Rainfall and agriculture in Northern Mesopotamia: proceedings of the Third MOS Symposium (Leiden 1999)

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UITGAVEN VAN HET NEDERLANDS HISTORISCH-ARCHAEOLOGISCH INSTITUUT TE ISTANBUL Publications de 1'Institut historique-archCologique nCerlandais de Stamboul sous la direction de Machteld J. MELLINK, J. de ROOS, J.J. ROODENBERG et K.R. VEENHOF

LXXXVIII

RAINFALL AND AGRICULTURE IN NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA

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RAINFALL AND AGRICULTURE IN NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA (MOS STUDIES 3) PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD MOS SYMPOSIUM (LEIDEN 1999)

edited by

R.M. JAS

Cover illustration: Middle Assyrian cylinder seal. Drawing by F.A.M. Wiggermann after A. Moortgat, ZA 47 (1942) 81, Fig. 66.

NEDERLANDS HISTORISCH-ARCHAEOLOGISCH INSTITUUT TE ISTANBUL 2000

Copyright 2000 by Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten Witte Singe1 25 Postbus 9515 2300 RA Leiden, Nederland

PREFACE

All rights reserved, including the rights to translate or to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form

This volume collects most of the papers read during the third MOS symposium that took place in Leiden on May 21-22, 1999. The necessary swiftness of execution the contributors generously agreed upon in preparing their lectures for publication is something for which I owe them additional, and warmest thanks. The organizer wishes to acknowledge the following institutions for generously sponsoring this seminar: At Leiden University: The Research School CNWS (School of Asian, African and Amerindian Studies), the Department of Near Eastern Studies (TCNO), and the Leids Universiteits Fonds (LUF); The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO); The Koninklijke Nederlandse Akadernie van Wetenschappen. An expanded version of J. G. Dercksen's contribution will appear in his Old Assyrian Trade and Society (forthcoming). I. MArquez Rowe's discussion paper on the status and role of villages in the Mediterranean fringe, unfortunately, could not be included.

Rainfall and Agriculture in Northern Mesopotamia; Proceedings of the Third MOS Symposium (Leiden 1999) / ed. by R.M. Jas. Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut; Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten [distr.]. (Uitgaven van het Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul; ISSN 0926-9568; 88) ISBN 90 6258 089 0

Printed in Belgium

Thanks are due to Linda McLarnan for her valuable comments on parts of the manuscript, and to Drs. W. Hovestreydt for scanning several of the illustrations. For kind and able bibliographical assistance, I am much indebted to Mrs. M. F. Monti, Library Assistant in the Forestry Department of the F A 0 Library in Rome. The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, Aleppo, on more than one occasion, generously provided me with hard to find articles and books.

R. M. Jas Amsterdam, February 2000

TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE INTRODUCTION ABBREVIATIONS I.

THE ANCIENT LANDSCAPE, PLANT AND ANIMAL REMAINS AS INDICATORS

T. J. Wilkinson Settlement and Land Use in the Zone of Uncertainty in Upper Mesopotamia S. Bottema and R. T. J. Cappers Palynological and Archaeobotanical Evidence from Bronze Age Northern Mesopotamia C. Cavallo The Role of Animals in a Neolithic Agricultural System in the Ancient Jazira J. D. Lyon Middle Assyrian Expansion and Settlement Development in the Syrian Jazira: The View from the Balikh Valley 11.

TEXTUAL EVIDENCE: FROM DETAILS TO GENERALIZATIONS

B. Lafont Irrigation Agriculture in Mari J. C. Fincke Transport of Agricultural Produce in Arrapke F. A. M. Wiggermann ~ ~ r i c u l t uin r ethe Northern Balikh Valley: The Case of Middle Assyrian Tell Sabi Abyad 171 K. Radner How Did the Neo-Assyrian King Perceive his Land and its Resources? 233 R. M. Jas Land Tenure in Northern Mesopotamia 247 G. van Driel The Mesopotamian North: Land Use, An Attempt 265

INTRODUCTION

Agriculture in Ancient Mesopotamia is commonly, and conveniently, divided into rainfed agriculture in the North and irrigation agriculture in the South. Considering the fact that wherever possible farmers irrigated in Ancient Mesopotamia, in the North as well as in the South, the aim of this meeting was to try to establish more characteristics that distinguish agriculture in Northern Mesopotamia from that in the South that could justify this dichotomy. At the same time we hope the papers collected in this volume show that the idea of Northern Mesopotamia as a whole is somewhat of a simplification. The area, instead, can better be divided into different regions with their own potentials and limitations for either arable farming, horticulture, the keeping and raising of livestock, or pastoral farming. In certain areas more stable yields could be expected while in other areas, the management of rainfed crops could be quite a risky undertaking. Relief, for example, is an important determinant for the forms of land use found in the various regions of the North. Luckily, we happen to have written sources from areas differing as widely as the mountainous terrain in North-Eastern Iraq and the river valleys in Northern Syria. Another important question is how far the steppe was regarded as forming part of the farming system. This topic has great ramifications for, among other things, a correct assessment of the integration of crop and livestock production in the Ancient Near East. Because of the different uses made of land in Northern Mesopotamia, the patterns of land ownership and the access rights to land can be expected to differ from the South as well, several overviews of the written evidence and the situation in present day Iraq and Syria are included. The specialists from various disciplines that were invited to speak on the above topics, archaeologists, a paleobotanist and a zoo-archaeologist, historians and several philologist, had the occasion to discuss the contributions their various fields. of study have to make to a better understanding of the ways in which ancient agricultural production was organized in Northern Mesopotamia. The findings presented in this volume will be of interest for a general model of agriculture in Northern Mesopotamia that will need to integrate the written sources with archaeological and archaeobotanical data, and with the data on the modern Middle-Eastern environment, leaving room for the differences that exist within the rainfed areas of Ancient Mesopotamia that are caused by factors other than rainfall.

ABBREVIATIONS

ABBREVIATIONS

A AAS AbB ABL AcAnHung ADB ADD

A~S AfO AHw Amurrru AOAT AoF ARET ARM ARMT ARU AS AS1 ASJ ASOR AT BaF BAH

BaM BAR BASOR BATSH BBVO BCSMS BiOr BM BPO BRM

siglum for texts from Mari Les Annales Archtologiques de Syrie (later: Annales ArchCologiques Arabes Syriennes) Altbabylonische Briefe in Umschrift und aersetzung R. F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Letters Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientimm Hungaricae C. H. W. Johns, An Assyrian Doomsday Book C. H. W. Johns, Assyrian Deeds and Documents G. Wilhelm, Das Archiv des S i l w a - ~ e E u ~ Archiv fiir Orientforschung W. von Soden, Akkadisches Handworterbuch Vol. 1: J.-M. Durand ed., Mari, ~ b l et a les Hourrites - dix ans de travaux. Actes du colloque international (Paris, mai 1993) Alter Orient und Altes Testament Altorientalische Forschungen Archivi reali di Ebla - Testi Archives royales de Mari Archives royales de Mari (texts in transliteration and translation) J. Kohler and A. Ungnad, Assyrische Rechtsurkunden in Umschrift und Ubersetzung, Leipzig 1913 Assyriological Studies Advanced Science Institutes, Series I: Global Environmental Change Acta Sumerologica Japonica American Schools of Oriental Research D. J. Wiseman, The Alalakh Tablets Baghdader Forschungen Bibliothkque archtologique et historique (136 = B. Geyer ed., Techniques et pratiques hydro-agricoles traditionelles en domaine irriguC (Actes du Colloque de Damas, 27 juin - lerjuillet 1987), Institut Franqais du Proche Orient, Paris 1990. Baghdader Mitteilungen British Archaeological Reports Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research ~ 1 Diir-Katlimmu Berichte der Ausgrabung Tall S E Hamad Berliner Beitrage zum Vorderen Orient Bulletin of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies, QuCbec Bibliotheca Orientalis siglum for texts in the British Museum Babylonian Planetary Omens Babylonian Records in the Library of J. Pierpont Morgan

BS BSA BSOAS BT CA CAD CM CMA CRRA CSSH CT CTN EN ETAP Flor. Mar. Fs. Finet HSAO HSS IM JAC JCS JEN JEOL JNES JNSL KAH KAJ LAP0 MADD MAL MAR1 MARV MASCA Mayer Cat MDOG MDP NABU NALK NARGD ND NL OA OBRT OIP OLP OLZ

University of Amsterdam Balikh Survey Bulletin on Sumerian Agriculture Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies siglum for texts from Balawat Current Anthropology Chicago Assyrian Dictionary Cuneiform Monographs (Groningen) Corpus Medio-Assiro (Rome) Comptes rendus des Rencontres assyriologiques internationales Comparative Studies in Society and History Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets (British Museum) Cuneiform texts from Nimrud Excavations at Nuzi Expanded Technical Assistance Program Florilegium Marianum, Mtmoires de NABU Reflets des deux fleuves (Akkadica Supplementum 6) Heidelberger Studien zum Alten Orient Harvard Semitic Series siglum for texts in the Iraq Museum, Baghdad Journal of Ancient Civilizations Journal of Cuneiform Studies Joint Expedition with the Iraq Museum at Nuzi Jaarbericht van het Vooraziatisch-Egyptisch Genootschap "Ex Oriente Lux" Journal of Near Eastern Studies Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages Keilschrifttexte aus Assur historischen Inhalts E. Ebeling, Keilschrifttexte aus Assur juristischen Inhalts Litteratures anciennes du Proche Orient (16 and 17 = J.-M. Durand, Documents tpistolaires du palais de Mari, 1 and 2 J. N. Postgate, More "Assyrian Deeds and Documents" Iraq 32 (1970) 129164. Middle Assyrian Laws Mari, Annales de Recherches Interdisciplinaires H. Freydank, Mittelassyrische Rechtsurkunden und Verwaltungstexte Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology Walter Mayer, Nuzi-Studien I: Die Archive des Palastes und die Prosopographie der Berufe (AOAT 20511) Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orientgesellschaft MCmoires de la DClegation en Perse Nouvelles assyriologiques brsves et utilitaires T. Kwasman, Neo-Assyrian Legal Documents in the Kouyunjik Collection of the British Museum Postgate, Neo-Assyrian Royal Grants and Decrees siglum for Nimrud texts Nimrud Letter (H. W. F. Saggs, Iraq 17 [I9551 and following) Oriens Antiquus S. Dalley, et al. Old Babylonian Texts from Tell Rimah Oriental Institute Publications Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica Orientalistische Literaturzeitung

XI1 OrNS PRU QGS

RA RAI RBC RGTC

RHA RIMA RIME RLA RS SAA SAAB SAAS SANE SCCNH SGKAO SM SMN StAT T Talon TAVO TCL TCS TIM TM TMO UF VAT VS WdO WZKMIS YNER ZA

ABBREVIATIONS

Orientalia Nova Series Le Palais Royal d7Ugarit Quaderni di Geografia Storica (Universith di Roma - Istituto di Studi del Vicino Oriente) Revue d'assyriologie et d'archeologie orientale Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale Rosen Babylonian Collection (Yale) Repertoire gkographique des textes cuneiformes (Vol. 3 = B. Groneberg, Die Orts- und Gewassernamen der altbabylonischen Zeit; Vol. 10 = J. Fincke, Die Orts- und Gewhsernamen der Nuzi-Texte) Revue hittite et asianique Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia Assyrian Periods Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Early Periods Reallexikon der Assyriologie siglum for texts from Ras ShamralUgarit State Archives of Assyria State Archives of Assyria Bulletin State Archives of Assyria Studies Sources from the Ancient Near East Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians Schriften zur Geschichte und Kultur des Alten Orients Series Maior (Studia Pohl) siglum of Nuzi texts in the Harvard Semitic Museum Studien zu den Assur-Texten siglum of texts from Sabi Abyad Ph. Talon, Old Babylonian Texts from Chagar Bazar (Akkadica Supplementum 10) Tiibinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients Textes cuneiformes du Louvre Texts from Cuneiform Sources Texts in the Iraq Museum siglum for texts from Tell Mardikh~Ebla Travaux de la Maison de L'Orient (Lyon) Ugarit-Forschungen siglum for texts in the Staatliche Museen, Berlin Vorderasiatische Schriftdenkmaler Die Welt des Orients Wiener Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde des MorgenlandesIStudien Yale Near Eastern Researches Zeitschrift f i r Assyriologie

I

THE ANCIENT LANDSCAPE. PLANT AND ANIMAL REMAINS AS INDICATORS

PIHANS LXXXVIII, 2000

Settlement and Land Use in the Zone of Uncertainty in Upper Mesopotamia T. J. Wilkinson (The Oriental Institute, Chicago)

INTRODUCTION

Virtually the entirety of Upper Mesopotamia - that is the zone of rainfed cultivation in northern Iraq, northern Syria, and southeastern Turkey - could be defined as a zone of agricultural uncertainty. Despite the considerable risk that is inherent in cropping an area with such a wide interannual fluctuation in rainfall, very large settlements have developed throughout the Syrian and Iraqi Jazira, virtually up to the limit of rainfed cultivation. This begs the question as to what degree such large settlements could have been supported by cultivation of the surrounding areas. This paper will examine some of the factors that may have contributed to the development and growth of settlements in the rainfed farming zone of the Jazira, and suggest some reasons why there appear to be anomalies such as large centers growing in marginal areas where there were apparently insufficient resources to support them. The paper will also deal with issues that arise in the literature on the ancient Near East, specifically where some authorities regard sites such as Ebla, and indeed many other sites in northern Syria, as being reliant largely upon sheep and goat husbandry and very little upon cultivated crops (e.g. Gelb 1986). This discussion is based primarily upon field evidence derived from archaeological and landscape surveys, but it will also build upon theoretical considerations inferred from traditional agricultural systems in the region, and more generally from the agronomy of dry-land agriculture. The main focus is upon settlement and land use in the fourth and third millennium B.C., but issues of agricultural uncertainty in the second and first millennia B.C. and later will be addressed as appropriate. First the basic components of the Bronze Age Jaziran economy as recognizable by the field survey are outlined. Then factors that can result in the amelioration of the staple subsistence economy of Jaziran settlements are examined. Emphasis is upon the interaction between different sectors of the economy rather than on any single sector. THE ZONE OF UNCERTAINTY DEFINED

Agronomists at ICARDA, the center for studies of dry land agriculture located near Aleppo, sub-divide the Syrian Jazira into five agro-ecological or "crop stability" zones as follows (Pabot 1956; Cocks et al. 1988; see also Fig. 1 based on Jones 1993, fig. 3): Zone la: With rainfall > 600 mrn, this area exhibits a wide range of crops. Within Turkey, zone l a is characterized predominantly by wheatlbarley and lentils grown in alternating years, with vineyards occupying marginal soils (Wilkinson 1990).

4

T. J. WILKINSON

Zone Ib: Rainfall between 350-600 mm and not less than 300 mm in two of every three years. Main crops comprise wheat, chickpeas, lentils, fruit, vegetables and nonirrigated summer crops. Zone 2: Mean rainfall of 250-300 mm, and above 250 mm in two of every three years. Crops are barley, wheat, some food legumes and summer crops; livestock, mainly sheep and goats are of increasing importance. Zone 3: Mean annual rainfall greater than 250 mrn and not less than 250 rnm in one year out of two. Barley and livestock (mainly sheep and goats) are the main products, wheat is also grown but food legumes are of little importance. Zone 4: With average rainfall between 200 and 250 mm, and not less than 200 mm during half the years, barley and sheep or goats remain the primary products, barley being mainly grown to feed flocks. Zone 5: Even less rainfall than Zone 4 and extending into true desert, this area is not used for cultivation but is used for grazing, primarily by nomadic or semi-nomadic pastoralists. Where mean annual rainfall exceeds 325 mm wheat predominates, but barley may be important on poorer soils (Jones 1993:131; Fig. 1). Further south barley increases until the pastoral zone 5 takes over. The present limit of rainfed farming has been defined by the Syrian government as close to the 250 mm rainfall isohyet (Wachholtz 1996:19-20), but in the past it has formed a rather ragged edge which depends on a range of cultural and economic factors as well as on local soil and hydrological conditions. Thus soils along wadis may remain moist for greater parts of the year with the result that lobes of rainfed farming extend southward into the semi arid steppe. In drier areas most land is under barley, usually with an alternating year of fallow, but increasingly it is being grown as an annual crop. Because crop-production is not viable every year, grazing of animals increases towards the southern limit of Zone 4, and in some years barley is not even harvested but is directly grazed by the sheep and goats (see below). Wachholtz defines a zone of marginal cultivation between the rainfall isohyets of ca. 250mm and 180 mm (Fig. 2). For the area south-east of Aleppo (not strictly within the Jazira, but relevant to agriculture within it) Wachholtz recognizes first a "zone of permanence," where settlement is mainly in the form of sedentary villages; here rainfall is 250-300 mm per annum (and above) and most arable land is used for cropping. This is equivalent to zone 3 above.1 Second is a "zone of transition," which is mainly a semisedentary zone occupied by bedu, and where land use consists of both cultivation and grazing. This zone receives some 250 to 200 mm of rainfall per annum and is roughly equivalent to crop stability zone 4. Even drier is the "steppe rangeland" zone where rainfall is less than 200 mm per annum, occupation is by migratory bedu, and land use according to the Syrian government mandate is exclusively for grazing. The steppe rangeland zone falls within stability zone 5. A key point to emerge from the study of Wachholtz is that in the sedentary and semi-sedentary areas stability of family income is enhanced by the integration of crop production into their livestock systems thereby

Wachholtz considers this belt to be within zones 3 and 4, but from the rainfall figures it seems that this "zone of permanence," is more likely to be equivalent to zone 3 only.

SETTLEMENT AND LAND USE

5

securing a feed base (ibid. p. 195). The relevance of such integrative approaches to the ancient cultivation regime is enlarged upon below. In terms of settlement pattern, it is evident from figure 2 that most of the large Bronze Age tells occur where rainfall is slightly higher than defined by Wachholtz's belt of marginal cultivation. Nevertheless, many noteworthy sites do fall within this belt: Umm a1 Mara, Hadidi, Selenkahiye, Sweyhat, Hammam, Sabi Abyad, Tell es-Samir, Emar, Bica, as well as a number of Kranzhiigel sites within the Jebel Abd al Aziz steppe (Hole 1997; Kouchoukos 1998). Although some of these sites probably relied upon irrigation,2 palaeobotanical evidence suggests that those of the above sites that have been excavated appear to have relied to a significant degree upon rainfed cultivation (van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres 1985:198; Miller 1997). In addition to these sites within the marginal belt, many larger and even more important sites occur very close to this zone, for example Ebla, Chuera, Beyda, Brak in Syria, as well as Tells Khoshi and Khadail in Iraq. To understand how such major settlements developed, grew, and apparently thrived in such a climatically marginal location requires some knowledge of the structure of the Bronze Age economy. The margin of permanent settlement The limit of permanent settlement or rainfed cultivation is variable through time, depending upon political, social, economic, and environmental conditions. Thus during the twentieth century there has been a significant shift southward of the southern limit of permanent settlement in the Iraqi Jazira (Thalen 1979, Lewis 1987, Wilkinson and Tucker 1995). In the Khabur basin in the 16th century the limit of sedentary settlement extended from a little north of Ras al-'Ayn to Chagar Bazar and then to the north of the Wadi Radd (Hutteroth 1990). This demonstrates that even during a period that is often regarded as one of settlement decline, there was a significant number of sedentary villages in the northern Khabur basin, even as far south as Tell Beydar (Goyunq and Hutteroth 1997 map 3a). At this time the limit of settlement was blurred by the tendency of linear distributions of settlement to extend down the north-south wadi systems that were tributary to the Khabur. Similar settlement alignments were characteristic of third millennium B.C. settlement as can be seen on figure 4. However, this pattern was violated in the Iron Age when around sites such as Tell Beydar there was a tendency for small dispersed settlements to be developed over most parts of the landscape. This pattern appears to have had its roots in the Late Bronze Age, a period of some settlement decline in the Jazira. Because there is no evidence to show that the Late Bronze or Iron Age were any wetter than the third millennium B.C.3 it appears that such a dispersed pattern of settlement was due not to more favourable climatic conditions, but more likely was because political or economic circumstances were more conducive to settlement. It is therefore likely that the development of a dispersed pattern of small rural settlements appeared either because the area was selected by the Neo-Assyrian administration as an Specifically Emar and Tell Bica. Irrigation was probably also employed at other sites when needed; see for example the evidence for possible irrigation at Middle Assyrian Sabi Abyad cited by Wiggermann (this volume, 5 2). If anything, these periods were slightly drier than the third millennium B.C. according to Lemke and Sturrn 1997: fig. 5.

