other ethnolinguistic groups – reflects the deep past. So it will be
essential to review briefly during the course some aspects of ethnolinguistic
history as well as the basic archaeology.
LECTURE
TOPICS
LECTURE TIMES: Tuesday 3.00, Copland G31; Thursday 3.00, Copland G31.
TUTORIAL TIMES: Tuesday 4.00, Wednesday 1.00, Thursday 4.00,
all in AD Hope G28.
This is a 6 point course. It contains 20 lectures, 2 films and
9 tutorial hours.
Lecturer: Prof. Peter Bellwood.
July 23
1) Introduction and discussion of assessment. Overview of topics to be covered.
The West Asian and Egyptian environments, Pleistocene
and Holocene.
July 25 2) A comparative
review of the beginnings of farming across the world
July 30 3) Domestication
of animals in Southwest Asia (Prof. Colin Groves, A&A)
August 1 4) Domestication of plants in
Southwest Asia.
Aug 6 5) The beginnings
of village life in the Levant (Natufian, PPNA).
Aug 8 6) The beginnings
of village life in the Levant (PPNB).
Aug 13 7) Lecture on current
research at the northern Syrian sites of Tell Halula and Jerf
el Ahmar by Mandy Mottram (PhD student in A&A).
Aug 15 8) Early villages
in northern Mesopotamia - pottery, metallurgy. Early canal
irrigation.
Aug 20 9) Lecture on current
research at Çatalhoyuk in Turkey, by Dr Andy Fairbairn
(Visitor to A&A)
Aug 22 10) Ubaid and Uruk
developments in Mesopotamia - the first cities and writing.
The first trading empire?
Aug 27 11) Sumerian civilization
of the third millennium BC. The Early Dynastic
period.
Aug 29 12) The later phases
of Sumerian and Akkadian civilization. Ebla and Proto-
Elamite Iran.
Sept 3 13) The implications
of the Middle Eastern agricultural revolution for farming
dispersal: Europe, Pakistan, North Africa.
Sept 5 14) Early agriculture
in Pakistan and India. The antecedents of the Indus Valley
civilization.
Sept 10 15) Film on the Predynastic and Archaic
Periods in Egypt.
Sept 12 16) Film on the Old Kingdom in
Egypt.
Sept 17, 19 No classes this week
Vacation
Oct 8 17) The Indus Civilization
Oct 10 18) The spread of village life
into India
Oct 13 19) The Egyptian Neolithic and
Predynastic
Oct 15 20) The Egyptian Archaic Period
(Dynasties 1 and 2)
Oct 20 21) Old Kingdom Egypt.
Oct 22 22) Theories concerning the origins
of ancient Middle Eastern civilization.
Comparisons with China, Mesoamerica,
Andes. Tempos, trajectories and
convergences.
ASSESSMENT
The assessment for this course in 2002 will be as follows:
10% tutorial attendance
10% tutorial presentation
35% for project essay (essay 1)
45% for theme essay (essay 2)
Undergraduates write two essays, the first in two parts
as described below. Please follow the general instructions given for formatting
of essays and references in the Ancillary Information Handout for ARCH 1112
(if you do not know these already, the School office will have the handout).
Graduate students will be expected to hand in an additional
essay by 25 November.
ESSAY 1: DATA
The first essay is a project focused on two major archaeological
site complexes or cultures. You will be expected to find as much literature
as you can and examine interesting questions. There is no formula for presentation
– the following list contains suggested areas that might repay thought, depending
of course on the topic. It is up to you to write something authoritative
and interesting:
1. First of all, provide a definition
in the form of an abstract, perhaps one paragraph.
2. The go to environmental questions,
e.g., what was the environmental background to the site complex or culture,
did the environment change over time, how might aspects of the environment
have influenced the nature of the site complex or culture, are there indications
of strong human impact on the environment?
3. Economic questions, e.g., what
was the economic and productive basis of the site complex or culture and
what kind of evidence tells us about it (e.g. palaeobotanical, faunal, palynological,
phytoliths)? Was there change over time or across space? Were settlements
sedentary or mobile?
4. Chronological questions, e.g.,
what is the chronology of the site complex or culture, how is it determined,
is it sound, are there controversies?
5. Cultural questions of a general
nature, e.g., are there other striking cultural details of the site complex
or culture, such as art, trade and exchange, specific features of settlement
pattern (camps, houses, community buildings, villages, cities etc)?
6. Socio-political questions, e.g.,
what was the socio-political nature of the site complex or culture, at least
according to those who have researched it? Is there evidence for hierarchy
/ heterarchy / egalitarianism / gender differentiation / craft specialisation
and so forth?
7. Add any other observations from
allied disciplines – e.g. health, demography, linguistic relationships, if
relevant.
8. Finally, what was the overall
significance within regional prehistory of your chosen site complex or culture?
PLEASE SELECT TWO OF THE OPTIONS LISTED BELOW.
Please write 1000±50 words of text on each one.
Add up to 7 references on each one (not included in the word count) and follow
each reference with a short statement of its content. Only put references
in the text if you quote from a source or need to refer to an author by name
(i.e. as the creator of a body of data or an interpretation).
HAND IN THE FIRST ONE BY 23 AUGUST AND THE SECOND ONE
BY 1ST NOVEMBER
Suggested major site complexes or cultures for Essay
1:
1. The Natufian in the Levant.
2. Tell Abu Hureyra and Tell Mureybit.
3. The PPNA in the Levant.
4. The PPNB in southeastern Turkey
5. The Sotto and Hassuna cultures.
6. The Halafian culture.
7. The Ubaid in southern Mesopotamia.
8. Uruk cities in southern Mesopotamia.
9. The early Dynastic cities of the
Diyala Plain.
10. Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
11. Hierakonpolis and the Gerzean.
12. Saqqara in the Archaic and Old
Kingdom periods.
13. The Giza pyramids.
14. The city of Ur from EDIII to
the Third Dynasty.
If you have a specific interest in another culture
or site complex we can discuss it and maybe consider it as an alternative
choice.
ESSAY 2: COMPARATIVE
THEME
The purpose of this essay will be to examine a broad
theme or comparative situation.
Please write 2000±100 words of text AND HAND
IN BY 1ST NOVEMBER. Add up to 10 references (not included in the 1500 words)
and follow each reference with a short statement of its content. Only put
references in the text if you quote from a source or need to refer to an
author by name (i.e. as the creator of a body of data or an interpretation).
Please select ONE of the following essay topics:
1. Describe and evaluate some of
the major current theories that purport to explain the origins of agriculture
in Southwest Asia.
2. Give an overall review of the
evidence for trade from Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Uruk times in Southwest
Asia.
3. What is the available evidence
that suggests that the PPNB in the Levant and Turkey was an “interaction
sphere”?
4. What evidence is available for
the presence of large communal structures (fortifications, community houses,
temples etc) in Southwest Asia from PPNA times through to 4000 BC?
5. Discuss the role of warfare and
conquest in the rise of the state in Sumer and Egypt prior to 2500 BC.
6. What organisational and economic
characteristics of the Indus Civilization would appear to distinguish it
from that of the Sumerians?
7. Compare and contrast the political
and social structures of Sumer and Egypt at approximately 2500 BC.
8. Discuss the importances of metallurgy
and irrigation in the rise of the Sumerian and Egyptian states.
9. Both the Harappan and Sumerian
civilizations underwent declines in the late third millennium BC. Compare
and contrast the two situations.
10. How can mortuary analyses reflect
upon the rise of social complexity from Natufian times through to 3000 BC
in Southwest Asia?
READING LIST
SL = Short loan book (2 days)
* item photocopied in brick
A number of journals specialize in or give broad coverage to this
region - recent issues are always worth a glance. Check especially:
American Journal of Archaeology (carries many country-based summary
articles on recent research)
Cambridge Archaeological Journal
Iraq
Iran
Journal of Field Archaeology
J. Mediterranean Archaeology
Journal of Near Eastern Studies (mainly history and epigraphy)
Paléorient
Palestine Exploration Quarterly
Sumer
The Internet also has sites of interest, but since there is always
a lot of change here we will pool knowledge of resources in class.
Despite restrictions on research in many regions of Western Asia
this field of archaeology is currently undergoing a publication explosion,
particularly with respect to early agriculture and urban development.
INTRODUCTORY READING
SL/A1 Maisels, C.K. 1999 Early Civilizations
of the Old World.
SOUTHWESTERN ASIA: GENERAL
SL/A2 Nissen, H. 1988 Early History of the
Ancient Near East, 9000 – 2000 BC.
A3 Maisels, C.K. 1993
The Near East: Archaeology in the "Cradle of Civilization".
SL/A4 Roaf, M. 1990 Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia
and the Ancient Near East. (Parts 1 and 2)
SL/A5 Sasson, J. ed. 1995 Civilizations of
the Ancient Near East, Vol. 1: see especially Parts 2,3, and 4; Vol II: History
and Culture. These volumes contain many short survey articles - very useful.
MESOPOTAMIA AND THE SUMERIANS
SL/A9 Pollock, S. 1999 Ancient Mesopotamia.
SL/A10 Crawford, H. 1991. Sumer and the Sumerians.
A12 Potts, D. 1997 Mesopotamian
Civilization: the Material Foundations.
A13 Potts, D. 1999 The Archaeology of Elam.
A14 Postgate, N. 1992 Early Mesopotamia.
A15 Crawford, H. 1998 Dilmun and its Gulf Neighbours.
A16 Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. and Wright, R. 1996
The Tigris and Euphrates 3000-1500 BC. In A.H. Dani and J-P. Mohen eds,
History of Humanity, Vol II.
EGYPT:
SL/A18 Spencer, A.J. 1993 Early
Egypt.
A19 Trigger, B. et.al. 1983 Ancient Egypt:
a Social History (Chapters 1,2).
A20 Wilkinson, T. 1999 Early Dynastic Egypt.
A22 Baines, J. and Malek, J. 1980 Atlas of
Ancient Egypt.
SL/A23 Aldred, C. 1998 The Egyptians (third
edition)
SL/A24 Edwards, I.E.S. 1985 The Pyramids of
Egypt. Revised edition.