6

T. J. WILKINSON

SETTLEMENT AND LAND USE

area for the resettlement of displaced populations (Wilkinson 1995), or, the area was simply settled spontaneously by, for example, Aramean nomads.

mountains, and Afghanistan to the Mediterranean Sea. The existence of such wideranging economic catchments of differing size would have provided various degrees of buffering for the Jaziran communities so that droughts in any one area could have been mitigated by inter-regional transfers of food, and if economic circumstances allowed them to be transferred.

THE JAZIRA AS A THREE SECTOR ECONOMY

Large parts of the Jazira within Turkey, Iraq and Syria were densely populated during the third millennium B.C. when settlement occurred primarily in the form of tells, or various types of walled settlements. Populations were distinctly nucleated, and even though "rural" settlement occurred, even these were usually in the form of tells such as Tell Raqa'i and Hajji Ibrahim (e.g. Schwartz and Curvers 1992, Danti 1997). In the mid to late third millennium B.C. settlements that grew to 100 hectares in area may have housed as many as 10,000 or more (Wilkinson 1994). To be sustainable in such a climatically marginal area such sites are unlikely to have relied upon agriculture alone, but rather probably drew their sustenance from at least three main sectors of the economy (Fig. 3): Cultivated food products, primarily in the form of staples such as wheat, barley, and lentils, drawn from the immediate catchment. This can be termed staple production, as has been described by D'Altroy and Earle (1985). Pastoral products and the wealth derived therefrom, from large flocks of sheep and goats that were either pastured within the territory of the central settlement, or were attached to wide ranging pastoral nomads (Gelb 1986, Matthews 1974). Wealth generated by overland trade along well-defined route systems that crossed the Jazira up and down valleys, in roughly east-west alignments across the Jazira, and also along more oblique trajectories from north-west to south-east. Such routes, which are in places visible on the ground, can be traced on air photographs and some satellite images to link many large settlements as is discussed below (van ~ i e r and e Lauffray 1954; Wilkinson 1993). Although a wider or narrower range of economic sectors could be employed, I have selected the above three because they are the components that can be most readily recognized by field survey. These three economic sectors capture notional catchments of increasing size: subsistence based on staple products, owing to the high frictional effect of overland transport, would have been primarily restricted to a limited area around the main site, usually to within 3 km of the central tell.4 In the case of larger centers up to 100 ha, however, agricultural territories could be either simple catchments of 5 km radius or compound catchments up to around 15 krn radius (Wilkinson 1994). Some pastoral production would have been based within this local area, but allowance must also be made for the use, by village-based flocks, of outlying pastures when available, as well as the flocks of pastoral nomadic groups. The last named could have been loosely tied with the sedentary centers and, by analogy with traditional practice in the region, must have been much more wide-ranging (see below). Finally, trade would tap both resources and wealth drawn from a very wide area, ultimately perhaps from Oman to the Taurus 4

Cultivation around small villages can extend further, albeit at a lower level of intensity (Hillman 1973), and around Middle Assyrian Sabi Abyad, the small central settlement of some 0.36 ha may have controlled a cultivated field area of some 3 km radius (Wiggermann this volume; for further discussion see below).

7

In the context of the urbanization of EB WIII Palestine Portugali and Gophner emphasize interactions between trade, urbanism and agriculture as follows: "the urban system, due to accumulation, planning, long-distance trade and other features of urbanism, enabled the regional agricultural subsystems to absorb, or overcome their local instabilities, previously fatal during the agricultural era. Only when several local instabilities coincided did the urban system as a whole, or major parts of it, collapse or undergo a major crisis. Thus, relative to the agricultural era, the urban system was characterized by relatively long periods of socio-spatial stability, but short, but very intensive environmental crises. Urbanism thus reduced the frequency of socio-environmentalcrises, but increased their intensity Portugali and Gophner, 1993 Similar issues are examined here. Emphasis is placed on the heterogeneity of the ancient Jaziran economy and this is illustrate using examples drawn from the following areas (from west to east): Tell es-Sweyhat, Kurban Hoyiik, Balikh Valley, Tell Beydar and the Khabur valley, Tell al-Hawa. Sector 1: Staple production in the Jazira

During the third millennium B.C. sites such as Tell al-Hawa (Iraq) and Tell es-Sweyhat (Syria) were probably surrounded by large areas of intensive rainfed cultivation (e.g. Wilkinson 1982, 1994). Cultivated areas were initially estimated by off-site sherd scatters or "field scatters." These are evident as subtle scatters of pottery on the surface of modem ploughsoils, and are inferred to result from the spreading of settlement refuse, ash, and other household waste (inevitably including some potsherds) on fields as fertilizer. The date of the potsherds, mainly Early Bronze Age (EBA) in the case of Sweyhat and Hawa, or a minority EBA in the case of Kurban and Titrish Hoyuks, suggests that in the two first areas, Bronze Age fertilizing was significant, whereas in the second two cases manuring with settlement-derivedrefuse was apparently less important (Wilkinson 1982).

In the Jazira a second type of evidence occurs in the form of linear hollows which often radiate from Bronze Age tells. These hollows were probably formed as a result of traffic of humans and their flocks concentrated along linear tracks; consequently compression of soil, and associated erosion from overland flow of water resulted in the development of hollows (Wilkinson 1993). Such hollows can then fade out usually some 3-5 km from the sites. This fade-out point is inferred to represent the zone where the cultivated fields of the Bronze Age ended and either traffic to fields was less, or that traffic then radiated out across the steppe. In either case such fade-out zones can be used to estimate the long term limit of maximum cultivation.

8

9

T. J. WILKINSON

SETTLEMENT AND LAND USE

Together these two strands of evidence can be combined to suggest that most Bronze Age tells that exceeded 10 ha in area would have been surrounded by a cultivated area of some 3-5 km radius, the inner zone of which was frequently intensively cultivated and manured. Applying this and other principles to the Khabur Valley of northern Syria, one is able to produce a rough estimate of Bronze Age settlement and land use as follows.

economy that focussed on a narrow range of cereal crops and livestock husbandry. Furthermore during the third millennium there was a major restructuring of the economy from one comprising diversified husbandry of sheep, goat, cattle, and pig, to one dominated by sheep and goats. By making inferences from the off-site resources within extended site territories, it is possible to place such changes within a geographical context. On figure 4 those areas that fell beyond the inferred cultivated zones, if they were without signs of permanent settlement, field scatters, and linear hollows, can be inferred to have been likely areas of steppe pasture. Such areas are usually situated in areas of low rainfall andlor mainly have shallow soils. Of the areas defined as probable pasture on figure 4, the only area checked in the field by the author is that to the west of Tell Beydar, where a large area of basalt forms a plateau covered by thin soils (Fig. 7). Unfortunately, because this area and others like it on figure 4 show little evidence of human activity they can only be defined on the basis of negative evidence; that is as the residual of land that is left over when other types of land use (i.e. sedentary settlement and cultivation) have been accounted for. Consequently, on most site distribution and land use maps of the original surveys, such areas only appear as open space. The contribution of the pastoral sector is best illustrated from the following examples, which are updated from original surveys conducted by the author.

Detailed survey around Tell Beydar demonstrated that third millennium settlement was primarily restricted to tells greater than 5 m in height (Wilkinson n.d.) Thus if tells can be recognized on 1: 200,000 maps and CORONA satellite images, and cross-checked where possible by published surveys, it is possible to produce a map of tells. These can be tentatively regarded as a proxy indicator of EBA settlement. Using the buffering mode of ArcView GIs5 the 3 and 5 km radius zones around each tell can be mapped to provide an estimate of probable cultivation (c3 lun). Probable pasture is then estimated as the land beyond 3 or 5 km. The intermediate zone being probably a combination of both pasture and cultivation; with a bias one suspects, towards the former. Figure 4 shows the overall distribution of tells and land use zones in the western Khabur basin according to this principle. It indicates that the basin would have fallen into: An eastern zone (i.e. the central Khabur basin) of dense, almost continuous occupation, with one or two north-south open areas that could have served as pasture. A western zone with linear distributions of tells and cultivation along wadis and some open space between. A southwestern area around the Jebel Abd al-Aziz, where Bronze Age settlement and cultivation was even more limited, and pastoral production must have made a significant contribution to the economy (Kouchoukos 1998; Hole and Kouchoukus n.d.). Although the above method provides only a rough estimate of settlement and land use in the Early Bronze Age Khabur, the reconstruction demonstrates the heterogeneous nature of settlement and land use which formed a mosaic that was sometimes virtually continuous, but also patchy or linear, and in the driest areas included extensive areas of open steppe with few, but often large, settlements. Sector 2: The contribution of pastoral resources ArchaeoIogicaI surveys tend to under-estimate the contribution of pastoral resources because they frequently focus more on the sedentary component of settlement. Faunal analysis, on the other hand, provides explicit information on the animal and pastoral economy, and in a number of recent papers Melinda Zeder (1998, 1999), has pointed out that in the third millennium B.C. the Khabur basin probably shared a region-wide That is Geographical Information Systems that use computerized mapping techniques to analyze complex arrays of spatial data.

I . Tell es-Sweyhat (Syria: ca. 250 rnm per annum) The original landscape studies around Tell es-Sweyhat focussed upon the immediate catchment of the site. These studies suggested that in the late third millennium B.C. the site was probably encircled by a 3 km radius zone of intensive cultivation (Wilkinson 1982). Later mapping of a wider area by Michael Danti (Danti and Zettler 1998) as well as bioarchaeological studies by Miller (1997) and Weber (1997) have demonstrated the significance of pastoral resources and hunting to the Sweyhat economy (Fig. 5a). This is supported by my own re-mapping of a wider area that indicates that the area of off-site sherd scatters of the inner intensively cultivated zone was itself surrounded by extensive areas of plateau steppe and hillslopes, all of which would have provided extensive areas of steppe pasture (Fig. 5a). Clearly, as in most of the above areas, available pasture land was well in excess of cultivated land. Furthermore, these areas formed an interlinked series of semi-continuous steppe pasture that extended to the east, probably as far as the B alikh. 2. Kurban Hoyiik (Turkey: ca. 450 mm per annum) This 6 ha tell site along the Turkish Euphrates is located in an area of moderately plentiful rainfall. It would have drawn its staple products mainly from the main terrace along the Euphrates (Wilkinson 1990), but in addition, upland steppe on terraces and limestone hills to the south would have provided a substantial area of pastoral upland that would have interconnected with pastures of neighboring tells as well (Fig. 5b). A similar situation would have prevailed around the large center of Titrish Hoyiik to the south-east where, in addition to a spacious agricultural lowland, there existed extensive areas of upland pasture. Detailed survey suggests that although those uplands adjacent to the site may have been cultivated and perhaps also used as threshing floors, the remainder were probably upland pasture.

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Therefore around both Kurban and Titrish Hoyuk, although there was a significant area of cultivation, pastoral resources were probably significantly more extensive than cultivated land.

supported over the long term by rainfed cultivation. Kouchoukos suggests that the growth of these major Kranzhiigel sites was stimulated by the "commodification of textiles" that is by trade in wool, animals and textiles generated by pastoral communities affiliated with the Kranzhiigel sites. Although recognizing the importance of the pastoral nomadic economy, I suggest that the growth of such centers was also linked to the development of trade routes across the steppe as will be discussed below.

3. Balikh Valley (Syria: 200-300 mm per annum) The Balikh Valley has rolling uplands to both east and west that are devoid of Bronze Age sites as well as occupation of most other periods. These open spaces would have provided extensive upland steppe pasture. As indicated on Figure 6a, site territories estimated from Thiessen Polygons suggest that every EBA site along the River Balikh would have had ready access to steppe pasture. Limited mapping of the lowland along the Balikh suggests that when sherd scatters occur (i.e. proxy indicators of early manuring), they are Hellenistic through early Islamic in date; there is little evidence of Bronze Age sherd scatters (Wilkinson 1998). Therefore cultivation was either not intensive, or farmers were able to utilize plentiful animal manures that would have been generated by the numerous animals that grazed the steppe.

4. The Khabur Basin The above analysis of settlement in the Khabur basin suggests that pasture land was present in varying amounts and was mainly limited to occasional north-south corridors, usually along the lines of watersheds, as well on geologically determined uplands. The Tell Beydar area provides a small window into the settlement distribution within the Khabur basin. TELL BEYDAR (SYRIA. CA. 300 MM PER ANNUM)

Situated on the minor north-south Wadi Awaidj in the western Khabur, Tell Beydar was located between an area of low uplands to the east, (which were probably uncultivated during the third millennium B.C.), and a basalt plateau to the west (Fig. 7). The latter area had a cover of thin soils and was without evidence of archaeological sites apart from rare traces of post-Iron Age occupation (Wilkinson n.d.; Barbanes 1999). Frequent references in the Tell Beydar texts to shepherds and their sheep implies that the basalt area formed a major pastoral resource during the third millennium B.C. Certainly this has traditionally been the case, and the basalt uplands are still used in summer by bedu who have traveled up from the winter pastures in the deserthteppe to the south. During the third millennium B.C. cultivation was probably mainly confined to the lowlands of the Wadi Aweidj, as has been estimated on figure 4. THE JEBEL ABD AL-AZIZ STEPPE

To the southwest of the Khabur on the semi-arid steppe that surrounds the Jebel Abd alAziz a number of Kranzhiigel sites have long been recognized, and have recently been surveyed by Frank Hole and Nicholas Kouchoukos (Hole 1997; Kouchoukos 1998). These sites, although situated within areas of extremely low agricultural potential appear to have been surrounded by relatively limited areas of cultivable land. Such land, which would have been watered by the rather unreliable annual rainfall perhaps supplemented by runoff from the Jebel Abd al-Aziz, is estimated to have been less than was required to support the estimated population of those sites (Kouchoukos 1998). Whether the cultivation base was sufficient to support the estimated population of the sites or not, it is clear that such sites were climatically extremely marginal, and could not have been

5. Tell al-Hawa area {Northern Iraq: ca. 350 mm per annum) Landscape surveys around this 55 ha site in the Iraqi north Jazira demonstrate that in the third millennium B.C. most of the area was probably cultivated land (Wilkinson and Tucker 1995). However, an extensive zone of open space can be inferred to have developed in the western part of the survey area (Fig. 8) in the late fourth millennium B.C.6 This occurred as a result of the abandonment of Late Chalcolithic and Uruk settlements in the second half of the fourth millennium B.C. Thus the newly opened up pastoral area can be inferred to have been analogous to an area of enclosed pasture or nomadism (cf. Rowton 1973) that was virtually surrounded by settled areas. Nevertheless, in this relatively densely occupied area it appears that cultivation (much of it intensive) was as abundant (or more so) than pasture, and the pastoral areas remained as isolated enclaves rather than interlinked units with free passage between. Most of the Bronze Age catchments discussed above exhibited a viable base of rainfed cultivation. With the exception of Tell al-Hawa, located in the area of highest cultivation potential, all had access to large areas of pasture as well. The relative degree of reliance on pasture can be seen to have increased towards the south and the desert. This presumably is not because these formed the best pasture lands, but because areas to the north provided greater potential for cropping and eventually became primarily used for cultivation. Pasture lands appear to have extended freely away from most sites, and in most cases would have been seamlessly linked with other areas of steppe pasture accessible from other sites. In the Khabur linear zones of cultivation would have been separated by corridors of pasture that could have allowed free passage of pastoralists from north to south or vise versa. However, such freedom of movement would have depended upon ownership arrangements or rights to common pasture along these corridors. To judge by the availabiIity of open areas with high potentia1 for pasture, most Bronze Age settlements were therefore within convenient distance of large areas of potential pastures (Danti and Zettler 1998, for Tell es-Sweyhat). This provides support for the evidence from cuneiform texts that refer to a large pastoral sector (Gelb 1986). It is also noteworthy that around Tell al-Hawa, what can be interpreted as a pastoral zone opened up during the late fourthlearly third millennium B.C. This implies that pasture and sheep may have been sufficiently important to the economy for enclosed pastures to have been deliberately created, perhaps at the expense of settlement in agriculturally marginal areas.

In addition there were small areas of possible pasture on rolling upland to the north of the site.

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I

Sector 3: Trade and the wealth economy Archaeological survey does not provide direct evidence for trade or those sectors of the economy that might have generated wealth or its accumulation. Nevertheless some indication of these sectors must be sought in order to deal with larger issues of the economy such as are alluded to in the following statement: "One may judge the Ebla situation by scanning Pettinato (1979). One feels overwhelmed by the number of the texts dealing with wool, textiles, metals and metal products." Gelb 1986:158. From this Gelb goes on to conclude that agriculture (i.e. cultivated agriculture) played a secondary role in comparison to the manufacture of textiles and metal products (Gelb 1986:160). In the context of trade, the movement of luxury goods, and administration, field survey can provide two types of indirect evidence. These are inter-site linear hollows and the presence of expanded settlements, often with outer towns. Inter-site linear hollows These form broad shallow hollows that radiate from Bronze Age tells, but in contrast to linear hollows that fade out at the boundary of cultivation (see above), certain features continue across the landscape to link up with other sites in the settlement network. Within many parts of the Jazira these hollows provide a tantalizing glimpse of what may have been a complex network of Bronze Age cross-country routes. Because they link third millennium B.C. sites, these linear hollows appear to have been in use at this time. Although it is difficult to assign a precise function to such routes it can be suggested that in addition to providing general purpose lines of communication, they were used for administrative communications and by merchants, traders and their caravans. Expanded settlements The larger Bronze Age settlements in the Jazira fall in the size range of 50 -100 ha and rarely exceed 100 ha (Wilkinson 1994: table 2 and fig. 3). Because the agricultural potential of the Jazira increases to the north as rainfall increases, one might expect the largest sites to be found in the north where agricultural potential was greatest. This is not the case however; although some large sites do occur in the wetter part of the Jazira (Kazana, Leilan, Girnabaz, and Mozan spring to mind), a significant number occur much further south, close to or even beyond the limit of viable rainfed cultivation. For example a noteworthy series of large sites occur along an east-west alignment as indicated on Figure 9: Nineveh, Taya, Hadhail, Khoshi, Mashnaqa, Tell Mu'azar, Tell es-Seman, Sweyhat and Hadidi. Of these Taya, Hadhail and Khoshi are around 100 ha area or more, and the others, although more modest in size (Tell Mu7azar is ca. 11 ha: Kouchoukas 1998: table 7.4) are nevertheless much larger than would be expected from their climatically marginal position. Although it may well be correct that these sites benefited from a slightly higher rainfall during the early third millennium B.C. (Hole 1997), their growth probably resulted from additional factors that also stimulated the accumulation of wealth7 which in turn encouraged growth which resulted in an increase in the size of settlements.

See also Meijer (in press) who makes a similar case for the formation of Kranzhiigel sites. I am very grateful to Dr. Meijer for making this interesting paper available to me in advance of publication.

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13

Two processes can be suggested for the generation of such wealth and associated settlement growth. First settlement expansion was stimulated by trade along selected major routes across the Jazira. For example it is possible that these sites fell upon a major east-west route system linking Nineveh on the Tigris to Tell Hadidi on the Euphrates, and onwards towards the Mediterranean coast (Fig. 9). As a result of the growth of interregional trade in the mid to late third millennium the passage of large numbers of merchants across the Jazira would have increased the demand for food at various stopping points on the route. This demand would mainly have been for basic staples, but there would also have been increased demand for meat, other animal products, and feed for pack animals. In addition, greater administrative links with Akkad would have required administrative contacts which again would have placed greater demands on local food production systems, especially for entertaining and f e a ~ t i n gSecond, .~ exchange of commodities between nomadic and sedentary communities in different parts of the Jazira could have increased demand for food and generated additional wealth (Meijer n.d.). Being on the boundary between steppe pastures to the south and mainly cultivated areas to the north, the above-mentioned sites could have been the focus of exchange between sedentary cultivators and more mobile groups.9 Trade and exchange at the boundary between geographical regions leads to the growth of "gateway cities" (Burghardt 1971), and such processes can plausibly be used to account for the growth of many large centers in the Jazira. Such interactions would probably have led to increased sedentary settlement of nomads, as well as increased demand for grain for the nomads themselves, and fodder for their animals. This would have resulted in both the growth in size of the settlement and an increase in the scale of agricultural activity. Expansion as a result of the above mechanisms of trade and exchange may account for the anomalous expansion of a site like Tell Taya, which exhibited a massive and extensive lower town that has always been difficult to explain (Reade 1982:77). Although Reade considers that this extensive spread of suburbs may be characteristic of many similar small tells in the Jazira, according to intensive survey around many sites in the Jazira, this does not frequently seem to be the case.1•‹Increased trade or exchange with nomads may also account for the expansion of Tell es-Seman, the largest EBA town on the Syrian Balikh (ca. 12-15 ha in area; Curvers 1991), as well as the ca. 100 ha walled sites of Tells Khoshi and Hadhail to the south of Jebel Sinjar. Despite their climatically marginal location, during periods of economic or agricultural stress these communities were perhaps able to survive by "buying in" grain and other staple crops as necessary. Whether such an alignment of sites is explained by the existence of a major east-west route through the Jazira or was a result of interaction and exchange between sedentary and nomadic communities, is difficult to say. If a major east west route once existed, its Sites such as Tells Khadhail and Khoshi in northern Iraq may have developed where the postulated east-west route was intersected by routes trending north-west up the Wadi Tharthar from southern Iraq (Fig. 9). See Meijer in press. An additional wealth generating factor, the primary extraction of minerals, is not considered here because the Jazira has few mineral resources. However basalt for grinding stones (e.g. around Tell Beydar) and salt or salt pans were both probably exploited in the third millennium B.C. Rather intensive surveys around tells suggest that extensive lower towns in the Khabur are more likely to be Late Bronze Age or later in date. Only in limited cases such as around Titrish Hoyiik, Tell Sweyhat (the southern extension Zettler 1997) and Daudpasha (in the Amuq) much further to the west and north did EBA lower towns develop. None exhibit the spectacular extent of Tell Taya.

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trajectory, to the south of the Jebel Sinjar and Abd al-Aziz, would have taken it toward a major crossing of the Euphrates. This crossing is implied by two pairs of towns: Tells Hadidi and Sweyhat (to the north), and Halawa and Selenkihiya (to the south: Fig. 9). Such paired settlements often grow up where major routes cross rivers, and are a characteristic feature of river crossing points in the USA (Burghardt 1959). In the Tabqa area paired settlements had disappeared by the Late Bronze Age, when they were replaced by a series of fortresses distributed in alternating positions along the river. In the Jazira it can therefore be argued that sites did not expand in proportion to the agricultural potential of the area. Rather, the largest sites probably developed in areas that were favorable for the generation of wealth, which in addition to agricultural resources, would have included long distance trade and exchange with mobile pastoralists. For example major settlements like Tell al-Hawa (Iraq) developed on inter-regional hollow way routes (Wilkinson and Tucker 1995). Such routes probably formed only one of many such systems, so that travelers may have shifted from route to route depending upon political circumstances. However, not all significant tells appear to have fallen on major routes, and access to the wealth-generating mechanisms of trade and exchange, would therefore have been unequal across the Jazira.

highland Anatolia, Afghanistan or the Gulf. Such variations in economic scale must have provided a considerable buffer for the local staple economies. Not only was the Jaziran economy heterogeneous, but also it probably exhibited complex links between the different sectors. The staple economy should not be regarded as simply the production of grains for local consumption by local sedentary communities; rather the pastoral and trade components would also place demands on the supply of staples as follows. First population growth and increased trade must have increased the demand for staple products through time (see above p. 12). Any substantial increase in the number of domestic animals would have increased the demand on barley for feed, especially for winter feed. Although it is true that the Bronze Age flocks would have utilized the natural forage resources during most seasons11 it seems from Old Akkadian texts from Tell Beydar that grain was used as animal feed (Meijer in press; Van Lerberghe 1997: 120-21). As local forage became reduced in areas of overgrazing, there would have been an increased need for animal feed. In addition surprise events like wars or the movement of armies through the area would increase the demand for food.12 Such rising demand could have.been met by increasing the intensity of production; nevertheless in dry years it is quite likely that production systems may have suffered a crisis. Because the Jazira receives most of its weather from similar air masses and weather systems, a dry year in one part of the Jazira is likely to have been dry throughout the Jazira (Wilkinson 1997, fig. 2). However, this is not always the case (Butzer 1997). Thus as indicated on figure 10a, when rainfall at Kamishli and Mosul is compared with that at Aleppo we can see that there is a high visual correlation between Aleppo and Kamishli but a much lower correlation between Aleppo and Mosul. In years when Kamishli received more rainfall than Aleppo, it would have been potentially feasible to export grain from Karnishli to Aleppo. When we consider Aleppo and Mosul, where the correlation was even lower (Fig. lob) there would have been even more opportunities (and reason) to export across the entire extent of the Jazira. Also those parts of the Jazira that were located in close proximity to much moister areas (for example the eastern Khabur) would have been able to bring in food from adjacent areas that remained reasonably well watered and supplied. Although such shifts of produce mav have taken place, they would have been difficult, in part because it is very expensive to move sufficient grain to feed a town of some 2000-10,000 people across the land.13 Furthermore, during major droughts and

THE BRONZE AGE JAZIRA ECONOMY

The ancient Jaziran economy may have operated as a patchwork of staple-based economies in which one main engine was the distribution of staple products, while the other comprised wealth generating economies in which light, high value items such as metals, animals or textiles were exchanged or accumulated. As a result of the spatial differentiation of economies into various mixes of staple cropping, pastoral production, and wealth-generating components, it is possible to suggest how settlements may have responded to conditions of stress. During dry years, settlements that were over-reliant on staples would not have the resources to buy in grain whereas others, perhaps in more marginal areas, would have had such potential. Therefore sites located in drier climatically marginal areas could have been able to override a drought simply by virtue of their ability to draw upon their capacity to generate some wealth. More likely than this straightforward picture is the more general statement that the Bronze Age Jaziran economy was rather heterogeneous and therefore could respond in complex ways to perturbations, be they environmental or socioeconomic. Furthermore the presence of a nomadic sector, the members of which had their own methods of evading dry years by the use of mobility to graze areas of optimum rainfall or pasture, would have supplied another component of flexibility to the Jaziran economies. Simply by providing a way of mobilizing items of high value (that is flocks and their products), pastoralists would have provided a flexible way of moving economic assets from place to place. Although sites located along the east-west alignment noted above may have benefited significantly from the exchange and sale of animals and their produce, this was not always the case. As Reade has argued (1982), there were times when such groups would have been in opposition to the occupants of the sedentary zone. Each part of the three sector economy related to a different economy of scale. The staple products would have been (usually) produced and consumed locally; flocks and the products of pastoral nomads would have ranged more widely, perhaps penetrating into the northern Arabian desert; finally, the trade economy had its roots even further afield, in

1 There has been a massive increase in the hand feeding of flocks over the last forty years, especially as cultivation has encroached on the steppe and the steppe vegetation has become further degraded (Wachholtz 1996:78). Butzer 1997. See also Fales 1990a for examples of the massive demand for food by the Assyrian -Y. 1 3 That transport on land (by pack animals either alone or drawing wagons) is more expensive than water transport is well known (Weiss 1986:94-95). For example, Foster notes the allocation of 5% of the harvest at Ugarit towards transportation costs (1986:115). However the "frictional effect of distance" should not be over stated because long-distance trade in grain clearly existed back to the third millennium B.C. (Silver 198562). Such movements were probably undertaken only in times of extreme stress, or if the resources (economic or political) were available to pay for it. Thus if the economy was mainly founded upon grain, paying for the transport of the grain would have been difficult, if not impossible, unless there was plentiful grazing on route, a situation that would not have prevailed during drought seasons or in times of overgrazing and degradation. On the other hand, if there were abundant non-staples such as metals available, payment for grain would have been easier, especially in the first

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famines, such movements would have been vulnerable to interception by equally starving communities en route. As an alternative, however, it is well known that domestic animals provide an excellent means of storage on the hoof and they can be exchanged or bartered when required. Consequently domestic flocks can be fed with surplus grain when it exists14 and can be moved more freely from place to place during times of food stress. Thus during periods of famine owners of flocks would almost certainly try to sell or exchange some animals, presumably in exchange for grain. For example during the recent Sahelian droughts some inhabitants benefited from the fall in the price of domestic livestock, (which fell in price because most people were selling their assets), as well as the rise in the price of grain (as there was competitive buying by many of grain that was owned by few: Mortimore 1989). During such times of crisis it might therefore have been more viable to transport the flocks through existing pastoral corridors to areas where feedstuffs were more readily available and the relative "price" of animals was more favorable. Such movements would have been easier to undertake than transporting cereals from place to place, but on the other hand this process would have been beneficial to a different sector of the population. The Bronze Age economy was probably sufficiently heterogeneous for there to be economic disparities across the Jazira that could have been met by some commodity flows from place to place. Metals, textiles and other high wealth items could have moved via gift exchange and trade, and some would have been exchanged for either animals or staple crops. Fundamental inequalities between the wet staple-providing areas in the north, and drier areas with more animals to the south, could therefore have been met by such commodity flows. As to whether such flows formed a significant part of the economy and whether they were administered predominantly by the temple, palace, or household/"private" sector is beyond the scope of this paper. Nevertheless, the economy was not static and controlled, but more likely, was heterogeneous and flexible.

long periods of time. This is especially pertinent to the Bronze Age when archaeological records suggest that many tells were occupied for hundreds or even thousands of years. In addition, fallowed land often develops a surface crust, which, by decreasing the infiltration capacity of the soil can lead to increased runoff and erosion, especially on sloping terrain. Therefore although biennial fallow appears to have been practiced since at least Late Assyrian times (Fales l99Ob: 119-21), the practice clearly exhibits both short term advantages and long term disadvantages. On the other hand annual cropping, by violating the water preserving qualities of fallowing results in lower crop yields per field. However because every field can be cropped every year the practice can result in higher gross yields. This is illustrated by figure 11 which is the result of a preliminary simulation of crop yield for the Tell al-Hawa area for one hundred years.15 Diamonds indicate crop yields for biennially cropped barley; these plunge to 0 during each fallow year. Grey squares indicate yields from annually cropped barley. The two trend lines show that yield in annual barley declines through time (solid line) whereas barley production increased very slightly. The latter increase is in line with a very slight increase in the simulated rainfall. In the long term it can therefore be argued that the fallowed fields, despite a slightly greater decrease in organic carbon provide increased yields per field and greater cropping stability than annual cropping. One way of combating both the loss of organic carbon from the soil, as well as the loss of nutrients, is the practice of manuring. This can be accomplished by the application of composted animal dung, by encouraging animals to graze on stubble fields, or to remain overnight on fields so that their dung provides a natural manure. In addition, the application of household refuse, ash, and organic waste will supplement the degradation of soil fertility through time (Wilkinson 1982, Miller and Gleason 1994). This practice is well illustrated for a traditional Middle Eastern society in highland Yemen. In small villages, household waste, usually consisting of ash cleared from hearths and ovens, is dumped outside the house in small oval stone-lined storage units. This ash, often being derived from burnt dung, forms a pale grey dust-like deposit which inevitably incorporates inorganic materials from the household. The accumulated waste is then carried out to the fields on a donkey and applied as fertilizer. As a result of such applications those Yemeni fields that are fertilized accumulate not only ash, but also a small but significant accumulation of potsherds and other inorganic inclusions. When applied to biennially fallowed land, such organic fertilizers have the advantage of arresting the decline of organic matter, adding nutrients to the soil, and in general allowing soil moisture retention to be maintained. Ideally therefore combining fertilizing with biennial fallow should provide a more sustainable system of cultivation than fallowing alone (Wilkinson 1997:79-86). There is often more overlap between cropping and pasture systems than is generally assumed. For example in particularly dry years it is often the practice to abandon land

Amelioration practices in the agricultural economy At the scale of the local economy similar flexibility probably allowed the Bronze Age Jazira farmers to change their production strategies and agricultural output to offset adverse conditions or to increase production. Some methods could have ameliorated conditions (e.g. fallowing by increasing soil moisture) whereas others would have amplified certain problems and could have rendered the agricultural system potentially unstable. The following are just some examples of such amelioration practices. Fallow is normally practiced biennially. In addition to allowing the soil to recover, it enables the soil to store moisture from one wet season to the next. As a result some 1020% of the previous year's rainfall is carried over to the next year to supplement that year's rainfall. This carry-over acts as an insurance against dry years (although not major droughts: Wilkinson 1997 for references). Unfortunately, this practice also results in greater loss of organic carbon from the soil so that the quality of the soil can progressively deteriorate. Ironically, the loss of humus also diminishes the water holding capacity so that theoretically, the advantage of the fallow year may have been lost over millennium and later when coinage became widespread. It remains likely therefore that during the Bronze Age and earlier most transport of grain would have been mainly confined to within the local region. Often in the case of old grain see Wiggermann's paper, this volume.

l 5 This was developed as part of a programme of modelling crop production around ancient Mesopotamian settlements being conducted jointly between the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago and the Decision and Information Sciences Division of the Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois. I am extremely grateful to John Christiansen for running the simulation. The model output is based upon modern barley strains, therefore is significantly higher than would be expected with ancient barley. Barley yields are generated by the EPIC crop model using modern data for soils, rainfall, and other environmental inputs for the Iraqi north Jazira.

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under growing cereals and allow sheep and goats to graze on the failing crop (Nordlom 1983). Rather than suffering a total loss of crop, the farmer will have therefore have produced an enhanced grazing resource for his own flocks or even nomadic pastoralists. The latter, if they graze those fields can develop a reciprocal obligation or debt, which then requires repayment at a later date. As a result crop loss on the one hand will be balanced by increased social investment on the other. A related practice is that of harvesting the green cereal early. This might occur if it is anticipated that the year will be too dry to produce good well filled grain. The premature harvesting of the green cereal results in a dish called friki, a naturally sweetened and nutritious porridge. Not only does this practice allow farmers to salvage a poor crop, but also the harvesting of cereals early has the advantage of avoiding the collection of tax on the harvested crop (Abd al-Amir al-Azm, personal communication August 1998). Irrigation is often perceived as being practiced exclusively in arid areas where there is too little rainfall for rainfed cultivation. But because irrigation is also employed for the intensification of agriculture, it can be introduced into areas of rainfed cultivation where it is necessary to increase production. This apparently took place in the Balikh Valley in Turkey where Islamic canals were dug in an area that formerly was almost certainly not irrigated (le Strange 1905). The construction of large canals along modest-size rivers like the Balikh and Khabur would therefore decrease the overall base flow of the river so that downstream communities, who relied entirely upon irrigation for their agriculture, would be deprived of some of their flow. Such practices may have resulted in the water disputes recorded upstream of Tutu1 in the Mari records (Villard 1987; Wilkinson 1998). Thus intensification upstream, where irrigation was less important, could result in a loss of waters downstream where irrigation was crucial to survival. In a similar manner climatic drying would encourage the increased withdrawal of irrigation water thereby exacerbating the effect of the drought.

settlements that consistently exported grain to the growing centers, unless, again steps were taken to redress such losses. Even pastures are affected, because if sheep graze on outlying pastures and are then stalled around the settlement or on neighboring fields, there will be a loss of nitrogen and various trace elements from the pastures (White et al. 1997). Conversely the stalled area would receive a net gain because livestock contribute nitrogen from urine and feces. In general there would be a net flow of nutrients and trace elements depending upon the practice of animal husbandry and the duration and location of stalling. If there is a net loss from the pastures then it can be assumed that they too would become degraded. Today the Jaziran steppe appears extremely degraded (Thalen 1979), and has become even more degraded in recent years as a result of the extension of cultivation into progressively drier areas and the increased use of pastures. The above mentioned nutrient loss is therefore in addition to the more conspicuous and better attested processes of degradation.

Otherfactors that in$uence traditional and/or ancientfanning practice The above factors provide buffers against some of the fluctuations in agricultural production, but in addition a number of other factors can have an impact on settlement and land use in the zone of uncertainty. Nutrient recycling and transfers It should not be assumed that the soils of the semi arid Jazira have remained the same since initial cultivation took place, probably in the ceramic Neolithic (i.e. the Hassuna or Halaf periods). Unfortunately there is little evidence which allows us to describe the original soil resources in details (but see Courty 1994 and Blackburn 1998 for varying interpretations), therefore the following observations are theoretical rather than based on observation. Many Bronze Age tells were probably occupied for several millennia, and the annual or biennial cropping of nearby fields would have progressively withdrawn nutrients from the soil unless there was a deliberate attempt to return them, for example by manuring. Even though manuring was probably carried out in many areas, the more distant fields would probably not have received manure, therefore we may surmise that such areas were steadily depleted of nutrients and organic matter to the point when they were significantly degraded. Similar losses could have occurred around outlying smaller

19

Anticipation of total annual rainfallfiom autumn rainfall In principle, because total annual rainfall may be correlated with autumn rainfall, it should be possible for the farmer to anticipate whether the year will be a good or bad year from the autumn rainfall. However, data from Mosul from 1923 until 1955 suggests that there is only a weak correlation between rainfall from September to December and for the entire year so that such predictions will be unreliable. The correlation from other stations is higher, however, so that for Urfa especially dry years can sometimes be forecast from the September to December rainfall (Fig. 12). For example in the hydrological years16 1972173, 1990191, and 199-5196 a dry autumn would have been a good predictor of an overall dry year. Nevertheless, in spite of the reasonable visual correlation on this graph, it is evident that the farmer would have to use such a relationship with caution. Similarly when fallowing is employed to carry over rainfall from the fallow year to the year of cropping it is possible that a good year will result if the previous year was wet (see above). Unfortunately although this factor does apply in the Jazira, it does not appear to provide a reliable rule for the farmer. THE JAZIRA ECONOMY THROUGH TIME

Although quite a lot is known about the details of the Jazira economy in the fourth, third and second millennia B.C., the overall structure and dynamics of the economy remain less understood. It is likely however that the economy changed considerably over this long interval. During the Chalcolithic the agricultural economy was probably a mixed farming system characterized by reliance upon diverse and flexible practices that included husbandry of sheeplgoats, pigs and cattle, hunting (Zeder 1998), together with low intensity cultivation. By the period of state formation toward the middle of the third millennium, agricultural systems appear to have been much more specialized with more evidence for intensive cultivation, at least around major settlements (Wilkinson 1994), and some separation of pasture into distinct reserves (such as at Tell al-Hawa). There was also a specialized focus upon a narrower range of domesticated animals than formerly (Zeder 1998). Spatially, as has been suggested above, the economy was probably rather That is corresponding to a year starting in September and finishing in August. This keeps an entire winter's rainfall within the same year.