A25 Mark, S. 1998 From Egypt to Mesopotamia.
A26 Ziegler, G. 1996 The Nile Valley 3000-1780
BC. In A.H. Dani and J-P. Mohen eds, History of Humanity, Vol II.
A27 Brewer, D. and Teeter, E. 1999 Egypt and
the Egyptians.
INDUS VALLEY:
A30 heeler, R.E.M. 1968 The Indus Valley
Civilisation
A31 Allchin, B. and R. 1982 The Rise of Civilization
in India and Pakistan. Part II.
SL/A32 Possehl, G. (ed) 1993 Harappan Civilization:
a Recent Perspective.
A33 Possehl, G. 1996 The Indus Age: the Writing
System.
EARLY AGRICULTURE AND VILLAGES IN WESTERN ASIA: GENERAL OVERVIEWS
B1 Bar-Yosef, O. 1998 The Transition to
Agriculture in the Old World. The Review of Archaeology Vol. 19 part 2 (journal
- in
Chifley). (*Bar-Yosef article from
this volume is in brick)
B2 Cauvin, J. 2000 The Birth of the Gods and
the Origins of Agriculture.
*B3 Cauvin, J. et al. 2001 Debate on the above book
(B7) in Cambridge Archaeological Journal 11:105-22.
ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE IN SW ASIA - journal articles and
book chapters (see also section B, above). Most of these articles concern
theories of why agriculture developed in the Middle East.
General:
SL/C1 Harris, D. 1996 The Origins
and Spread of Agriculture and Pastoralism in Eurasia. (see especially Part
Two).
C2 Smith, B. 1995 The Emergence of Agriculture.
C3 Science vol. 282, 20 Nov 1998, has
an interesting section titled “Archaeology: Transitions in Prehistory”.
*C4 Bar-Yosef, O. and Meadow, R. The origins of agriculture
in the Near East. In Price, T.D. and Gebauer, A.B. eds. 1995 Last
Hunters, First Farmers.
Climate-focused theories:
C5 Moore, A. and Hillman, G. 1992
The Pleistocene to Holocene transition and human economy in SW Asia. American
Antiquity
57:482-94.
*C6 Bar-Yosef, O. 1996 The impact
of late Pleistocene - early Holocene climatic changes on humans in southwestern
Asia. In Strauss,
L.G. et al. eds, Humans at the End of the Ice Age, pp. 61-78.
C7 Bar-Yosef, O. 1998 On the nature of transitions.
Cambridge Archaeological Journal 8:141-63.
C8 Tchernov, E. 1997 Are Late Pleistocene
environmental factors, faunal changes and cultural transformations causally
connected?
The case of the southern Levant. Paléorient 23/2:209-28
Affluence and Stress Theories:
C10 Hayden, B. 1990 Nimrods, pescators,
pluckers and planters. J. Anthropological Archaeology 9:31-69.
*C11 Hayden, B. 1992 Contrasting expectations
in theories of domestication. In Gebauer, A.B. and Price, T.D. (eds) Transitions
to
Agriculture in Prehistory.
C12 Runnels C. and van Andel, T. 1988 Trade
and the origins of agriculture in the eastern Mediterranean. J. Mediterranean
Arch
1:83-109 (See ensuing debate in same journal 2/1:139-56;
2/2:297-302).
C13 Bender, B. 1978 Gatherer-hunter to farmer.
World Archaeology 10(2):204-22.
C14 Rosenberg, M. 1998 Cheating at musical
chairs. Current Anthropology 39:653-82.
THE DOMESTICATION OF PLANTS IN WESTERN ASIA
D1 Zohary, D. and Hopf, M.
2000 Domestication of plants in the Old World (3rd ed.)
D2 Miller, N. 1992 The origins
of plant cultivation in the Near East. In Cowan, C.W. and Watson, P.J. (eds)
The Origins of
Agriculture. pp. 39-58.
D3 Wilke, P.J. et al. 1972 Harvest selection
and domestication in seed plants. Antiquity 46:203-6.
D4 Hillman, G.C. and Davies, M.S. 1990
Measured domestication rates in wild wheats and barley. J. World Prehistory
4:157-222.
*D5 Hillman, G. et al. 2001 New evidence of
late glacial cereal cultivation at Abu Hureyra. The Holocene 11:383-93.
D6 Damania et al. The Origins of Agriculture
and Crop Domestication. (see especially Willcox, Harris, Hole, Blumler)
*D7 Garrard, A. Charting the emergence of cereal
and pulse domestication in South-west Asia. Environmental Archaeology 4:67-87
(not in ANU library)
D8 Willcox, G. 1999 Agrarian change and
the beginnings of cultivation in the Near East. In Gosden and Hather eds,
The Prehistory of
Food, pp. 478-99.
THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS
D9 Rosenberg, M. et al. 1998 Hallan Çemi,
pig husbandry and post-Pleistocene adaptations along the Taurus-Zagros Arc.
Paléorient
24/1:25-42. See also Rosenberg and Redding in S. Nelson
ed. 1998 Ancestors for the Pigs, pp. 55-64.