20

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T. J. WILKINSON

SETTLEMENT AND LAND USE

heterogeneous with an underpinning of staple production as well as varying degrees of input from animal husbandry (both nomadic and sedentary) and wealth derived from trade and exchange. Both animal husbandry and tradelexchange would have provided a buffer against times of adversity, especially in climatically marginal locations. Thus from the fourth millennium to the late third millennium B.C., the structure of the economy probably changed from more localized mixed agricultural economies as noted above towards, by the mid-late third millennium, more specialized but much larger scale economies that drew upon a wider range of buffering mechanisms.

that all communities would have suffered from a critical food shortage, but some more than others (Weiss et al 1993).

CONCLUSIONS

The above summarizes only some of the complexities of the agroecological and economic systems of the Jazira. It appears that numerous buffering mechanisms were in operation to ameliorate crop production at the level of the farm as well as at the regional level. The political and subsistence economy was heterogeneous (see also Zeder 1999) so that different parts of the settlementleconomic system would have shown a different response to any perturbations of the environment or economy. The various buffering mechanisms would have provided a degree of flexibility to the economy so that during times of climatic stress, areas that were more economically robust may have been able to ride out some years of drought. On the other hand, areas that were economically marginal would have suffered more from economic changes such as shifting trade routes. Even if region-wide drought prevailed, some communities would have been better equipped in terms of resources to "exchange" their way out of the crisis, at least for the short term. During drought years there was probably increased exchange across the region, or conversely there would have been a flow of people from one area to another. Furthermore certain wealthier communities were in a position to benefit significantly from climatic crises. This is not to suggest that a market economy was necessarily fully developed during the Early Bronze Age, but rather that there was significant spatial variation in the economy and that economic mechanisms were in operation. This should be taken into account when we examine widespread or long-term changes in settlement. By the mid to late third millennium B.C. there is compelling evidence to suggest that systems of local economies had become transformed into a region-wide economic system as urbanization increased (Zeder 1999). The spatial mosaic of alternations of pasture and cultivation with occasional north to south corridors of steppelpasture, would have contributed to this region-wide integration. Potentially these steppelpasture zones could have provided additional conduits for interaction within a complex regional economy which would have provided the framework for response to occasional shortages of grain or straw in the south, or sheep and goats in the north. It is also necessary to distinguish between settlements that were marginal in terms of climate and those that were economically marginal. For example a site like Tell esSweyhat was climatically marginal, but during times when cross-river trade was vigorous, the town would have been in an economically viable position. If however the site ceased to become a locus of economic activity then it would have been rendered economically marginal in addition to being marginal climatically. This change would therefore have been critical to its long-term survival. In extreme cases major catastrophes, such as an intense drought, could have over-ridden buffering mechanisms with the result

Acknowledgments

First I must thank Remko Jas for hosting an excellent meeting in Leiden in May 1999. Thanks also go to my colleagues at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago and the Decision and Information Sciences Division of the Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois who have contributed many ideas on the subject of the agricultural economy of Upper Mesopotamia. I particularly wish to thank John Christiansen (DISIANL), McGuire Gibson, Steven Cole, Colleen Coyle, Carrie Hritz, and Jason Ur (all of the Oriental Institute), for their help and advice during the modeling programme. In addition I must thank Prof. Dr. Sultan Muhesen, Director General of Antiquities in Damascus, Dr. Mu3ayyad Sa'id Damerji, Director General of Antiquities and Heritage, Baghdad, and Manhal Jabr, Director of the Mosul office, for encouraging the various stages of fieldwork that have contributed to this study.

22

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Barbanes, E. R. Heartland and Province: Urban and Rural Settlement in the Neo-Assyrian 1999 Empire. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley. Blackburn, M. Paltosols du 111~milltnaire et sols contemporains de tell 'Atij et de tell 1998 Gudeda dans la moyenne vallte du Khabour, en Syrie du Nord, Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies Qukbec, Bulletin 33 (= M. Fortin and 0 . Aurenche eds., Natural Space, Znhabted Space in Northern Syria [loth- 2nd millenium B.C.]), 69-82. Burghardt, A. F. The Location of River Towns in the Central Lowlands of the United States, 1959 Annals of the Association of American Geographers 49, 305-23. A Hypothesis about Gateway Cities, Annals of the Association of American 197 1 Geographers 61, 269-85. Butzer, K. Sociopolitical Discontinuity in the Near East C 2200 B.C.E.: Scenarios from 1997 palestine and Egypt, 245-96 in H. Niizhet Dalfes et al. eds., Third Millennium BC Climate Change and Old World Collapse. NATO AS1 Series I: Global Environmental Change, Vol. 49. Berlin: Springer Verlag. Cocks P. S. et al. Degradation and Rehabilitation of Agricultural Land in North Syria. 1988 ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria. Courty, M.-A. Le cadre paltogtographique des occupations humaines dans le bassin du 1994 Haut-Khabour (Syrie du Nord-est): Premiers rtsultats, Palkorient 2011: 2159. The Soil Record of an Exceptional Event at 4000 B.P. in the Middle East, 1998 93-108 in B. J. Peiser er al. eds., Natural Catastrophes During Bronze Age Civilizations. Archaeological, Geological, Astronomical, and Cultural Perspectives. Oxford: B.A.R. International Series 728. Curvers, H. H. The Balikh Drainage in the Bronze Age. Ph.D. dissertation, University of 1991 Amsterdam. D' Altroy, T. and T. Earle Staple Finance, Wealth Finance, and Storage in the Inka Political Economy, 1985 Current Anthropology 2612, 187-206. Danti, M. D. and R. L. Zettler The Evolution of the Tell es-Sweyhat (Syria) Settlement System in the Third 1998 Millennium B.C., Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies Qukbec, Bulletin 33 (= M. Fortin and 0 . Aurenche eds., Natural Space, Znhabted Space in Northern Syria [loth- 2nd millenium B.C.]), 209-28. Fales F. M. 1990a Grain Reserves, Daily Rations, and the Size of the Assyrian Army: A Quantitative Study, State Archives of Assyria Bulletin 411, 23-34. 1990b The Rural Landscape of the Neo-Assyrian Empire: A Survey, State Archives of Assyria Bulletin 412, 81-142.

Foster, B. R. 1986 Agriculture and Accountability in Ancient Mesopotamia, 109-28 in H. Weiss ed., The Origins of Cities in Dry-farming Mesopotamia in the Third Millennium B.C. Guilford, Conn.: Four Quarters Publishing Co. Gelb, I. J. Ebla and Lagash: Environmental Contrast, 157-67 in H. Weiss ed., The 1986 Origins of Cities in Dry-farming Mesopotamia in the Third Millennium B.C. Guilford, Conn.: Four Quarters Publishing Co. Goyunq, N. and W. Hiitteroth Land an der Grenze. Osmanische Venvaltung im heutigen tiirkisch-syrisch1997 irakischen Grenzgebiet im 16. Jahrhundert. Istanbul: Eren. Hillman, G. Agricultural Productivity and Past Population Potential at Agvan, Anatolian 1973 Studies 23, 225-40. Hole, F. Evidence for Mid-Holocene Environmental Change in the Western Khabur 1997 Drainage, Northeastern Syria, 39-66 in H. Nuzhet Dalfes et al., eds., Third Millennium BC Climate Change and Old World Collapse. NATO AS1 Series I: Global Environmental Change, Vol. 49. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Hutteroth, W. Villages and tribes of the Gezira under early Ottoman administration (16th 1990 century). A preliminary report, Berytus 38, 179-84. Jones, M. J. Barley-based farming systems of the Mediterranean, 129-44 in M. Jones et 1993 al. eds., The Agrometeorology of Rainfed Barley-based Farming Systems. ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria. Kouchoukos N. Landscape and Social Change in Late Prehistoric Mesopotamia, Ph.D. 1998 dissertation, Yale University. Lemcke, G. and M. Sturm dl80 and Trace Element Measurements as Proxy for the Reconstruction of 1997 Climate Changes at Lake Van (Turkey): Preliminary Results, 653-78 in H. Nuzhet Dalfes et al eds., Third Millennium BC Climate Change and Old World Collapse. NATO AS1 Series I: Global Environmental Change, Vol. 49. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. 1,e Strange, G. Lands of the Eastern Caliphate. London: Frank Cass. 1905 Liere, W. J. van and J. Lauffray Nouvelle prospection archtologique dans la Haute Jezireh Syrienne, AAS 41954 5, 129-48. I'ewis, N. Nomads and Settlers in Syria and Jordan, 1800-1980. Cambridge University 1987 Press. Matthews, V. H. 1978 Pastoral Nomadism in the Mari Kingdom (ca. 1830-1760 BC). ASOR Series 3, Cambridge, Mass. Meijer, D. J. W. (in press) Ecology and Archaeology: Perceptions and Questions. Paper presented at the Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale (Venice 1997).

REFERENCES

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Miller, N. F. Farming and Herding Along the Euphrates: Environmental Constraint and 1997 Cultural Choice (Fourth to Second Millennia B.C.), 123-32 in R. L. Zettler ed., Subsistence and Settlement in a Marginal Environment: Tell es-Sweyhat, 1989-1995 Preliminary Report, MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology 14, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia. Miller, N. F. and K. L. Gleason Fertilizer in the Identification and Analysis of Cultivated Soil, 25-43 in N. F. 1994 Miller and K. L. Gleason eds., The Archaeology of Garden and Field. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Nordblom, T.L. Livestock-Crop Interactions: The Decision to Harvest or to Graze Mature 1983 Grain Crops, Discussion Paper No. 10, Farming Systems Program, ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria. Pabot, H. Rapport au gouvernement de Syrie sur l'ecologie vCgCtale et ses applications, 1956 Rome F A 0 (ETAP-Rapport No. 663). Portugali, J. and R. Gophna Crisis, Progress and Urbanization: The Transition from Early Bronze I to 1993 Early Bronze I1 in Palestine, Tel Aviv 2012, 164-86. Reade, J. E. Tell Taya, 72-78 in J. Curtis ed., F i . Years of Mesopotamian Discovery. 1982 British School of Archaeology in Iraq, London. Rowton, M. B. Urban Autonomy in a Nomadic Environment, Journal of Near Eastern 1973 Studies 32, 201-15. Silver, M. Economic Structures of the Ancient Near East. London: Croom Helm. 1985 Thalen D. C. P. Ecology and Utilization of Desert Shrub Rangelands in Iraq. Ph.D. 1979 dissertation, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. UNESCOIFAO Soil Map of the World. Vols. I and VII. Paris. 1977 Van Lerberghe, K. The Beydar Tablets and the History of the Northern Jazirah, 119-22 in F. 1996 Ismail et al. eds., Administrative Documents from Tell Beydar (Seasons 19931995). Subartu 2, Turnhout: Brepols. Villard, P. Un conflit d'autoritb 2 propos des eaux du Balih, MAR1 5, 59-96. 1987 Wachholtz, R. Socio-Economics of Bedouin Farming Systems in Dry Areas of Northern 1996 Syria. Kiel: Wiss.-Verl. Vauk. Weber, J. A. Faunal Remains from Tell es-Sweyhat and Tell Hajji Ibrahim, 133-68 in R. 1997 L. Zettler ed., Subsistence and Settlement in a Marginal Environment: Tell es-Sweyhat, 1989-1995 Preliminary Report, MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology 14, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.

SETTLEMENT AND LAND USE

Weiss, H. 1986

25

The Origins of Tell Leilan and the Conquest of Space in 3rd Millennium Mesopotamia, 71-108 in H. Weiss ed., The origins of cities in dry-farming Syria. Guilford, Conn.: Four Quarters Publishing Co. Weiss, H. et al. The Genesis and Collapse of Third Millennium North Mesopotamian 1993 Civilization, Science 261, 995-1004. White, P. F. et al. Nitrogen Cycling in Semi-Arid Mediterranean Zones: Removal and Return 1997 of Nitrogen to Pastures by Grazing Sheep, Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 48, 317-22. Wilkinson, T. J. The Definition of Ancient Manured Zones by Extensive Sherd Sampling Techniques, Journal of Field Archaeology 9, 323-333. Extensive Sherd Scatters and Land-Use Intensity: Some Recent Results, Journal of Field Archaeology 1611, 31-46. Town and Country in Southeastern Anatolia vol.1: Settlement and Land-use at Kurban Hoyuk and Other Sites in the Lower Karaba Basin. OIP 109. Chicago. Linear hollows in the Jazira, Upper Mesopotamia, Antiquity 67, 548-562. The Structure and Dynamics of Dry-Farming States in Upper Mesopotamia, Current Anthropology 3515, 483-520. Late-Assyrian Settlement Geography in Upper Mesopotamia, 139-59 in M. Liverani ed., Neo-Assyrian Geography. QGS 5. Rome. Environmental Fluctuations, Agricultural Production and Collapse: A View from Bronze Age Upper Mesopotamia, 67-106 in H. Niizhet Dalfes et al. eds., Third Millennium BC Climate Change and Old World Collapse. NATO AS1 Series I: Global Environmental Change, Vol. 49. Berlin: SpringerVerlag . Water and Human Settlement in the Balikh Valley, Syria: Investigations from 1992-1995, Journal of Field Archaeology 25, 63-87. (in press) Archaeological Survey of the Tell ~ e ~ Region, d & Syria, 1997: A Preliminary Report, in K. Van Lerberghe ed., Subartu 6. Turnhout: Brepols. Wilkinson, T. J. and Tucker, D. J. Settlement Development in the North Jazira, Iraq. A Study of the 1995 Archaeological Landscape. Iraq Archaeological Reports 3, Warminster, Wiltshire, England: Aris & Phillips. Zeder, M. A. 1998 Environment, Economy and Subsistence on the Threshold of Urban Emergence in Northern Mesopotamia, Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies Que'bec, Bulletin 33 (= M. Fortin and 0. Aurenche eds., Natural Space, Inhabted Space in Northern Syria [lofh- 2nd millenium B.C.]), 55-67. 1999 The Role of Pastoralism in Developing Specialized Urban Economies in the Ancient Near East. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Chicago, March 1999. Zeist, W. van and J. A. H. Bakker-Heeres 1985 (1988) Archaeobotanical Studies in the Levant 4. Bronze Age Sites on the North Syrian Euphrates. Palaeohistoria 27, 247-3 16.

26

Zettler, R. L. Introduction, 1-10 in R. L. Zettler ed., Subsistence and Settlement in a 1997 Marginal Environment: Tell es-Sweyhat, 1989-1995 Preliminary Report, MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology 14, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.

27

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T. J. WILKINSON

Wheat-based systems

Barley-based systems

Summer crops Tree crops

-

Fallow

I

I

I .. :. . . . . . . . .................................. .I

I

.

I

A=--&.

:~:;..;.:..~:; 60 sherds 1100 m2

' -.

100 persons per ha,

Moderately Intensive cultivation; field scatters 20-60 sherdsi100 m i Least intensive cultivation;

,-' marginal land with fallow; field

'\,

scatters < 20 sherdsl100 rnZ

Fig. 8. The area of Tell al-Hawa in the Iraqi North Jazira showing the "empty zone" in the western part of the survey area in relation to areas of inferred cultivation. This empty area probably developed as a pastoral enclave towards the end of the fourth millennium B.C.

5 km

basail plateau

-

Bronze Age tracks ('hear hollows')

watershed

Fig. 7a. Area of Tell Beydar survey showing surveyed sites in relation to inferred long-term pasture resource of basalt plateau (stipple). I.A. - Iron Age sites; tell were mainly occupied in the Bronze Age and late Chalcolithic (by Eleanor Barbanes).

Appendix A: 1 Appendix A: 3

Appendix A: 2

/

soil 3

Undulating steppe

Wadi 'Awaidj

Tmmmm_/rmn Fig. 7b. Schematic cross-section from east to west across Beydar area showing potential pasture areas to east on steppe and to west on basalt.

Fig. 9. East-west alignment of large sites across the Jazira. The hatched line represents either the potential east-west route or the zone of interaction between mobile groups to the south and more sedentary communities to the north. The hatching south-east of Hadhail represents a possible route leading south towards southern Mesopotamia.

SETTLEMENT AND LAND USE

T. J. WILKINSON

Urfa (1959-1998)

Annual Rainfall 1959-1980

Annual Rainfall 1959-1998

Aleppo (Rainfall i n rnm)

Aleppo (Rainfall i n mm)

Fig. 10. Rainfall correlation between (left) Aleppo and Kamishli, and (right) Aleppo and Mosul (by Colleen Coyle).

Hawa Aug 99 Annual & Biennial barley

Hydrological Years

Fig. 12. Autumn rainfall as a predictor of the total year's rainfall for Urfa (Turkey) 1960 to 1996197. Encircled points appear to be those years when it would have been possible for a farmer to predict a drought year.

I

I

Years

- - - -Linear (Biennial barley) -Linear (Annual barley) --- -r--Annual

barley

--t Biennial

barley

Fig. 11. Barley production for the Tell al-Hawa area simulated for an arbitrary one hundred year period. Note the gradual decline in the yield of annually cropped barley compared to the stability of the biennial barley yield (data for this preliminary simulation was provided by John Christiansen, DIS division, Argonne National Laboratory.

PIHANS LXXXVIII, 2000

Palynological and Archaeobotanical Evidence from Bronze Age Northern Mesopotamia S. Bottema and R. T. J. Cappers (Groningen) INTRODUCTION

Various sources of evidence inform us about the botanical history of Mesopotamia. Translations from texts on clay tablets, preserved seeds, fruits or wood found in former settlements or pollen in sediments, all give information on the past vegetation, each in their own way and with their own possibilities and restrictions. The relationship between the textual evidence and human activity is obvious. Of special interest are the differences in farming practices for various parts of Mesopotamia, as suggested by philologists. The main problem is the proper translation of the text and solid proof which plant or product is meant. The main advantage of palynological investigations is that they are based on the study of sediments not directly related to human settlements, which does not exclude that pollen analysis reflects the impact of man on its environment. In fact, both human activity as well as climatic changes will change the natural vegetation, which in turn is documented in the shifts of the individual pollen curves. Unfortunately, the identification level of the pollen data seldom is detailed enough to indicate former ecological conditions and local anthropogenic exploitation of plant species. Although Mesopotamia can be treated as one unit, exposed to a continental derivative of the Mediterranean climate, the area clearly demonstrates an ecological gradient that will control to a certain extent the possibilities of living for plants, animals and, not in the least, for human habitation. This diversity is caused by a variation in abiotic conditions, such as climate, salinity, moisture regime, nutrient availability and farming. Farming is divided into two main systems, one system in which rainfed agriculture is practised, and a system in which farming is only possible with irrigation. It goes without saying that in between there is a transitional zone where irrigation is a welcome addition to rainfed farming or where the unpredictability of the annual precipitation stresses the need to use supplementary water. In this paper only those archaeobotanical data from Mesopotamia will be discussed that are provided by large scale, systematic excavations and sampling. These data mostly originate from the extensive studies by Willem van Zeist and collaborators on charred macrofossils from archaeological excavations in the Near East. Unfortunately, the information for Mesopotamia is restricted to the northern part and no comparable palaeobotanical studies are available for the southern part. Van Zeist generally published those studies per site or per group of sites, paying attention to the diversity caused by the opposition rainfed versus irrigation farming (Van Zeist, 1999). In addition to the information obtained from studies which have been published, Van Zeist kindly supplied data from a series of studies on the Balikh and the Khabur area which are in press.

38

S. BOTTEMA AND R.T.J. CAPPERS

The aim of this study is twofold. It presents an up-to-date list of cultivated and wild plants identified to the level of genus or species from Bronze Age northern Mesopotamian sites. This record may be helpful in translating texts. Furthermore, an analysis is made of wild plant species on the basis of available pollen and macro remains. This analysis is focused primarily on the ecological interpretation of these remains. The data sets have been screened qualitatively for the period of roughly 3000-1500 B.C. and in part of the sites this time is subdivided into Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age. ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING

When we define Mesopotamia as the lands delimited by the course of the Euphrates and the Tigris, it is obvious that the area is not uniform. On an average, most of the area receives less than 100 mm of rainfall, but in the north a gradient towards precipitation of 500 mm can be observed. The archaeological sites from which macrofossil evidence is used in this paper are displayed in figure 1 together with the rainfall reliability to give an idea of their moisture conditions. Figure 1 is re-drawn from the TAVO rainfall reliability map (Alex, 1985) and gives the amount of annual precipitation that can be predicted in 80% of the time. This reliability map gives a better idea of the possibilities of agriculture than the map with the average annual precipitation, which can hide the occurrence of wide fluctuations. The boundary of dry farming can be set at the isohyet of the average annual precipitation of 300 mm, practically the predictable, guaranteed annual level of 200-250 mm (Oates and Oates, 1976). The average January temperature ranges from 10-15•‹Cin the south to 0-(-)5"C in the north. The averages for July run from over 35•‹Cnear the Gulf to about 27•‹Cin the north. In figure 2 the soil variety after Straub (1988) is given. Soil conditions differ in the area from the half-desert soils rich in lime in the north to gypsum containing desert soils in the middle. In the south, solonchaks, saline soils, prevail. Alluvial soils are predominantly formed by river sediments, which vary from chestnut brown soils to crusted limestone or gypsum cover, saline clay or stony soil. Fig. 3 is a simplified map of the vegetation re-drawn from Frey and Kiirschner (1989). The northern part of Mesopotamia is characterised by very open dwarf-shrub vegetation, whereas the southern part mostly carries annuals in a dense steppeldesert vegetation. Under natural conditions, the river valleys would carry riparian vegetation including poplar (Populus euphratica) and extensive reed marsh. THE INFORMATION LEVEL OF PALEOBOTANICAL REMAINS IN MESOPOTAMIA

Palynological evidence Palynological investigations provide the palaeo-precipitation of pollen produced by past vegetation. Pollen, representing plant taxa and vegetation, has an advantage over macrofossils in excavations by its distribution, which is anthropogenically unintentional. The distribution of pollen is fairly homogenous and numbers of pollen are very large. Some can be dispersed over long distances, but the majority of pollen precipitates within a few kilometres from the source. A disadvantage, compared to macro-remains, is the low identification level of many pollen taxa which is mostly restricted to the genus or to family

level. To obtain palynological information, sediment is sampled in which pollen has been preserved. Conditions for the preservation of pollen and spores are rather special and require low oxygen. A guarantee for low oxygen is permanent waterlogging of the sediment. Such a situation is very rare in the Near East where sediments are generally formed during the winter half-year in basins that mostly dry up during the summer. Consequently, the pollen that precipitated in a basin is oxidised and no information on the past vegetation can be obtained from such deposits. Sediment suitable for palynological investigation is almost completely absent from most of northern Mesopotamia, while the southern part has not been investigated for this purpose. Apart from the corrosive conditions, the deposit in a meandering river is also not the first choice for the reconstruction of past conditions because a river, which shifts in its bed, constantly clears out older sediments. Re-deposition repeatedly takes place, and in case pollen was preserved, the result would be a greatly disturbed archive. Sediment deposits suitable for the preservation of pollen preferably are collected in basins or lakes, which receive little or no discharge of rivers. Such situations are common in areas with sufficient annual rainfall but almost absent below the 300 mm annual precipitation isohyet, which means that almost the complete Jazira is too dry for a suitable pollen sediment. In the Syrian Jazira, cores were collected in several places, for instance in the meanders of the Balikh and the Khabur (Grernrnen and Bottema, 1991). The Balikh core was taken near Tell Hammam et Turkrnan and the cores in the Khabur valley near Tell Schech Hamad and near Tell Bderi. Invariably the results were negative because organic matter including pollen had disappeared from the deposits. A location that turned out to be moist enough for pollen preservation is the salt flat of Bouara on the border of Syria and Iraq, southeast of Tell Schech Hamad (Gremmen and Bottema, 1991). A negative characteristic of Bouara is the nature of the salt flat preventing the growth of vegetation. Thus, most of the pollen present in the Bouara deposit originates from further away and little more can be said about the area itself than that it was either barren or densely covered with halophytic chenopods and Tamarix. Furthermore, information on the vegetation history of the Zagros Mountains, east of Mesopotamia, based upon the cores from Zeribar and Mirabad (Van Zeist and Bottema, 1977) is instructive for the reconstruction of environmental conditions in Mesopotamia during the younger part of the Holocene. The information from the Iranian pollen diagrams may indicate a development trend that is valid for the Mesopotamian lowland as well, and will be used here as such. Archaeobotanical evidence Archaeobotanical evidence available for the interpretation of past environmental conditions consists of botanical macro-remains, mainly seeds, fruits and threshing remains originating from excavated settlements. In this respect, they differ basically from palynological data as these are obtained from deposits not fundamentally changed by human activity. Therefore, insight in taphonomical processes is a precondition for a reliable interpretation of these macrofossil remains. Taphonomic processes are the various processes undergone by such plant remains in which both natural and anthropogenic agents are active, explaining the ultimate conditions of the subfossil record as it is sampled. Important processes are connected with dispersal, harvesting, and preservation

40

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PALYNOLOGICAL AND ARCHAEOBOTANICAL EVIDENCE

(Hillman, 1984; Cappers, 1995). Dispersal and preservation conditions will be discussed in more detail. In the Near East plant macro-remains can be preserved in several ways: by charring, by desiccation, by mineralisation or as imprints. Imprints are found on pottery, and can be identified as cereal grains or threshing remains. Desiccated remains are rare as they only survive in permanent arid conditions. A small category of seeds found in excavations may be the result of mineralising. Seeds of Boraginaceae are often found mineralised for unknown reasons. Anatolian excavations show the presence of mineralised seeds of Celtis, the hackberry tree. Possibly the berries were cooked for mash. Cooked fruit stones, found in large quantities, are killed that way and do not germinate or rot, but rnineralise. Charring has preserved most botanical macro-remains found in the Near East. The background of charred remains in archaeological sites differs widely from the deposition of pollen. How and why seeds get charred in settlement sites is a matter of debate. One can easily understand that it is not the intention of farmers to burn harvests. The question remains what kind of processes lie behind the presence of numerous charred seeds, farm crops as well as herbs, weeds or other plants in prehistoric settlement accumulations. The presence of large concentrations concerns domesticated crops, sometimes intermixed with remains of wild plant species (weeds), and is among the easiest to understand. Very likely this presence is the result of a large fire that hit the building or even the entire settlement as could be evidenced for Tell Sabi Abyad where complete storerooms filled with charred grain have been unearthed. In case complete buildings and storage facilities for cereals burned down, the outer part of a grain storage might have burned completely, whereas the inside of the structure may not have been touched by the fire at all. This latter part will have disappeared subsequently by rotting away. Only the part sufficiently charred to prevent germinating or rotting was thus preserved and it is this part that is potentially discovered by an excavator. However, the majority of samples collected especially for palaeobotanical studies are not the irregular, scarce bulk amounts resulting from a catastrophe and easily discovered with the naked eye, but thoses retrieved by simple flotation methods applied to the bulk fill of the accumulation of the excavated settlement. The problem of dispersal is of particular interest when we are dealing with the remains of wild plants. How did they enter the site and why did they become charred? At first, these charred remains were simply accepted as a source of information. The finds were considered as a reflection of crop farming and the accompanying weeds. Plants not belonging to these categories were considered as part of the wild flora that gave additional information, although their origin was not questioned. Subsequently, however, investigators started to wonder how such seeds got charred and whether the mechanism behind this charring caused a representative picture of the vegetation around the site or not. As far as remains of domesticated crops are concerned, there are several possibilities. The origin of the scatter of charred seeds and small pieces of charcoal that is present as "noise" in accumulation debris is very convincingly explained by Miller and Smart (1984) as the result of the use of animal dung as fuel. Dung contains numerous seeds which are not digested as long as the seed coat is not damaged by chewing. A part of these undamaged seeds becomes charred during the use of dung cakes for fuel (Neef and Bottema, 1991). Seeds of grazed plants would thus dominate the charred seed

assemblages, the daily menu eaten by cattle and sheep. This may be even true for cultivated species, such as barley, if they are used as animal fodder. Especially beasts of burden, that needed to be in good condition, would have been additionally fed with such, more exclusive, food. Deadldry plants are also gathered as fuel for baking bread or for cooking and the plants may still contain seeds. A certain part, lying at the edge of the fire, escapes from total burning and is swept out of the bread oven during cleaning and thrown on refuse dumps. Such remains may concern cultivated species like uprooted sesame (Sesame indicum L.) stems that still are used this way in northern Syria, as well as wild species like Alhagi spp., Prosopis farcta and Artemisia herba-alba, which remain ungrazed because of their taste or spiny appearance. Bread ovens and fireplaces for burghul-cooking produce hundreds of litres of ashes from animal dung, which are either swept away or thrown on rubbish heaps, or which remain on the spot proper from where they are subsequently dispersed by wind. This dispersal by wind may be an important reason why the "noise" in an excavation can be rather uniform. Thus, seeds of various plant species with a very different background may arrive in settlements where they get charred and where they are preserved, either at the place of the fire or in a secondary place where refuse was dumped, or even dispersed from there by wind. To obtain a good picture of the presence of seeds in a site, an accurate sampling should be done. This also includes the registration of the parts of the site which yielded no seeds. It is needless to say that such sampling is very labour intensive and requires a lot of analysis afterwards as well. The sampling for botanical matter in the Near East, including Mesopotamia, ranges from a few imprints on pottery (Helbaek, 1966a, 1966b) to intensively sampled excavations. A continuous and intensive sampling of a Near Eastern site, to obtain as much botanical information as possible, was done for the first time in 1965 by Van Zeist and Bottema during the excavation of Pre-Pottery Neolithic Tell Ramad, south of Damascus, near Qatana (Van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres, 198211985). The site was sampled vertically (in time). Extensive sampling in horizontal and vertical sense has been done in Mesopotamia for a restricted number of sites only. The results prove that such sampling produces a large number of charred plant remains belonging to many species. The simple flotation of buckets of soil provides us with floating seeds and small pieces of charcoal which clearly originate from other events than large-scale catastrophic fire. It is obvious that the results of such sites are difficult to compare if the sampling method is not the same and that from this varied evidence no conclusive picture about Mesopotamian farming can be made. It should be stressed that the demand for a complete (or as complete as possible) sampling is the result of questions about the nature of farming and farming economy in the Near East which subsequently developed through time. At first, the investigators were quite content with the demonstration of wheat and barley, but soon it was made clear that such finds could be expected in a farming society that was already defined from other evidence. Especially the discovery of texts in excavations contributes to the interpretation of aspects of agriculture and trade as well.

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RECONSTRUCTION OF VEGETATION AND CLIMATE

The palynological information To obtain information about the general vegetation during past times, palynological studies are the most suitable tool. Such information leads to conclusions that, although broad, offer the possibility to evaluate human exploitation, either by crop cultivation or animal husbandry. The application of palynology is altogether scarce in this area and restricted to one site for the period under discussion, that of Bouara (fig. 4). The pollen diagram of Bouara (Gremmen and Bottema, 1991) has been prepared from a sediment collected at the side of the spring that provides the Bouara salt flat with water. The sediment consists mainly of clay, sometimes mixed with sand or organics. The spring is located at the edge of a white crystalline salt deposit. At a depth of 210-230 cm and at 340-360 cm, organic clay and peat is found, indicating that locally marsh vegetation occurred. The lower organic deposit was dated 5730 +I20 BP. The whole section is about 6500 years old. The large salt flat is devoid of vegetation. At the edges, halophytic vegetations are found formed by species of the goose foot-family (Chenopodiaceae), and near the spring a few specimens of Tamarix grow. Surface samples, displaying the modern pollen rain, were collected at the edge of the salt flat and in the neighbouring sites of ar-Roda at some 15 km and Wadi 'Agig at about 10 km distance. These samples show that pollen percentages of the salt-indicating Chenopodiaceae fluctuate between 15 and 80 %. Even near the marsh such values range from 20 to 80%, depending upon the distance of chenopod vegetation to the sample. Several metres from a dense vegetation of Halocnemum, 80 % Chenopodiaceae pollen was present, whereas about 50 metres into the salt flat the share of this type dropped below 20%. Therefore it is questionable how important the behaviour of the dominant salt plants is, because changes in pollen percentages may have been caused by shifts in large scale environmental conditions but also by very local changes in the hydrology, for instance shifts in run-off of the well. The catchment basin the core was taken from received pollen from vegetation on moist parts in the vicinity, mainly members of the Chenopodiaceae. Further away, the Artemisialgrass and herb-steppe attributed to the pollen precipitation, and, as a third group, 21 tree pollen types came from outside the Jazira. For a general reconstruction of the environment in this part of the Jazira and the changes that took place, the three groups of pollen have to be separated. The first indication that informs us about the environment is the fact that around Bouara at about 6500 BP moist surroundings developed upon a hard, dried-up underground of clay. If we look at the Holocene vegetation development in the Zagros Mountains, a striking increase in deciduous-oak pollen took place from about 7000 BP. Maximum oak-pollen values had developed at about 5500 BP. The rise in deciduous-oak pollen must have been caused by an increase in average annual precipitation that enabled the spread of these trees over a zone from about 700 m up to over 2000 m. Part of this rainfall will have run down the slopes, elevating the groundwater level in the lowlands, creating wells here and there, which produced water. The spring of Bouara received its water supply from the Gabal Singar. The supply was not huge but persistent, creating wet surroundings that built up sediment, mostly in shallow open water. The evaporation of the water finally formed the large salt flat. Locally, a lush swamp existed that was at times less saline than on other occasions and in

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which peat was formed. Both the Bouara diagram and the Zeribar diagrams (van Zeist and Bottema, 1977) indicate moisture conditions for the Jazira and the bordering Zagros Mountains which lasted rather unaltered for the past 6000 years. It is not clear to what extent fluctuations in the average precipitation occurred, but conditions never returned to the much drier environment of the first half of the Holocene. The effect of local pollen producers, mostly grasses, is concluded from the fluctuation of percentages of extraneous tree pollen which decrease in value. In case of peaty sediment there may have been an increase in local vegetation. There still is natural (non-peat) vegetation which produces a considerable amount of grass pollen, as was found in a surface sample of Wadi 'Agig. This border area showed important vegetation regeneration owing to military control and, consequently, the absence of herds and included several grass species (such as Hordeum cf. murinum) and numerous, up to one and a-half-metre high Artemisia scoparia. The latter only makes up 5% of the pollen precipitation, whereas the grasses number 28%. In other cases, Artemisia is overrepresented in the pollen rain (Iglesias, 1998: p. 116). Gremmen and Bottema (1991) concluded from the rising values for several plantain (Plantago) species that grazing pressure must have increased. This is also concluded from the appearance of pollen of the genus Haplophyllum, which members are reported to be "pungently and odorous herbs" (Townsend and Guest, 1980: p. 456). Pollen of inedible plants may increase in a relative way, because the edible plants are grazed away, but it can also increase in absolute numbers when pollen-producing plants occupy the empty space where other plants have been eaten. Finally, an increase in grazing pressure may be indicated by the occurrence of sand in the clay sediment as well. Reducing of the vegetation cover may have caused more erosion, either by aeolian transport or by water. It is concluded that during the past 6000 years no fundamental environmental changes took place in the Mesopotamian lowlands or in the Zagros Mountains apart from increasing human impact. Eventual changes in animal and crop husbandry in the area were related to cultural, economic and socio-political developments. Increasing exploitation pressure to complete over-exploitation resulted in the replacement of specific vegetation types. Correcting measures might have been taken to control the changes, but this was often impossible. The archaeobotanical information In this section it will be seen to what extent information can be obtained from the plant taxa of Bronze Age sites in northern Mesopotamia. These sites can be clustered into four groups. Two groups of settlements are located in the main valley of the Euphrates. Korucutepe and Tepecik belong to the Turkish part of the valley, whereas es-Sweyhat, Hadidi and Selenkahiye are located in the more southern Syrian part. The other sites are located in the valleys of two tributaries. Tell Harnmam and Tell Sabi Abyad are located in the upper part of the Balikh valley. The last group of sites is located in the Khabur valley: Tell Bderi and Tell al-Raqa'i in the middle part, and Tell Schech Hamad in the lower part. Especially those plant species which are known to be unsuitable for human consumption but which may be indirectly connected with arable farming, for instance in the form of weeds, will be tested for their ecological information. Their ecological validity may be of interest for the definition of the surrounding territory and may also be indicative of the way the seed arrived in the archaeological site. The distribution of the

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various plant species over northern Mesopotamia will be followed to see whether differences appear. The distribution may be connected with the difference in ecological conditions such as precipitation, temperature or soil. Characteristics have been collected and briefly listed in appendix 1. On the basis of the properties described in appendix 1, plants are grouped in appendix 2 according to the indication of farming activity. The sites of Selenkahiye, Tell Hammam et Turlunan and Hadidi were intensively sampled and analysed (Van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres, 198511988). During the excavation of es-Sweyhat, samples for botanical examination were collected with the naked eye by the director of the excavation, Dr. T. A. Holland, (Van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres, 198511988). These samples provided sufficient information on cultivated plants, but wild plant species proved to be under-represented. Fortunately, new data from this site became recently available in a study by Miller (1997). With respect to the cultivated plants, records from both Van Zeist and Miller are presented, whereas for the wild plant species only Miller's results are used. Additional information on the taxa found in the sites of Tell Bderi, Tell Schech Hamad and Tell al-Raqa'i is given by Van Zeist (in press). The Turkish sites of Korucutepe and Tepecik were excavated in connection with the Keban Dam project. Obviously, the informative potential of the latter sites is lower compared to the Syrian sites mentioned first. The Mesopotamian agro-botanical results were presented in a paper on "Plant Cultivation in Ancient Mesopotamia: the Palynological and Archaeological Approach" during the Berlin meeting of the 41e RAI (1994) (Van Zeist and Bottema, 1999). In that paper the ratios of barley and wheat in 33 prehistoric sites are discussed in order to trace the effect of salinisation. Unfortunately, the way the southern Mesopotamian sites are sampled is altogether inadequate for the retrieval of suitable amounts of non-agricultural herbs, so they have no value for a proper ecological comparison attempted in this study. CHARACTERISTICS OF PLANTS FOUND IN NORTH MESOPOTAMIAN BRONZE AGE SITES

The finds from the Bronze Age sites from northern Mesopotamia number 208 taxa. They include a wide variety of cultivated plants that is summarised in table 1. The results from Van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres (1988) and Miller (1997) with respect to Sweyhat have been combined as the former study almost exclusively deals with pure crop samples, with only a few wild species present. It is shown that both barley (Hordeum vulgare) and wheat (Triticum monococcum, T. dicoccum andor T. aestivum/durum) are found in most sites. Millet (Panicum miliaceum) has only been evidenced in Schech Hamad. Pulses are well represented and include grass pea (Lathyrus sativus), lentil (Lens culinaris), pea (Pisum sativum), bitter vetch (Vicia ewilia) and chickpea (Cicer arietinum). The impressive number of fruit trees shows that in addition to field crops, gathering food from the wild or from cultivated trees nearby the settlements supplemented the diet with a wide variety of edible plant products. The following fruit-bearing trees and shrubs have been recorded: fig (Ficus), olive (Olea europaea), pine tree (Pinus sp.), pistachio (Pistacia), mahaleb cherry (Prunus mahaleb), blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), pomegranate (Punica granatum), hawthorn (Crataegus), brambles (Rubus), caper bush (Capparis spinosa), melon (Cucumis melo), and grape (Vitis). Oil and fibre plants are represented by gold-of-pleasure (Camelina sativa), safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), flax (Linum usitatissimum) and sesame (Sesamum indicum).