D10 Legge, A.J. and Rowly-Conwy J. 1987 Gazelle
killing in Stone Age Syria. Scientific American 257(8):88-95. See also Legge
and Rowley-Conwy,
The exploitation of animals, in A.M.T. Moore, G.C. Hillman, A.J. Legge 2000
Village on the Euphrates : from
foraging to farming at Abu Hureyra, pp. 423-71.
D11 Buitenhuis H. and A.T. Clason eds
1993 Archaeozoology of the Near East (esp. first 3 chapters – Bokonyi,
Tchernov, Horwitz). D12 Davis, S.
1989 Why did prehistoric people domesticate food animals? In Bar-Yosef,
O. and Vandermeersch, B. eds,
Investigations in South Levantine Prehistory, pp. 43-60.
D13 Grigson, C. 1989 Size and sex: evidence
for the domestication of cattle in the Near East. In Milles, A. et al (eds)
The Beginnings of
Agriculture, pp 77-109.
D14 Tchernov, E. 1994 Netiv Hagdud: An Early
Neolithic Site in the Jordan Valley. Part II: The Fauna.
D15 Hole, F. 1989 A two-part, two-stage model
of domestication. In Clutton-Brock, J. (ed), The Walking Larder, pp 97-104.
EARLIEST TRANSITIONAL AND AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENTS IN WESTERN
ASIA
GENERAL:
E1 Henry, D.O. ed. 1998 The Prehistory
of Jordan. (chapters by Byrd, Sellars and Rollefson)
E2 Aurenche, O. (ed.) 1991 Préhistoire
du Levant (see especially section 2 - most articles are in English and all
can be found also in
Paléorient vol 15 no. 1.
E3 Byrd, B. 1994 From early humans to farmers
and herders - recent progress on key transitions in SW Asia. J. Archaeological
Research 2:221-54.
E5 Bar Yosef, O. and Belfer-Cohen, A. 1989
The origins of sedentism and farming communities in the Levant. J. World
Prehistory
3/4:447-98.
E6 Wright, K.I. 1994 Ground stone tools
and hunter-gatherer subsistence in Southwest Asia. American Antiquity 59:238-63.
E7 Gebel, H. and Koslowski, S.K. eds
1994 Neolithic Chipped Stone Industries of the Fertile Crescent.
E8 Kuijt, I. Ed. 2000 Life in Neolithic Farming
Communities.
Levant:
Mainly Late Palaeolithic and Natufian:
E9 Rocek, T. and Bar-Yosef,
O. eds 1998 Seasonality and Sedentism (see chapters by Lieberman and Valla
on Natufian sedentism)
E10 Nadel, D. and Werker, E. 1999 The
oldest ever brush hut plant remains from Ohalo II. Antiquity 73:755-64.
E11 Goring-Morris, N. and Belfer-Cohen, A.
1997 The articulation of cultural processes and Late Quaternary environmental
changes in Cisjordan.
Paléorient 23:71-93.
E12 Olszewski, D. 1991 Social complexity
in the Natufian? In Clark, G.A. ed, Perspectives on the Past, pp. 322-40.
E13 Bar-Yosef, O. 1998 The Natufian culture
in the Levant. Evolutionary Anthropology 6:159-77.
E14 Bar-Yosef, O. and F. Valla eds. 1991
The Natufian Culture in the Levant. (many site reports and other relevant
articles on
economy etc: see esp. Edwards, Moore, Tchernov, Unger-Hamilton)
E15 Liebermann, D.E. 1993 The rise
and fall of seasonal mobility among hunter-gatherers: the case of the southern
Levant. Current
Anth. 34:599-632.
E16 Byrd, B. 1989 The Natufian encampment at
Beidha.
E17 Edwards, P. 1989 Problems of recognising
earliest sedentism; the Natufian example. J. Mediterranean Arch. 2/1:5-48.
E18 Moore, A.M.T. , Hillman, G.C. and Legge, A.J.
2000 Village on the Euphrates : from foraging to farming at Abu Hureyra.
Mainly Pre-Pottery Neolithic:
E19 Bar-Yosef, O. 1991 Netiv Hagdud. J. Field
Archaeology 18:406-24. See also Bar-Yosef, O. and Gopher, A. eds, An early
Neolithic village in the Jordan Valley,
part 1: The Archaeology of Netiv Hagdud.
E20 Bar Yosef, O. 1986 The walls of Jericho. Current
Anthropology 27:157-62.
E21 Garfinkel, Y. 1994 Ritual burial
of cultic objects: the earliest evidence. Cambridge Archaeological Journal
4:159-88.
E22 Kenyon, K. 1981 Excavations at Jericho,
vol 3: The architecture and stratigraphy of the tell.
E23 Kuijt, I. And Mahasneh, H. 1998 Dhra: an
early Neolithic village in the southern Jordan Valley. J. Field Archaeology
25:153-61.
E24 Kuijt, I. 2000 People and space in early agricultural
villages. J. Anthropological Archaeology 19:75-102
E25 Rollefson, G. et al. 1992 Neolithic cultures
at ‘Ain Ghazal. J. Field Archaeology 19:443-70.
E26 Rollefson, G. Ain Ghazal (Jordan): ritual
and ceremony III. Paléorient 24/1:43-58.
*E27 Rollefson, G. and Kohler-Rollefson, I.
1993 PPNC adaptations in the first half of the 6th millennium BC. Paléorient
19/1:33-42.
E28 Kohler-Rollefson, I. and Rollefson, G. 1990
The impact of Neolithic subsistence strategies on the environment: the case
of Ain
Ghazal. In S. Bottema et al. eds, Man’s Role in the Shaping of the Eastern
Mediterranean Landscape, pp. 3-14.
E29 Quintero, L. and Wilke, P. 1995 Environmental
and economic significance of naviform core-and-blade technology in the southern
Levant. Paléorient
21/1:17-33.
E30 Byrd, B. 1994 Public and private, domestic
and corporate: the emergence of the SW Asian village. American Antiquity
59:639-66.
E31 Arnaud, B. 2000 First farmers. Archaeology
Nov/Dec 2000.
Cyprus, Anatolia and the Zagros:
E32 Peltenberg, E., Colledge, S. et
al. 2000 Agro-pastoral colonization of Cyprus in the 10th millennium BP:
initial assessments.
Antiquity 74:844-53.
SL/E33 Özdogan, M. and Basgelen, N. eds.
1999 Neolithic in Turkey.
E34 Mellaart, J. 1967 Catal Huyuk. (see also
the current Catalhoyuk website http://catal.arch.cam.ac.uk)
E35 Hodder, I. ed. 1996 On the Surface: Catalhoyuk
1993-5.
E36 Hodder, I. ed. 2000 Towards reflexive
method in archaeology : the example at Catalhoyuk.
E37 Ozdogan, M. and A. 1989 Cayonu, a conspectus
of recent work. Paléorient 15/2:65-74. See also Schirmer, W.
1990 on Cayonu Tepesi
in World Archaeology 21/3:363-87.
E38 Schmidt, K. 2000 Gobekli Tepe, southeastern
Turkey. Paléorient 26/1:45-54.
E39 World Archaeology 21/3 for 1990; the first
four articles by Smith, Watkins, Kozlowski and Schirmer are all important
(Ganj
Dareh, Qermez Dere, Nemrik and Cayonu). See also reference
E2 for Qermez Dere and Nemrik.
E40 Watkins, T. 1992 The beginning of
the Neolithic. Paléorient 18/1:63-75.
E41 Hole, F. et al. 1969 Prehistory and Human
Ecology of the Deh Luran Plain. The introduction and conclusions to this
volume
have been reprinted in Struever 1971 (B3). *See also Proceedings
of the Prehistoric Society 33:147-206.
E42 Renfrew, C. and Wright, R.P. 1976 Obsidian
in Western Asia: a review. In Sieveking, G.A. et.al. eds, Problems
in economic and
social archaeology, pp.137-52.
Early metallurgy:
E44 Moorey, P. 1988 The Nahal Mishmar
hoard in context. World Archaeology 20/2:171-89.
E46 Gopher, A. et al. 1990 Earliest gold artefacts
in the Levant. Current Anthropology 31/4:436-42.
E47 Moorey, P.R.S. 1988 Early metallurgy in
Mesopotamia. In Maddin, R. (ed.), The beginnings of the use of metals and
alloys, pp. 28-33.
E48 Moorey, P.R.S. 1994 Ancient Mesopotamian
Materials and Industries.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF AGRICULTURE - DEMOGRAPHY AND LANGUAGE
E50 Smith, P.E.L. 1972 The Consequences
of Food Production.
E51 Bellwood, P. 1996 The origins and spread
of agriculture in the Indo-Pacific region. In Harris. D., item B2, pages
465-498.
*E52 Bellwood, P. 2001 Early agriculturalist
population diasporas? Farming, languages and genes. Annual Review of Anthropology
30: 181-207.
*E53 Renfrew, C. 1996 Language families and the spread
of farming. In Harris, D. 1996 The Origins and Spread of Agriculture and
Pastoralism in Eurasia, pp. 70-92.
E54 Renfrew, C. 1992. Archaeology, genetics
and linguistic diversity. Man 27:445-78.
EARLY DEVELOPMENTS IN MESOPOTAMIA (pre-Uruk)
F2 Yoffee, N. 1993 Mosopotamian interactionspheres.
In Yoffee N. and Clark, J. Early Stages in the Evolution of Mesopotamian
Civilization.
F2a Yoffee N. and Clark, J. Early Stages
in the Evolution of Mesopotamian Civilization. (reports on Russian excavations
at Tell
Maghzalia and Yarim Tepe in northern Iraq).
F3 Merpert, N. and Munchayev, R. 1987
The earliest levels at Yarim Tepe. Iraq 49:1-36.
F4 Watson, P.J. and LeBlanc, S. 1990
Girikihaciyan; a Halafian site in SE Turkey.
F5 Akkermans, P. 1987 A late Neolithic
and early Halaf village at Sabi Abyad, northern Syria. Paléorient
13/1:23-40.
F6 Akkermans, P. and Verhoeven, M. 1995
The burnt village at late Neolithic Sabi Abyad, Syria. American Journal of
Archaeology
99:5-32.