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A last category concerns spices and condiments and is only represented by Hammam et-Turkman: coriander (Coriandrum sativum), fennel (Foenicuhm vulgare), hyssop (Hyssopus) and fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum). About 85% of the taxa are considered as wild plant species, although it cannot be ruled out that they still include some plant species that might have been purposely collected or grown. Table 2 shows the distribution of the wild plant taxa over the investigated sites per period in relation to the level of identification. The number of taxa per site and period varies from 10 to 87 with an average number of 53. Families most frequently recorded are the pea family (Leguminosae: 13x) and the grass family (Gramineae: 1lx). The most frequently recorded genera are: bedstraw (Galium: 13x), mayweed (Medicago: 1lx), canary grass (Phalaris: 1lx), Eremopyrum (I lx), goat's-face grass (Aegilops: 1lx), catchfly (Silene: 1lx) and milk vetch (Astragalus: 1lx). On average, less than one third of the taxa could be identified to the level of species, including some taxa that consist of a well-defined cluster of species. These taxa are specified in table 3 and include possible progenitors of domesticated plants. From this overview it is obvious that some sites are well represented whereas others are represented by a few species only, or, in the case of Korucutepe, even lack identifications on a species level. The small number of species might be the result of the limited sample volumes that were available for research, as was the case for Bderi and Tepecik. Another reason might be that samples proved to be severely cleaned from weed species, such as the almost pure samples from Bronze Age Sabi Abyad. Samples from Selenkahiye, on the other hand, proved to be rich in identifiable plant remains offering a detailed basis for an ecological interpretation (Van Zeist and Bakker-Heeres, 1988). CLUSTERING OF INFORMATION

To explore the composition of the wild species of the sites, a correspondence analysis was carried out. With this kind of analysis it is possible to reduce the complexity of the data matrix. The analysis is based on presencelabsence, primarily for practical reasons as no quantitative data have been published for Bronze Age Sabi Abyad. A quantitative analysis can be more informative, although large differences in seed production of wild plant species may obscure the outcome. In such a case a data transformation should be applied. Because the record of Korucutepe yielded no identifications on a species level, this site is not included in the correspondence analysis. The results have been plotted in two separate figures. Fig. 7 shows the ordination diagram of the nine sites, in which the composition of Hadidi and Hammam et-Turkman are presented separately for the Early, Middle or Late Bronze Age. Each dot represents the mean species scores of all species from that particular site and period. Obviously, Tepecik and Hadidi (Late Bronze) have the most individual species composition. Tepecik takes up an isolated position, which can be attributed to the presence of Solanum nigrum. The same is true for Late Bronze Hadidi, which in turn is determined by Chenopodium murale and Malcolmia africana. The ordination diagram of the species is shown in fig. 8. For reasons of visibility, not all the species are shown in the cluster beneath the origin of the axes. Each species is abbreviated with eight letters, the first three referring to the genus and the next four to the specific epithets. If this pattern is compared with the ecological information of these species, it can be concluded that there is no clear clustering of ecologically related species.

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PALYNOLOGICAL AND ARCHAEOBOTANICAL EVIDENCE

Several explanations can be put forward for the absence of a more distinct clustering. First of all, it should be kept in mind that this analysis is based only on the presence or absence of wild plant species identified to the level of species. Although a quantitative analysis might produce a more distinct clustering, it should be realised that differences still are based on a limited number of species and, moreover, that differences in seed numbers of wild plant species are by definition not correlated with species abundance. Wild species differ basically in this respect from, for example, cereals. In the case of cereals proportions can be based on either seed counts or the number of rachis internodes, although in the latter case a correction with respect to the average number of flowers per internode has to be taken into account. Both the charred mode of preservation and the incompleteness of reference collections hamper the identification of wild species. A reliable identification to the level of species is only possible if all potential candidates can be considered. Extensive Near Eastern reference collections, such as available in the Groningen Institute of Archaeology, nevertheless still lack many rare species. This seriously hampers identification beyond genus level and, therefore, the need for even more reference material from the Near East is felt. Especially well preserved plant remains that are only identified to the level of genus or family will represent species that belong to the Near Eastern vegetation. Revealing their identity may give expression to the varied exploitation of Mesopotamia. Besides identification problems, the cleaning of cereal samples is partly responsible for the low number of weeds, as could be demonstrated for samples from both Tell Hammam and Tell Sabi Abyad (Van Zeist, in press). The weed composition of the samples from Selenkahiye in particular contrasts sharply with this low frequency. The location of all sites in the same drainage area may also obscure potential differences between the clusters of sites. Scirpus maritimus and Polygonum corrigioloides, for example, are plants with a riverine distribution in these areas. S. maritimus is a common species native to Eurasia and Africa, and is present in the subfossil records of Tepecik (Turkish part of the Euphrates), Selenkahiye and Hadidi (Syrian part of the Euphrates), Tell Harnrnam and Tell Sabi Abyad (Balikh Valley) and Tell al-Raqa'i (Khabur Valley). P. corrigioloides, on the other hand, is considered as an endemic species recorded from the environment of Meyadine, where the Balikh river meets the Euphrates, and the surroundings of Baghdad (Mouterde, 1966). Obviously, this plant species has been attested from both Tell Bderi and Tell al-Raqa3i in the middle part of the Khabur Valley. Another problem is the indicative value of species in an archaeobotanical context. As plant remains often become mixed up in an archaeological context, it is often difficult to correlate weed species with a particular crop species. As far as species indicative of irrigation are considered, it has to be realised that irrigation might have been limited to the valleys proper, as was and still is the case in for example the upper part of the Balikh Valley. Rainfall enables dry farming, but would only have been sufficient for the cultivation of more drought resistant crops such as barley. Evidence for irrigation in the Balikh Valley during the Bronze Age stems from written sources and is also inferred from a shift to naked wheat (Van Zeist, in press). Even plants that do not grow alongside streams or are not primarily adapted to water dispersal are subjected to riverine transport, which may result in a certain homogeneity. Flat riverbanks may provide suitable threshing areas, as was recently observed, for example, in Demirci (Central Anatolia). Huge quantities of cereals are brought from all

over the area to grassland along the river, which is flooded during winter times. In this way, many seeds of field weeds will be transported downstream. Finally, part of the wild plant species cannot be considered as arable weeds but originate from the grass steppe and are probably brought to the settlement via animal dung. Examples of such species are Alyssum alyssoides, Bromus sterilis and Trifolium pratense.

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Appendix 1 DESCRIPTION

In this section a short description of the wild plant species is given which is presented in table 2. The ecology of each species is briefly described, with special reference to the habitat. Alkanna strigosalcf. hirsutissima: shrub-steppe and cornfields (Davis, 1965-1988, vol. 6:423). Alyssum alyssoides: grazed by domestic animals in open steppe. Ammi majus: perennial in fields, waste places and along ditches (Davis, 1965-1988, vol. 4:427). Androsace maxima: (Davis, 1965-1988, vol. 6:111) cultivated or fallow fields: gravel sands, clay steppe, annual. Amebia decumbens: on stony, volcanic hillocks (Davis, 1965-1988, vol. 4:313). Amebia linearifolia: fields, waste places (Davis, 1965-1988, vol. 4:3 13). Bromus danthoniae: dry grassy mountain slopes, hillsides and fields in the steppe, silty depressions and sandy or gravelly places in wadis, weed in irrigated fields in the subdesert (Townsend and Guest, 1966-1985, vol. 9:136-141). Bromus sterilis: annual (biennial) grass which is considered good grazing, in oak forest on limestone, by stream in shade of Juglans, wet waste land, in irrigated orchard. Buglossoides awensis (Lithospermum awense): ruderal, segetal weed, not related to ground water (Davis, 1965-1988, vol. 6). Buglossoides tenuifZora (Lithospermum tenuiflorum): limestone slopes, stony places (Davis, 1965-1988, vol. 4:316). Bupleurum subovatum = lancifolium: open dry habitat, secondarily as segetal weed. (Davis, 1965-1988, vol. 4:399).

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Carex divisa: perennial, along irrigation canals and streams, under trees, red marley banks in valleys, grazed by animals (Townsend and Guest, 1966-1985, vol. 8:396), hayed before flowering.

Peganum harmala: along desert tracks, around encampments near wells, on rubbish heaps in villages and disturbed soil near ancient ruins and graveyards, indicator of human settlements, also along wadis in the desert, weed in fields in the steppe (Townsend and Guest, 1966-1985, vol. 4/1:303). Unpalatable herb and nitratophyt (Evenari et al., 1986). A weed or ruderal, nearly always on disturbed ground (Migahid, 1978).

Cephalaria syriaca: fields, waste places (Davis, 1965-1988, vol. 4590). Chenopodium murale: eaten by man and animals, not related to ground water. Roadside, waste places, refuse heaps and irrigated fields (Post and Dinsmore, 193211933). Weed of garden, occasionally seen in desert, especially around old camp sites (Migahid, 1978; Edgecombe, 1970).

Plantago lagopus/ovatdpsyllium: P. lagopus: steppic vegetation; P. ovata: sandy places and deserts; P. psyllium: steppic vegetation, also in fields.

Chenopodium rubrum: often not related to groundwater, in sandy areas connected with groundwater; waste places, cultivated ground.

Polygonum corrigioloides: endemic of the banks of the Euphrates, "moist meadows" along the Balikh (see also P. venantianum, Mouterde, 1996, vol. 1:400).

Euphorbia falcata: large range, also in cultivated and abandoned fields.

Polygonum lapath$olium: disturbed habitats, such as fields, waste places and roadsides.

Glaucium aleppicum/corniculatum: Townsend and Guest, 1980, vol. 412:785) desert plains and dry steppic hills, rather sandy places. G. comiculatum: indicative of silty soils (Evenari et al., 1986). Batha (Mediterranean dwarf-shrub formation) and steppe, rocky ground (Post and Dinsmore, 193211933).

Ranunculus sardous: waste places and grasslands. Indicative of moist soils, related to groundwater.

Hordeum vulgare ssp. distichum: the natural habitat is the steppe, but the plant also occurs as an admixture in barley fields. Lolium perennehigidum: (Townsend and Guest, 1966-1985, vol. 9:93) L. perenne only above 900 m in forest zone. L. rigidum near irrigation canalslseepage, open places in forest/scrub, silty depressions. Not related to groundwater level. L. rigidum a weed of agricultural land, particularly around grain fields; also occasionally found at roadsides or on other disturbed ground (Migahid, 1978).

Polygonum aviculare: disturbed habitats, such as fields, waste places and roadsides.

Reseda alba: steppic plains and sub-desert plains, usually on gravelly or slightly sandy soils (Townsend and Guest, 1980-1985, vol. 9:200-202). Disturbed habitats, such as fields, waste places and roadsides. Rumex pulcher: dunes, roadsides, ditches (Davis, 1965-1988, vol. 2:291). Roadsides and damp places (Post and Dinsmore, 193211933). Salsola laricina: Salsola species are indicative of dry and/or saline habitats. This type may include Noaea species (Van Zeist, in press).

Lolium temulentum: obnoxious weed, young plants edible but generally poisonous by fungus and fatal when consumed. On hillsides and in valleys, in the mountains, a segetal weed in dry foothills and plains. Not related to groundwater.

Scirpus maritimus: near streams, along ditches, edge of swamps, shallow pools from irrigation canal overflow, sometimes in saline places, also weed in rice fields (Townsend and Guest, 1985, vol. 8), indicator of fresh and salt water. Grazed. Requires groundwater table on or over surface level for part of the year. Swampy ground around fresh water in oases (Townsend and Guest, 1966-1985, vol. 8).

Malcolmia (Strigosella) africana: waste places on limestone slopes, dry steppic hills, sandy gravel in wadis, irrigated alluvium along ditches and channels, sandy river banks, weed in fields, among ruins (Townsend and Guest, 1966-1985, vol. 4/2:1032).

Scirpus setaceus: moist surroundings not containing calcium (Mouterde, 1966).

Medicago radiata: hillsides and steppic grasslands, fields on lower mountain slope, valley pastures, silty depressions, clay and gravel (Townsend and Guest, 1966-1985, vol. 3). Nepeta cataria: herb used for flavouring. Not related to groundwater. Neslia paniculata: disturbed habitats, such as fields, waste places and roadsides.

Setaria verticillatdviridis: S. verticillata: waste places, including fields. Moist ground, also along irrigation channels. S. viridis: waste places including fields. Moist ground. Sherardia awensis: meadows, grassy slopes, fields and disturbed soil, sometimes among scrub oak, occasionally on steppic plains, spread with agriculture (Townsend and Guest, 1966-1985, vol. 412). Not connected to groundwater. Solanum nigrum: fields and waste places (Edgecombe, 1970). Weed of farms and gardens (Migahid, 1978). Not connected to groundwater.

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Trachynia distachya: steppe, fields and waste places all over the area. Trifoliumpratense: damp sub-alpine meadows, by mountain streams (at lower altitudes), weed in hill fields and orchards, grazed (Townsend and Guest, 1966-1985, vol. 3). Not connected to groundwater. Trigonella astroites: Artemisia herba-alba steppe, bare Iimestone slopes below tree line, barren degraded steppe (Stipetum capense), sand dunes, in sub-desert (Townsend and Guest, 1966-1985, vol. 3:102). Steppe (Post and Dinsmore, 193211933). Also on cultivated land. Triticum boeoticum: grassland on lower limestone mountain slopes, degraded oak forest and oak shrub (Townsend and Guest, 1966-1985, vol. 9:200-202). Vaccaria pyramidata: indicative of silt soils (Evenari et al., 1986). Weed of croplands. Not connected to groundwater. Valerianella coronata: rocky slopes, open woodlands, fields and roadsides (Davis, 19651988, vol. 4576). Valerianella vesicaria: rocky slopes, fields (Davis, 1965-1988,vol. 4578). Veronica persica: meadows, not connected to groundwater.

Appendix 2 GROUPING OF PLANT SPECIES ACCORDING TO THE INDICATION OF FARMING ACTIVITY

If possible, the plant species were attributed to categories including grazing, weeds in arable land, waste places and irrigation. Certain plant species may be found in more than one group. Plant species which are connected with grazing, fodder: Alyssum alyssoides - Bromus sterilis - Carex divisia - Chenopodium murale - Chenopodium rubrum - Scirpus maritimus - Trifolium pratense - Veronica persica? Plant species attested as weeds in meadows, segetal fields: Alyssum alyssoides - Ammi majus - Androsace maxima - Arnebia linearifolia - Buglossoides awensis - Bupleurum subovatum - Cephalaria syriaca - Chenopodium murale - Lolium rigidum - Lolium temulentum - Malcolmia africana - Medicago radiata - Neslia paniculata - Sherardia awensis - Solanum nigrum - Vaccaria pyramidata - Veronica persica. Plant species connected with waste lands, ruderal places: Buglossoides arvensis Cephalaria syriaca - Chenopodium murale - Chenopodium rubrum - Solanum nigrum Ammi majus - Peganum harmala - Rumex pulcher.

PALYNOLOGICAL AND ARCHAEOBOTANICAL EVIDENCE

51

Plant species connected with irrigation: Bromus sterilis - Carex divisa - Chenopodium murale - Cynodon (dactylon)-Digitaria (sanguinalis) - Malcolmia africana. The ecological grouping has been based upon general information from the literature. One has to keep in mind that the various plant species all are of Near Eastern origin, where they grow in a variation of treeless vegetation. In some way or other human action, farming and other activity did extend or even optimalise the biotope demanded by this selection of the Mesopotamian flora.

Table 1. Presence of cultivated plant species. Abbreviations: SE = Selenkahiye, HA = Hadidi, SW = es-Sweyhat, HT = Harnrnam et-Turkman, SA = Sabi Abyad, RA = al-Raqa'i, SH = Schech Hamad, BE = Bderi, TE = Tepecik, KO = Korucutepe, E = Early Bronze Age, M =Middle Bronze Age, L = Late Bronze Age. [ ] = identification uncertain on genus level; ( ) = identification uncertain on species level. SE E Camelina sativa Capparis spinosa Carthamus tinctorius

HA HA M

L

SW E

HT E

(01

HT M

.

(01

HT L

SA L

RA E

SH L

BE E

TE E

KO E Gold-of-pleasure Caper bush Safflower

Table 2. Number of wild plant species identified to the level of family, genus or species. The category 'others' refers to a combination of genera or to taxa with an uncertain identification to the level of species. In the right-hand column the absolute number for each taxonomic level is given. Abbreviations: SE = Selenkahiye, HA = Hadidi, SW = es-Sweyhat, HT = Harnrnam et-Turkman, SA = Sabi Abyad, RA = al-Raqa'i, SH = Schech Hamad, BE = Bderi, TE = Tepecik, KO = Korucutepe, E = Early Bronze Age, M = Middle Bronze Age, L = Late Bronze Age.

Total number of taxa

I 83

149

134

( 57 187 176 168 126 174 151 141 134

1 10 1 176

Table 3. Presence of wild plant species identified to the level of species or to group of related species. Abbreviations: SE = Selenkahiye, HA = Hadidi, SW = es-Sweyhat, HT = Harnmam et-Turkman, SA = Sabi Abyad, RA = al-Raqa'i, SH = Schech Hamad, BE = Bderi, TE = Tepecik, KO = Korucutepe, E = Early Bronze Age, M = Middle Bronze Age, L = Late Bronze Age.