F7 Akkermans, P.M. 1993 Villages
in the Steppe.
F8 Stein, G. and Rothman, M. eds
1994 Chiefdoms and Early States in the Near East. (*chapter by Wright is
in brick)
F9 Oates, D. and J. 1976 Early irrigation
agriculture in Mesopotamia. In Sieveking, G.A. et al. eds, Problems in Economic
and Social Archaeology,
pp.109-36.
F10 Tobler, A.J. 1950 Excavations at Tepe Gawra.
Vol. 2.
F11 Safar, F. et al. 1981 Eridu.
F12 Oates, J. 1976-7 Articles on Ubaid sites
in Arabia. Antiquity 50:20-31; 51:221-34 (and see debate in Antiquity
68:770-84, 1994).
F14 Jasim, S.A. 1983 The Ubaid Period in Iraq
(2 volumes). For Tell Abada see also Jasim, Iraq 45/2:165-88, 1983.
F16 Kubba, S. 1987 Mesopotamian Architecture
and Town Planning (2 volumes).
F18 Henrickson, E. and Thuesen, I. eds. 1989
Upon this Foundation - the Ubaid Reconsidered.
F19 Oates, J. 1993 Trade and power in the fifth
and fourth millennia BC. World Archaeology 24/3:401-22.
F20 Abstracts of papers on the 5th millennium
BC at the University of Manchester:
http://www.art.man.ac.uk/ARTHIST/5mill-abs.htm.
THE URUK PERIOD
F20 Algaze, G. 1989 The Uruk expansion. Current
Anth 30/5:571-608.
F21 Algaze, G. 1993 The Uruk World System.
*F22 Algaze, G. 2001 Initial social complexity in southwestern
Asia: the Mesopotamian advantage. Current Anthropology 42:199-234.
F23 Lupton, A. 1996 Stability and Change (research
on Uruk period sites in Turkey and N. Mesopotamia)
F24 Pollock, S. 1992. Bureaucrats and managers.
(Uruk and Jemdet Nasr periods). J. World Prehistory 6:297-336.
F25 Adams, R.McC. and Nissen, H.J. 1972 The
Uruk Countryside.
F26 Boehmer, M. 1991. Uruk 1980-1990. Antiquity
65:465-78.
F27 Johnson, G.A. 1987 The changing organisation
of Uruk administration on the Susiana Plain. In F. Hole ed., The Archaeology
of Western Iran,
pp. 107-39.
Early Writing and Seals:
F28 Nissen, H. et al. 1993 Archaic
Bookkeeping.
F29 Postgate, N. et al. 1995 The evidence
for early writing: utilitarian or ceremonial? Antiquity 69:459-80.
F30 Matthews, R.J. 1993 Cities, Seals
and Writing.
F31 Friberg, J. 1985 Numbers and measures in
the earliest written records. Scientific American 250/2:78-85.
F32 World Archaeology 17/3, 1986 - contains
several articles on early writing (Ray, Egypt; Nissen, Uruk; Vallat, Iran;
Jasim/Oates,
early Mesopotamia).
F33 Nissen, H. 1985 The emergence of writing
in the Ancient Near East. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 10/4:348-61.
F34 Nissen, H. 1993 The context of the
emergence of writing in Mesopotamia and Iran. In Curtis, J. ed. Early Mesopotamia
and
Iran, pp. 54-76.
F35 Larsen, M.L. 1988 Introduction: literacy
and social complexity. In Gledhill, J. and Bender, B. eds, State and Society,
pp. 173-91.
THE SUMERIANS
General Works - see also A9 to A15
G1 Diakonoff I.M. ed. 1991 Early Antiquity,
chapters 1-3,5-6,10.
G2 Frankfort, H. 1951 The Birth of Civilisation
in the Near East.
G3 Frankfort, H. et al. 1963 Before Philosophy.
G4 Sandars, N.K. (ed.) 1960 The epic of Gilgamesh.
G5 Liverani, M. (ed.) 1993 Akkad: the First
World Empire.
G6 Zettler, R. and Horne, L. 1998 Treasures
from the Royal Tombs of Ur.
EBLA
G12 Gelb, J. 1986 Ebla and Lagash. In Weiss,
H. ed. The Origins of Cities in Dry-Farming Syria and Mesopotamia in the
Third
Millennium BC.
G13 Matthiae, P. 1980 Ebla.
G15 Weiss, H. 1985 Ebla to Damascus.
SUMERIAN EXCAVATIONS AND ARCHITECTURE
H1 Woolley, L. 1982. Ur of the Chaldees (revised
edition).
H2 Woolley, L. 1934. The Royal Cemetery (Ur
Excavations Vol. 2: not available in ANU library system but the National
Library may have
one).
H3 Delougaz, P. 1940 The Temple Oval at Khafajah.
(ANU has a microfilm version)
H4 Delougaz, P. and Lloyd, S. 1942 Pre-Sargonid
Temples in the Diyala Region. (ANU has a microfilm edition).
H5 Martin, H.P. 1988 Fara: a Reconstruction
of the Ancient Mesopotamian City of Shuruppak.
H7 Lloyd, S. and Safar, F. 1943 Tell Uqair.