Peganum harmala Plantago lagopus/ovata~psyllium Polygonum aviculare(-type) Polygonum corrigioloides

. . .

.

.

Table 4: Presence of taxa identified on the level of genus. Abbreviations: SE = Selenkahiye, HA = Hadidi, SW = es-Sweyhat, HT = Hammam et-Turkman, SA = Sabi Abyad, RA = al-Raqa'i, SH = Schech Hamad, BE = Bderi, TE = Tepecik, KO = Korucutepe, E = Early Bronze Age, M = Middle Bronze Age, L = Late Bronze Age.

S. BOTTEMA AND R.T.J. CAPPERS

PALYNOLOGICAL AND ARCHAEOBOTANICAL EVIDENCE

REFERENCES

Alex, M. 198 5

Vorderer Orient. Niederschlagsverla&keit 1:I2000 000, Karte A IV 5. Tubinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden. Cappers, R. T. J. A Palaeoecological Model of the Interpretation of Wild Plant Species, 1995 Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 4, 249-257. Davis, P. H. (ed.) 1965-1988 Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Vol. 1-10. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. Edgecombe, W. S. Weeds of Lebanon. Third edition, American University of Beirut, Lebanon. 1970 Evenari, M., I. Noy-Meir, and D. W. Goodall (eds.) Hot Deserts and Arid Shrubland (= Ecosystems of the World 12B). Elsevier, 1986 Amsterdam. Frey, W. and H. Kiirschner Vorderer Orient. Vegetation 1:8 000 000, Karte A VI 1 Tubinger Atlas des 1989 Vorderen Orients. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden. Gremmen, W. H. E. and S. Bottema Palynological Investigation in the Syrian eazira, 105-117 in H. Kiihne ed., 199 1 Die rezente Umwelt von Tall &h Hamad und Daten zur Umweltrekonstruktion der assyrischen Stadt Dur-katlimmu. Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin. Helbaek, H. 1966a Commentary on the Phylogenesis of Triticum and Hordeum, Economic Botany 20, 350-360. 1966b Pre-pottery Neolithic Farming at Beidha. A Preliminary Report, Palestine Exploration Quaterly 98, 61-66. Hillman, G. C. Interpretation of Archaeological Plant Remains: The Application of 1984 Ethnographic Models from Turkey, 1-41 in W. van Zeist and W. A. Casparie eds., Plants and Ancient Man. Studies in Palaeoethnobotany. Balkema, Rotterdam. Iglesias, M. 1998 Relation ve'ge'tation - pluie pollinique actuelle phytomasse epige'e pe'renne duns les steppes du Sud-Est de 1'Espagne et du Nord-Est du Maroc. Thkse, Toulouse. Migahid, A. M. Flora of Saudi Arabia. Vol. 1-2. Riyadh University Publication. 1978 Milller, N. F. 1997 Sweyhat and Hajji Ibrahim: Some Archaeobotanical Samples from the 1991 and 1993 Seasons, 95-122 in R. L. Zettler, Subsistence and Settlement in a Marginal Environment: Tell es-Sweyhat, 1989-1995, Preliminary Report. MASCA Research Papers in Science and Archaeology 14. Miller, N. F. and T. L. Smart 1984 Intentional Burning of Dung as Fuel: A Mechanism for the Incorporation of Charred Seeds into the Archeological Record, Journal of Ethnobiology 4, 15-28.

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S. BOTTEMA AND R.T.J. CAPPERS

Mouterde, P. NouvellefZore du Liban et de la Syrie. ~ditionsde l'imprimerie catholique, 1966 Beyrouth. Neef, R. and S. Bottema Mest als Bron voor Verkoold Plantaardig Materiaal uit Opgravingen in het 199 1 Nabije Oosten. Waarnemingen en Experimenten, Paleo-Aktueel 2, 72-76. Oates, D. and J. Oates Early Irrigation Agriculture in Mesopotamia, 109-135 in G. de Sieveking et 1976 al. eds., Problems in Economic and Social Archaeology. Duckworth, London. Post, G. E. and J. E. Dinsmore (eds.) 193211933 Flora of Syria, Palestine and Sinai. Vol. 1-2. American Press, Beirut. Straub, R. Vorderer Orient. Boden 1:8 000 000. Karte A I1 6. Tiibinger Atlas des 1988 Vorderen Orients. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden. Townsend, C. C. and E. Guest 1966-1985 Flora of Iraq. Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Republic of Iraq, Baghdad. Zeist, W. van Evidence of Agricultural Change in the Balikh Basin, Northern Syria, 3501999 373 in C. Gosden and J. Hather (eds.), The Prehistory of Food. Appetites for Change. Routledge, London. Comments on Plant Cultivation at Two Sites on the Khabur, Northeastern in press Syria. The Plant Husbandry of Tell al-Raqa'i. in press Zeist, W. van and J. A. H. Bakker-Heeres Prehistoric and Early Historic Plant Husbandry in the Altinova Plain, 1975 Southeastern Turkey, 224-257 in M. N. van Loon ed., Korucutepe. Final Report on the Excavation of the Universities of Chicago, California (L.A.) and Amsterdam in the Keban Reservoir, Eastern Anatolia, 1968-1970, vol. 1. Amsterdam/Oxford. 1982185 Archaeobotanical Studies in the Levant 1. Neolithic Sites in the Damascus Basin: Aswad, Ghoraifk, Ramad, Palaeohistoria 24, 165-256. 1985188 Archaeobotanical Studies in the Levant 4. Bronze Age Sites on the North Syrian Euphrates, Palaeohistoria 27, 247-3 16. Zeist, W. van and S. Bottema Palynological Investigations in Western Iran, Palaeohistoria 19, 19-95. 1977 Plant Cultivation in Ancient Mesopotamia: the Palynological and 1999 Archaeological Approach, 25-41 in H. Klengel and J. Renger eds., Landwirtschaft im alten Orient; ausgewahlte Vortrage der XLI. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Berlin, 4.-8.7.1994 (= BBVO 18), Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin.

PALYNOLOGICAL AND ARCHAEOBOTANICAL EVIDENCE

Fig. 1. 80% Rainfall reliability for Mesopotamia (Alex, 1985). Archaeological site numbers: 1. Tepecik. 2. Korucutepe. 3. Sabi Abyad. 4. Tell Hamman et-Turkman. 5. es-Sweyhat. 6. Hadidi. 7. Selenkahiye. 8. Bderi. 9. al-Raqa'i. 10. Schech Hamad. 11. Bouara.

S. BOTTEMA AND R.T.J. CAPPERS

Fig. 2. Simplified soil map of Mesopotamia after Straub (1988). 1. Solonchaks, saline soils. 2. Calcaric fluvisols, limerich riversediment. 3. Luvisols, clay accumulation. 4. Water. 5. Xerosols, halfdesert soil. 6. Yennosol, desert soil.

PALYNOLOGICALAND ARCHAEOBOTANICAL EVIDENCE

Fig. 3. Simplified vegetation map of Mesopotamia after Frey and Kiirschner (1989). 1. Annual vegetation. 2. Riparian vegetation . 3. Montane woodland. 4. Water. 5. Dwarf-shrubland.

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NTAGO MAG0 NTAGO NTAGO NTAGO

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NTAGO CORONOWS-TYPE

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PALYNOLOGICAL AND ARCHAEOBOTANICAL EVIDENCE

S. BO'ITEMA AND R.T.J. CAPPERS

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Species

TEPECIK

Fig. 7. Correspondence ordination diagram of the nine sites, which contained botanical macro-remains identified to the level of species.

Fig. 6. Main part of the pollen diagram Ib from Zeribar, westem Iran (van Zeist and Bottema, 1977).

S. BOTTEMA AND R.T.J. CAPPERS

PIHANS LXXXVIII, 2000

The Role of Animals in a Neolithic Agricultural System in the Ancient Jazira Chiara Cavallo (Amsterdam) SETUIUE

SOLNIGR

CEPSVRI

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POLLAPR TRIBOEO. SCINARI

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TRIASTRO S~LLIIRI

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SCISETR BRODENT.PLAPSK RESALBA NESPANI

Fig. 8. Correspondence ordination diagram of the species that are indicative of irrigation, grazing and disturbance.

The study of faunal remains is a useful means for reconstructing the patterns of animal exploitation by ancient communities. In recent years Near Eastern archaeology to an increasing degree has shown interest in the animal bones found during archaeological excavations, resulting in the publication of more and more zooarchaeological studies.1 This paper aims to approach the topic of reconstructing ancient agricultural systems from the viewpoint of a zooarchaeologist, emphasizing therefore the information this specialization has to offer in comparison to other specialists, such as archaeologists, philologists, botanists, and geologists, whose contributions were presented during the meeting.2 The case study of Tell Sabi Abyad's Neolithic occupational levels will be used for a reconstruction of the relationship between man and environment, highlighting the potentialities of zooarchaeological research. First, the major research results will be presented, after which, in line with the meeting's main theme, a model of the use of both river valley and steppe by an early agricultural community during the late Neolithic will be suggested. "Agriculture" is intended here as a term including the manipulation and exploitation of plants, that is cultivation, as well as of animals, that is husbandry. ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS

Animal bones represent one of the largest categories of remains found during archaeological excavations. They provide information on the ways of exploitation and consumption of animals by humans. Usually, the deposition of animal bones in archaeological contexts is not accidental. Bones undergo a series of processes of complex origin before they reach the stage in which they are found. The branch of zooarchaeology studying these processes is called taphonomy, a term indicating the passage of organic material from the biosphere to the lithosphere (Efremov 1940:85). The transformational processes involved can be divided into two major groups, those of a diagenetic, or chemical, kind, and those of a anthropogenic nature. Undergoing these processes, the original living animal assemblage is affected by a series of losses until it reaches the stage of the death animal assemblage as it is found during excavations. Zooarchaeologists attempt to reconstruct the original assemblage. See the various volumes on the Proceedings of the international symposia on the archaeozoology of the Near east and adjacent areas (ASWA) (Buitenhuis and Clason 1993; Buitenhuis and Uerpmann 1995; Buitenhuis et al. 1998). I am grateful to Dr. Remko Jas for asking me to participate in the meeting and for his stimulating remarks.

72

THE ROLE OF ANIMALS

C. CAVALLO

Comparatively strong diagenetic processes are typical of Near Eastern faunal samples. Environmental conditions in arid zones impoverish the organic content of the bone, making it rather brittle and fragile, which results, as a consequence, in a rather high fragmentation of the material. Usually it is impossible to identify about 70 percent of the Near Eastern bone assemblages because it consists to a large extent of fragments or splinters. The Neolithic assemblage of Sabi Abyad has shown that the identifiability of the material correlates with the depth of the level in which the bones were found. For the upper levels a very low identifiability of circa 15 percent was ascertained, which steadily increased towards the lowest levels, where about 30 percent of the faunal assemblage could be identified. This indicates that assemblages from deeper levels are better preserved and protected, most likely as a consequence of moister soil conditions and less affecting erosion. Due to a considerable aeolic and alluvial soil deposition, the position of the lowest levels is collocated at circa 4 112 meters under the modem field level, the depth at which natural soil was reached (Wilkinson 1996). When bones are englobed into the soil, they have already been, subjected to other processes of loss and fragmentation caused by biotic destructive agents. After being killed, animals are butchered. Traces of butchering, such as cut- and chop marks are left on the bone surface. Cut marks are the traces most frequently encountered in the Near Eastern assemblages. They are usually localized on the metapodial as a result of skinning, and on the articulation joints where they are caused by dismembering (fig. 1). On articulation joints the cut marks usually are repeated since these joints are covered by numerous ligaments and tendons connecting different bones. Chop marks are rare and related to thick bones, like horn-cores. Traces of chop marks, for example, were found at the base of caprine and gazelle horn-cores (van Wijngaarden - Bakker 1989: 308, fig. x.2.; Cavallo 1996: fig. 9.1 1). In some cases it is possible to observe the result of a heavy blow inflicted mainly on the shaft of long bones for marrow extraction, or, in one case, on the lower part of lower jaw of a pig (fig. 2). These blows result in a semi-rounded flaked breakage (fig. 2, detail). Refuse disposal of bones is the result of the last types of activity to which the animal has been subjected, namely butchering, food preparation or consumption, and, possibly, a ritual use. The rarity of primary (in situ) contexts, however, often hampers the reconstruction of these activities. In most cases the material comes from secondary deposits consisting of refuse that has been discarded outside the area where it has been generated, or from tertiary deposits, in which original processes are mixed up together (Shiffer 1972). Animals themselves may contribute to the destruction of bones before they are incorporated into the soil. The animals most active in this sense are carnivores, especially dogs. They leave signs on the bone surface in the form of irregular pitting and furrowing that are mainly localized on the extremities where soft and more spongy bone is present (fig. 3). The percentage of bones chewed by dogs is often in contrast with that of the actual number of dog bones found on a site. It is even possible that gnawed bones represent the only evidence for the presence of this animal. In the case of Neolithic Sabi Abyad dog remains amounted to only 0.3 percent of the identified bones, while the percentage of gnawing marks observed on the bones of other species varies from to 2 to 23 percent. This could result from a dispositional pattern, in which complete carcasses are left outside the village or inhabited areas. Dogs themselves, however, contrary to modem perception, were the object of exploitation as dead animals as well. Traces of cut marks

73

were found on the shaft of a dog's radius at Neolithic Sabi Abyad (Cavallo 1996: fig. 9.10). Other taphonomic evidence traceable on the bones is evidence due to burning. Burnt bones, however, are not always connected with a human activity such as cooking, or better, roasting. This is the case with partially burnt bones, the flesh of which protected them to some extent from the fire. Calcinated or completely dark brown, small fragments could derive from material accidentally included in fires and in the soil. Homogeneous red-colored bones are common in the Near East as a result of fires taking place in villages that affected the bones already partly or completely incorporated in the soil. Finally, the utilization of bones for instruments or tools cannot be excluded. The taphonornic processes described above were recognized in the Neolithic sample of Sabi Abyad as 2.2 percent of butchering marks, 5.5 percent of burning traces and 4.3 percent of gnawing marks on the most common species (ovicaprids, bovids, suids, gazelle and equids). In addition, worked bones were found. They were made especially from the long bones of small herbivores. Awls are the most abundant tools within the Neolithic assemblage and are usually shaped from metapodias of sheep, goat, or gazelle (fig. 4). PRESENTATION OF THE SITE

The site of Sabi Abyad is situated in the Balikh valley, in northern Syria, at circa 30 kilometers from the modem Syro-Turkish border, in the vicinity of the modern village of Hamrnam et-Turkman. Tell Sabi Abyad, which means 'Mound of the White Boy,' is a mound of circa five hectares large at its base and five to ten metres high, consisting of a group of four smaller mounds that have merged into one. The excavation seasons concentrating on the Neolithic levels were conducted under the direction of Peter M. M. G. Akkermans in the years 1986-88 by the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and in the years 1991-93 by the Netherlands National Museum of Antiquities (RMO) (Akkermans 1996). During these excavations a series of several superimposed levels belonging to a late phase of the Neolithic dated to the second half of the sixth millennium and containing architectural remains of rectangular houses, tholoi, and courtyards from subsequent periods was unearthed. To be exact, 11 levels of occupation have been discovered, which were grouped into three major phases (pre-Halaf, Transitional and Early Halaf) (Verhoeven and Kranendonk 1996). The site, therefore, offered an excellent opportunity for a diachronic study on human-animal relationship within one community and one area. The earliest levels (11-7) of Sabi Abyad belong to an early stage of the Pottery Neolithic and antedate the appearance of the fine, painted ceramics typical of the Halaf culture. They are called therefore pre-Halaf (P) levels and date from 6000-5700 to about 5200 B.C., not calibrated. A transitional stage between the pre-Halaf levels and the earliest Halaf levels is represented by three levels (4, 5 and 6), called Transitional (T). They are dated between 5200-5150 and 5 100 B.C. The latest levels (1,2 and 3) represent the full appearance of Halaf-culture, characterized by a majority of the pottery consisting of carefully manufactured and painted ceramics. They are called Early Halaf (E), because they represent an earlier stadium in comparison with the Halaf periods known from other areas, like Iraq. These levels are dated to 5100-5000 B.C.

74

C. CAVALLO

PRESENTATION OF THE RESULTS

The faunal assemblage, amounting to circa 7,000 identified fragments, is largely dominated by domestic animals (Cavallo 1997a, b). They amount to 94.8 percent (P), 92.5 percent (T) and 96.6 percent (E) of the identified sample in each subsequent phase. The most abundant categories of animals are the ovicaprids (sheep, Ovis aries, and goat, Capra hircus) which cover a percentage of 73.7 percent (P), 68.5 percent (T), 70.6 percent (E), followed by cattle (Bos taurus) with 16.3 percent (P), 15.9 percent (T), 9.8 percent (E) and pigs (Sus domesticus) with 4.3 percent (P), 7.1 percent (T), 15.4 percent (E) in terms of the number of fragments. The faunal assemblage is completed by a rather small percentage of wild animals (5.2 percent P, 7.5 percent T, 3.4 percent E) but with a quite variegated spectrum of species including wild sheep (Ovis orientalis), wild goat (Capra aegagrus), onager (Equus hemionus), aurochs (Bos primigemius), gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa), fallow deer (Duma mesopotarnica), red deer (Cewus elaphus), wild boar (Sus scrofa), striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena), brown bear (Ursus arctos), fox (Vulpes vulpes), and hare (Lepus capensis). In addition we find birds and a few bones of rodents, tortoises, frogs, fishes and mollusks. One of the major results of the analysis of the faunal remains from Sabi Abyad was the evidence for a clear transformation through time of the exploitation of animals, in particular of domestic animals. The transformation of the ovicaprids is mainly visible in the change in their mortality patterns (fig. 5). The pre-Halaf phase shows a concentration of animals slaughtered at the age of three to four years, followed by a gradual decline of older animals that were probably kept for reproduction purposes. This pattern can be interpreted as exploitation of these animals essentially for their meat because they are killed at the moment of a maximum return in terms of meat weight and reproductivity. The age between two-and-a-half and four years represents the moment when rapid growth has ceased and the gain in weight no longer increases proportionally to the fodder input. A change in this pattern occurred in the subsequent later Transitional phase, in which a clear increase of animals slaughtered at a young age, between one and two years, can be detected. This mortality pattern indicates a shift towards an exploitation of these animals for their secondary products such as milk. When milk exploitation is the main goal of ovicaprid husbandry, the mortality pattern is usually characterized by a group of very young animals and by a group of mainly female adults (Payne 1973). Starting from their second winter, ewes have a reproductive life of five to six years, with an average of three years (Bates 1973:147; Cribb 1991). The data suggests that in the Transitional phase sheep were kept until a higher age than in the Early phase. The last phase (the Early Halaf phase) again shows a different pattern, with a concentration of animals killed in a few age categories, namely in the first and the second year and, then, in the third to fourth year. In a certain sense the two previous patterns are fused together. On the one hand the meat exploitation pattern is recognizable in the high percentage of the three to four year age category and in the few older animals. On the other hand the high percentage of young animals of the previous Transitional phase continues as well as the near absence of the two to three year age category, representing animals which would have been killed only one year later, after at least one lambing. The selective killing of two categories, however, could also be interpreted differently, namely that this pattern may represent only part of the original herd, that is, the part exploited and