J. Near Eastern Studies 2:131-58.
H8 Crawford, H.E. 1977 The Architecture of
Iraq in the Third Millennium B.C.
H9 Potts, D. 1999 The Archaeology of Elam.
Sumerian social and political organisation
I1 Falkenstein, A. 1954 The Sumerian
Temple city.
I2 Yoffee, N. 1995 Political economy
in early Mesopotamian states. Annual Review of Anthropology 24:281-311.
I3 Foster, B. 1981. A new look at the
Sumerian temple state. J. Social and Economic History of the Orient 24:113-45.
I4 Stone, E. and Zimansky 1995 The structure
of power in a Mesopotamian city. Scientific American April 1995.
I5 Makkay, J. 1983 The origins of the
temple economy. Iraq. 45(1):1-6.
I6 Zagarell, A. 1986 Trade, women, class
and society in ancient West Asia. Current Anthropology 27:415-30.
I7 Stone, Elizabeth 1998 City-states
and their centres: the Mesopotamian example. In Nichols, D.L. and Charlton,
T.K. eds, The
Archaeology of City States, pp. 15-26.
I8 van de Mieroop, M. 1993 The Mesopotamian
City.
I9 Pollock, S. 1991 Of priestesses,
princes and poor relations. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 1/2:171-89.
I10 Carter, E. and Stolper, M. 1984 Elam; surveys
of political history and archaeology.
I11 Steinkeller, P. 1987 The administrative
and economic organisation of the Ur III state. In Gibson, M. and R.D. Biggs
eds, The
Organisation of Power, pp. 19-42.
I12 Stone, E. 1997 Mesopotamia. In D.
Nichols and T. Charlton eds, The Archaeology of City States.
SUMERIAN SETTLEMENT PATTERNS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
J1 Crawford, H. 1998 Dilmun
and its Gulf Neighbours.
J2 Adams, R.McC 1981 Heartland of Cities.
J5 Postgate, N. 1994
How many Sumerians per hectare? Cambridge Arch. J. 4:47-65.
J6 Falconer, S and Savage, S. 1995 Heartlands
and hinterlands: alternative trajectories of early urbanisation in Mesopotamia
and the
southern Levant. American Antiquity 60:37-58.
J7 Wilkinson, T.J. 1994 The structure
and dynamics of dry-farming states in Upper Mesopotamia. Current Anthropology
35:483-522.
J9 Potts, T.F. 1993 Patterns of trade
in third-millennium BC Mesopotamia and Iran. World Archaeology 24/3:379-402.
J10 Potts, T. 1994 Mesopotamia and the East.
*J11 McCorriston, J. 1997 The fiber revolution.
Current Anthropology 38:517-49.
J13 Moorey P. 1985 Materials and Manufactures
in Ancient Mesopotamia.
J14 Zeder, M.A. 1991 Feeding Cities.
J15 Lamberg-Karlovsky, C.C. 1986 Excavations
at Tepe Yahya, Iran, 1967-75.
SUMERIAN IRRIGATION AND ITS SOCIO-POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS
K1 Wittfogel, K. 1971 In S. Struever
(ed.) Prehistoric Agriculture, pp. 557-71.
K2 Mitchell, W.P. 1973 The Hydraulic
hypothesis: a reappraisal. Current Anthrop. 14:532-4.
K4 Downing, T.E. and Gibson, M. (eds)
1973 Irrigation's Impact on Society (articles by Adams and Gibson).
K5 Cooper, J.S. 1983. Reconstructing
History from Ancient Inscriptions; the Umma-Lagash Border Conflict. (A/6DS41.S62)
K6 Walters, S.D. 1970 Water for Larsa
(Chapter 5).
K7 Claessen, H.J.M. 1973 Despotism and
irrigation. Bijdragen Tot de Taal-,Land-, en Volkenkunde 129:70-85.
K9 Jacobsen, T. 1982 Salinity and Irrigation
Agriculture in Antiquity.
THEORETICAL WORKS ON THE ORIGIN OF THE STATE
*L1 Wright, H. 1994 Prestate political
formations. In Stein, G. and Rothman, M. eds Chiefdoms and Early States in
the Near East.
L2 Flannery, K.V. 1972 The cultural
evolution of civilizations. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 3:399-426.
L3 Carneiro, R.L. 1970 A theory of the
origin of the state. Science 169:733-8.
L4 Dickson, D.B. 1987 Circumscription
by anthropogenic environmental destruction. Am. Antiquity 52:709-16.
L5 Service, E.R. 1975 Origins of the
State and Civilisation.
L7 Gledhill, J. et al. (eds) 1988 State
and Society (see chapters by Gledhill, Larsen and Baines).
L10 Haas, J. 1982 The Evolution of the Prehistoric
State.
L11 Joffe, A.H. 1998 Alcohol and social
complexity in ancient Western Asia. Current Anthropology 39:297-322.
L13 Webster, D. 1975 Warfare and the evolution
of the state. Am. Antiquity 40:464-70.
L14 Renfrew, C. 1986 Introduction: peer-polity
interaction and sociopolitical change. In Renfrew, C. and Cherry, J. (eds)
1986
Peer-Polity Interaction and Socio-Political Change, pages
1-18.
L15 Redman, C.L. 1978 Mesopotamian urban ecology.
In Redman, C.L.et al.(eds), Social Archaeology, pp.329-47.
L16 Wright, H.T. 1978 Towards an explanation
of the origin of the state. In Cohen, R. and Service, E. (eds), Origins of
the State, pp. 49-68.
L17 Manzanilla, L. (ed.) 1987 Studies in the
Neolithic and Urban Revolutions. (Chaps 19-23)
THE INDUS CIVILISATION
(see general texts A30-33)
N1 Jarrige, I. and Meadow, R.H. 1980
The antecedents of civilization in the Indus valley. Scientific American
243:102-11. See also
the chapters on Mehrgarh in Hartel H. (ed.), South Asian
Archaeology 1979; and Allchin, B. (ed.) South Asian Archaeology
1981.
N2 Kenoyer, J.M. ed. 1989 Old Problems
and New Perspectives in the Archaeology of South Asia. (chapters by Meadow,
Fairservis &
Southworth).
N3 Jacobsen, J. 1986 The Harappan Civilization:
an early state. In Jacobsen, J. ed. Studies in the Archaeology of India and
Pakistan.
N4 Mughal, M.R. 1993 The
geographical extent of the Indus civilization. In Possehl, G. ed. South Asian
Archaeology Studies, pp.
123-44.
N5 Possehl, G. 1996 Meluhha. In
J. Reade ed., The Indian Ocean in Antiquity, pp. 133-208.
*N6 Possehl, G. 1997 The transformation
of the Indus civilization. Journal of World Prehistory 11:425-72.
N8 Possehl, G. 1990 Revolution in the
Urban Revolution. Annual Review of Anthropology 19:261-82.
N9 Kenoyer, J. 1991 The Indus Valley
tradition. J. World Prehistory 5/4:331-86.
N10 Raikes, R. 1968 Kalibangan: Death from
natural causes. Antiquity 42:286-91.
N11 Meadow, R. 1991 Harappa Excavations 1986-1990.
N12 Chakrabarti, D. 1999 India: An Archaeological
History.
N13 Parpola, A. 1986 The Indus script: a challenging
puzzle. World Archaeology 17/3:399-419.
N15 Miller, D. 1985 Ideology and the Harappan
civilization. J. Anthropological Archaeology 4:34-71.
N16 Khan, F.A. 1965 Excavations at Kot
Diji. Pakistan Archaeology 12:11-85.
N17 Possehl, G. and Raval, M.H. 1989 Harappan
Civilization and Rojdi.
N18 Weber, S. 1991 Plants and Harappan Subsistence.
N19 Fentress, M. 1985. Water resources and
double cropping in Harappan food production. In Misra, V.N. and P. Bellwood
eds.
Recent Advances in Indo-Pacific Prehistory.
EGYPT - PREHISTORIC TO OLD KINGDOM
General Works - see A18-24
Neolithic:
SL/O1 Midant-Reynes, B. 2000 The Prehistory of Egypt.
O2 Wetterstrom, W. 1993 Foraging
and farming in Egypt. In Sinclair, P. et al (eds), The Archaeology of Africa,
pp. 165-226.
O3 Close, A.E. 1996 Plus ça
change: the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in NE Africa. In Strauss, L.G.
et al. eds, Humans at the
End of the Ice Age, pp. 43-60.
O4 Haaland R. 1995 Sedentism, cultivation
and plant domestication in the Holocene Middle Nile region. J. Field Archaeology
22:157-74.
Predynastic:
O5 Bard, K.A. 1994 The
Egyptian Predynastic. Journal of Field Archaeology 25:265-88.
O6 Bard, K. 1994 From Farmers to
Pharaohs: Mortuary Evidence for the Rise of Social Complexity in Egypt.
O7 Hassan, F. 1988 The predynastic
of Egypt. J. World Archaeology 2/2:135-86.
*O8 Bard, K.A. 1989 The evolution of social
complexity in predynastic Egypt. J. Mediterranean Arch. 2/2:223-48.
*O9 Joffe, A.H. 2000 Egypt and Syro-Mesopotamia
in the 4th millennium. Current Anthropology 41:113-23.
O10 Friedman, R. 1996 The ceremonial centre
at Hierakonpolis Locality HK29A. In Spencer, J. ed., Aspects of Early Egypt,
pp.
16-35.
Early Dynastic
O11 Wilkinson, T. 1996 State Formation
in Egypt.
O12 Wilkinson, T. 1999 Early Dynastic
Egypt.
O13 Wenke, R. 1989 Egypt: origins of complex
societies. Annual Review Anthropology 18:129-55.
O14 Wenke, R. 1991 The evolution of early Egyptian
civilization. J. World Prehistory 5/3:279-329.
O15 Mark, S. 1998 From Egypt to Mesopotamia.
O17 Jenkins, N. 1980 The Boat Beneath the Pyramid.
O18 Hodges, P. 1989 How the Pyramids
Were Built.
O19 Trigger, B. 1993 Early Civilizations: Ancient
Egypt in Context.