THE ROLE OF ANIMALS

75

eaten on the site. The remaining herds would have been brought outside, far away from the site, at least for part of the year. For this reason, only certain categories are retrieved from the faunal assemblage from Sabi Abyad. These changes in the ovicaprid mortality patterns could therefore be interpreted as a transformation towards a possible beginning of a more mobile pastoralism. The transformation of cattle in the first instance became visible in a change of size. Neolithic cattle in general are large, which sometimes makes the distinction from the original wild form, the aurochs, difficult. At present, there is little doubt about the domestic status of the bovid remains from (late) Neolithic sites. Full domestic status of the four main husbandry animals as early as PPNB has recently been advocated for the site of Tell Halula, on the Middle Euphrates (Safia Segui 1999). An early stage of cattle domestication is proposed for the mid-sixth millennium site of Tell Aray 2 in the El-Rouj Basin in northwestern Syria (Hongo 1996). A decrease in size was observable on various skeletal elements of the Neolithic bovid material of Sabi Abyad. It is evident in particular in the dimensions (greatest length of the peripheral half and the smallest breadth of the shaft) of the first phalanxes (fig. 6). Large animals belong to the pre-Halaf phase. The Transitional phase shows the largest range of measurements, including large animals of the size of the previous (pre-Halaf) phase as well as some small ones, which could be compared to the small size of the subsequent (Early Halaf) phase. The Early Halaf phase shows the smallest animals with a range similar to that of the pre-Halaf phase. Another transformation of cattle is visible in the change in their mortality patterns towards a general increase of young animals. Most of the information could be gained from the stage of epiphyseal fusion of long bones. In the pre-Halaf phase less than 10 percent of the animal died at a juvenile stage and more than 50 percent survived the subadult and adult age. The presence of one fused and three unfused vertebrae suggests that killing at a high age rarely occurred. The Transitional phase shows an increase of circa 10 percent of individuals killed at a young age combined with a corresponding increase of individuals in the Middle and Late age categories. The Early Halaf phase shows a percentage of young animals killed in the first (youngljuvenile) category similar to that of the pre-Halaf phase, but, in contrast, shows a clear increase of individuals killed before they reached the Middle and Late categories (increase of 43 percent and 23 percent respectively) so that 25 percent of the cattle could reach a fully adult age. In none of the three periods very old animals are present. The transformation of pigs consists of their increase in number during the course of time. They are steadily incorporated in the husbandry economy of the site, especially as a form of meat supply. Pigs are omnivorous and can be fed an extremely large variety of food as well as human refuse. Their constraints are more related to the availability of water and humid environmental and climatic conditions. Their wide range of food resources in combination with high reproduction rates makes pigs suitable for a faster food return in terms of labor and food imput, more advantageous than ovicaprids and even larger herbivores. Pigs, therefore, are almost exclusively exploited for their meat. Fat can be exploited as well; it is mentioned in the Tell Beydar archive where it is used for cleaning wool and skin (Van Lerberghe 1996:112). Summing up the basic results reached on the basis of the data on domestic animals: 1) the increased control on domestic animals shown by a gradual transformation of their

76

77

c . CAVALLO

THE ROLE OF ANIMALS

exploitation and 2) a differentiation in the use of the animals leading to a dichotomy in the exploitation of their products: on the site in the valley animals were exploited mainly for their meat and some herds of sheep and goat were kept, while the upland steppe witnessed an extensive exploitation as grazing grounds for the ovicaprids.

which was dominated by poplar (Populus euphratica), tamarisk (Tamarix sp.), willow shrubs (Salix sp.) and dense reed beds (van Zeist et al. 1988; Gremmen and Bottema 1991:130). The ratio between the two categories of wild animals found at Sabi Abyad varies in the course of the site's occupation, providing evidence for a steady, increasing exploitation of the steppe, as was already suggested in the case of the ovicaprids (fig. 7).

Wild animals, although found at Sabi Abyad in small percentages only, provided relevant information for the reconstruction of the environmental exploitation. According to their preference of habitat, the wild animals found at Sabi Abyad were grouped into two categories: 1) those representative of a dry environment (steppe) and 2) those representative of a moister environment, the more covered area (forest) of willow shrubs, poplar and tamarisk along the river. Onager and gazelle were the main hunted species. Both are typical steppe animals. Today onagers, like other wild equids, live in open, flat and rather dry areas. They can withstand drought and high temperatures. In Iran kulans can tolerate daytime temperatures up to 58' (Groves 1974). Although they usually drink daily, they can survive without water for at least two to three days (Heptner et al. 1966). Their diet varies according to the season and can include 110 taxa, although they prefer to feed on juicy low-growing plants, such as Carex sp., Poa sp. and Stipa sp. (Heptner et al. 1966:849; Groves 1974:102). They can also feed on salty herbaceous plants (Anabasis and Salsola) and shrubs such as Artemisia (ibid.). Gazelles have a similar habitat. Today the goitred gazelles live on gravel plains and limestone plateaus, like the onager with whose herds they have been observed to run (Groves 1974). They feed on 35 to 40 different species of grass and a large variety of shrubs, and on leaves of trees like the pistachio tree (Heptner et al. 1966:537-8). The dwarf scrub, Rhanterium eppaposum, is one of the most important food plants of this species in central Arabia (Harrison 1968:364). Gazelles are also extremely drought and heat resistant and can survive without water for three to seven days (Heptner et al. 1966:538). Besides onager and gazelle, two other species belonging to a dry environment were identified,3 namely the wild sheep -the Asiatic mouflon- and the wild goat. Judging from the numerous remains found on archaeological sites, their ancient geographical dispersion must have been much more southwards than the modern limit of the Taurus mountains in south Anatolia (Uerpmann 1987). Apart from these steppe species a large variety of other game species are indicators of an exploitation of moister environments. Within these species we find red deer, fallow deer and the brown bear as typical forest species, together with the wild boar and aurochs. Today the Duma, or fallow deer, lives in dense impenetrable jungles of white poplar and tamarisk that border the rivers of southwestern Persia and south Mesopotamia (Haltenorth 1959). They are browsers, feeding on young shoots of poplar bushes (Harrison 1968:368). The wild boar, whose omnivorous diet includes rhizomes of aquatic and marsh plants, today mainly lives in dense thickets and reed jungles (Harrison 1968:375-376). Aurochs require a less restricted habitat and are more adaptable to various environments. However, they also demand moister environments compared to the ovicaprids, onager and gazelle, and a habitat with dense continuous vegetation. These species could have found their typical habitat in the riverine forest along the Balikh valley The identification of wild sheep and goat was made according to the morphological characteristics of the horn-cores and to the size of the bones, clearly larger than the rest of the domestic ovicaprids sample (Cavallo 199754-58).

INTERPRETATION

The data presented above could indicate that the Sabi Abyad community towards the last phase of occupation of the site turned more and more into a twofold economy, with part of the population involved in a more mobile pastoralism, favored by the possibility of developing secondary products such as milk, as has been observed in the Transitional phase. Milk products are considered to be a prerequisite for the development of a pastoral economy which usually depends on this type of product (Bar-Yosef and Khazanov 1992:16). The permanent character of the village of Sabi Abyad, however, remains, which is testified by the constant high percentage of domestic animals. The sedentary character of the site furthermore follows from the continuing evidence of crop cultivation and from the architectural features, as well as from the increase of pigs' remains, animals usually associated with sedentary communities. The incidence of cattle remains however decreases, indicating a scarce or more likely absent exploitation of these animals for agricultural purposes. The young age of the cattle and the absence of stress-related pathological deformations or anomalies on the bones point in this direction as well (Bartosiewicz et al. 1997). Other archaeological evidence seems to suggest that already during the Transitional phase part of the Sabi Abyad population was not permanently present at the village. The numerous seals concentrated in a few rooms of a storage building from level 6 (Transitional phase) provide evidence of storage of goods and of devices of property control (Akkermans and Duistermaat 1997). The size of the possible containers, the number and type of impressions, and the concentration in a limited area of the village led the excavators to suppose that these goods did not belong to people living in the village, for whom this kind of control would not be necessary, but to people not permanently present at the village, these people being part of the nomadic population. The detailed analysis of the architectural space and of the distribution of the finds reflects a constant formal and functional duality, which would be the reflection of two distinct social and economic groups, the sedentarian agriculturists and the mobile (nomadic) pastoralists (Verhoeven 1996). The twofold economy that would have characterized Sabi Abyad becomes even more evident from the occupation of the valley during the subsequent late Halafian period, in the first half of the fifth millennium. This period is distinguished by larger, permanently occupied sites with a scattered number of small, briefly occupied sites. Sites like Khirbet esh-Shenef, with two phases of occupation divided by a modest erosion level, or Damishliyya, with a very small area of occupation devoid of archaeological features, show evidence of small-scale and repeated occupation (Akkermans 1993). These sites might have functioned as small-scale agricultural sites or as purely pastoral camps (Damishlliyya) that were more specialized in different degrees in pastoral activities than

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the larger, permanently occupied sites. The location of some of these sites on the edge of the steppe-valley in combination with a more mobile character of the population would lead to a major exploitation of wild steppe fauna. The high percentage of wild animals retrieved would also indicate this: at Khirbet esh-Shenef wild animals make up 36 percent of the identified assemblage while at Shams ed-Din more than half of the assemblage (54 percent) consists of wild animals (Hendrichs 1990; Uerpmann 1982).

of animal husbandry for the ancient population of Sabi Abyad. According to the risk reduction model developed by Halstead and O'Shea (1989) there are four basic responses to food scarcity deriving from risk and uncertainty: diversification, mobility, storage, and exchange. Concerning the animals, diversification and mobility are the most applicable forms to the case of Sabi Abyad. Diversification would consist in the first instance of different types of products derived from the domestic animals, such as milk in addition to meat. Pastoralism can be considered a form of diversification as well, especially if we consider pastoralism as a form of exploitation of a wider environment including different types of environments, as seems to have been especially the case during the last phases of occupation of Tell Sabi Abyad. A third form of diversification is represented by hunting, which, like pastoralism, is characterized by a rather high degree of mobility. Hunting represents diversification not only in enlarging the variety of species, but also as another form of environmental exploitation in addition to husbandry. Therefore, both hunting and husbandry are indications of (increasing) use of the steppe as an integrated part of the economy of the site. In addition, the study of the wild species would suggest that hunting was concentrated in a certain part of the year. Results of the analysis of the dentition of the gazelle would indicate that they were killed mainly in fall and winter. Most of the species of birds identified are winter visitors. At this point it can be tried to reconstruct a kind of economic calendar in which the steppe can be regarded as an integrated part of the agricultural system, explaining the nature and the degree of the integration of crop and livestock. The analysis of the botanical remains indicates that at Sabi Abyad dry farming was practiced (Van Zeist and Waterbolk-van Rijn 1989, 1996). It was based on cereal cultivation, mainly of emmer wheat, followed by einkorn and, to a lesser extent, by barley. These are winter crops, which are nowadays harvested in early spring while the fields are sown in autumn as soon as the rains start (Lewis 1988:688). Spring would represent the period of most activities around the village, like harvesting, lambing and consequent exploitation of dairy products as well as the slaughtering of the young animals. Hunting would have taken place in autumn and winter, when, on the one hand more prey is available, and, on the other hand, people are free from land labor and pastoralism. In this scenario it is easy to understand that cultivation and animal husbandry, though taking different directions within the landscape and the society, were integrated parts of a common agricultural system.

Different reasons can underlie the economical transformations within the Halaf community. The nature of the analyzed material leads to an emphasis on the role of a possible degradation of the environment. This argument is supported by the culling pattern of the ovicarpid sample of the Transitional phase, which could also be partly interpreted as the result of a herd-security strategy. Redding (1981:204) points out that the age of six months to two years is the optima1 age for slaughter in case the security of the herd is more important than the maximization of its energy (that is, exploitation mainly for its meat). In the same Transitional period there is a slight increase in hunting as well as in the number of species hunted. This, combined with an increase of goats in the later Early Halaf phase, might be a response to a crisis period of low animal feeding resources which might have been resolved by moving part of the ovicaprid herds away from the site. On the other hand, an increase in human population, which took place in the valley towards the end of the sixth and beginning of the fifth millennium and which is reflected in a development of settlements, is elsewhere emphasized (Akkermans 1993:l86ff.). The two explanations, an environmental one and a demographic one, are, however, closely linked. A degradation of the areas around the site due to overexploitation, both through farming and grazing, could have been worsened by the increased pressure on agricultural yields due to a larger population demand. Intensification of agricultural production without an adequate repletion of the soil moisture and organic nutrients would lead to a rapid exhaustion of the soil (see Wilkinson, this volume). In addition, we cannot avoid taking the geographical location of the site into consideration when trying to define the characteristics of the region. The Balikh valley is located in a semi-arid area of steppe. The present climatic conditions of the area are characterized by a pronounced aridity with a low annual precipitation averaging little more than 300 mm. Precipitation is characterized by a large variation not only during the year (summer-winter), but also in the course of different years. The isohyet of 250mm, which is considered the limit of rain-fed agriculture, may vary extremely as a consequence of a few subsequent dry years from the middle of the Balikh valley northwards, until the entire region is outside the range of rain-fed agriculture (Wirth 1971: maps 3 and 4). According to pedological research the limit of this isohyet was approximately five kilometers south of Sabi Abyad (Wilkinson 1996). The location of the line still was reflected in the pattern of the settlement distribution of the valley in the nineteenth century. The majority of the population was concentrated in the north-western part of the valley, while the southern, more arid part where agriculture necessitated irrigation was virtually devoid of permanent sites and was occupied by Bedouins living in tent villages (Lewis 1988:688). The characteristic of an extreme sensitivity to climatic fluctuations in combination with the crucial position of the site in this marginal area on the border of the dry farming zone could therefore have caused a high degree of risk in crop failures or in the intensity

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REFERENCES

Akkermans P. M. M. G. Villages in the Steppe: Later Neolithic Settlement and Subsistence in the 1993 Balikh Valley, Northern Syria, Ann Arbor. Tell Sabi Abyad - The Late Neolithic Settlement, Istanbul. 1996 Akkermans, P. M. M. G. and K. Duistermaat Of Storage and Nomads: The Sealings from the Late Neolithic Sabi Abyad, 1997 Syria, Pale'orient: 2212, 17-44. Akkermans P. M. M. G and M. Verhoeven An Image of Complexity: The Burnt Village at Late Neolithic Sabi Abyad, 1995 Syria, American Journal of Archaeology 9911, 5-32. Bartosiewicz L., W. van Neer and A. Lentacker Draught Cattle: Their Osteological Identification and History, Tervuren. 1997 Bar-Yosef 0 . and A. Khazanov Pastoralism in the Levant: Archaeological Materials iiz Anthropological 1992 Perspectives, Madison. Buitenhuis H. and A. T. Clason Archaeozoology of the Near East, Leiden. 1993 Buitenhuis H. and H.-P. Uerpmann Archaeozoology of the Near East 11, Leiden. 1995 Buitenhuis H., L. Bartosiewicz and A. M. Choyke Archaeozoology of the Near East 111, Groningen. 1998 Cavallo C. The Animal Remains - A Preliminary Account, 475-520 in P. M. M. G. 1996 Akkermansed., Tell Sabi Abyad: The Late Neolithic Settlement, Istanbul. 1997a Animals in the Steppe - A Zooarchaeological Analysis of Later Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Amsterdam. 1997b Animal Remains Enclosed in Oval Clay Objects from the "Burnt Village" of Tell Sabi Abyad, Northern Syria, Anthropozoologica 25-26, 663-670. Efremov I. A. Taphonomy: A New Branch of Palaeontology, Pan-American Geologist 74, 1940 81-93. Gremmen W. H. E. and S. Bottema Palynological Investigations in the Syrian Gazira, 105-116 in H. Kiihne ed., 1991 Die rezente Umwelt von Tall St?b Hamad und Daten zur Umweltrekonstruktion der assyrischen Stadt Dur-katlimmu, Berlin. Groves C. P. Horses, Asses and Zebras in the Wild, Hollywood, Fla. 1974 Halstead P. and J. O'Shea. Introduction, 1-7 in P. Halstead and J. O'Shea eds., Bad year economics: 1989 cultural responses to risk and uncertainty, Cambridge. Haltenorth T. Beitrag zur Kenntnis des Mesopotamischen Damhirsches-Cewus (Duma) 1959 mesopotamicus Brooke, 1875- und zur Stammes- und Verbreitungsgeschichte der Darnhirsche allgemein, Saugetierkundliche Mitteilungen 7, 1-89. Harrison D. L. The mammals of Arabia, vol. 11: Carnivora - Artiodactyla - Hyracoidea, 1968 London.

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Hendrichs U. 1990 De dierresten van Khirbet esh-SheneJ een Laat-Halaf vindplaats in NoordSyrie, MA Thesis IPP, University of Amsterdam. Heptner V. G., A. A. Nasimovi and A. G. Bannicov 1966 Die Saugetiere der Sowjetunion, Band I: Paarhufer und Unpaarhufer, Jena. Hongo H. 1996 Faunal Remains from Tell Aray 2, Northwestern Syria, PalLorient 2211, 125144. Lewis N. 1988 The Ballkh Valley and its People, 683-695 in M. N. van Loon ed., Hammam et-Turkman I, vol. 2, Istanbul. Redding R. W. 198 1 Decision Making in Subsistence Herding of Sheep and Goats in the Middle East, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan. Saiia Segui M. Arqueologia de la domesticacidn animal - La gestidn de 10s recursos 1999 animales en Tell Halula (Valle del ~ufrates- Siria) del 8.800 a1 7.000 BP, Treballs d'Arqueologia del Pr6xim Orient, I, Barcelona. Shiffer M. B. Archaeological Context and Systemic Context, American Antiquity 37, 1561972 165. Uerpmann H. P. Faunal Remains from Shams ed-Din Tannira, a Halafian Site in Northern 1982 Syria, Berytus 30, 3-52. The Ancient Distribution of Ungulate Mammals in the Middle East, Beihefte 1987 zum Tiibinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients A, 27, Wiesbaden. Van Lerberghe K. The Livestock, 107-117 in F. Ismail et al., Administrative Documents from 1996 Tell Beydar (Subartu 2), Turnhout. Verhoeven M. Excavation at Tell Sabi Abyad, a Later Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Village in the 1994 Balikh Valley, Northern Syria, Orient Express 1, 9-12. 1999 An Archaeological Ethnography of a Neolithic Community: Space, Place and Social Relations in the Burnt Village at Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria, Istanbul. Verhoeven M. and P. Kranendonk The Excavations: Stratigraphy and Architecture, 25-118 in P. M. M. G. 1996 Akkermans ed., Tell Sabi Abyad - The late Neolithic settlement, Istanbul. Wijngaarden-Bakker L. H. van 1989 The Animal Remains from Tell Sabi Abyad -Square P14, 301-323 in P. M. M. G. Akkermans ed., Excavations at Tell Sabi Abyad - Prehistoric Investigations in the Balikh Valley, Northern Syria, B.A.R. International Series 468, Oxford. Wilkinson T. J. 1996 Sabi Abyad: The Geoarchaeology of a Complex Landscape, 1-24 in P. M. M. G. Akkermans ed., Tell Sabi Abyad - The Late Neolithic Settlement, Istanbul. Wirth, E. 1 Syrien. Eine geographische Landeskunde, Darmstadt.

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Zeist, W. van and W. Waterbolk-van Rooijen Plant Remains from Tell Sabi Abyad, 325-335 in P. M. M. G . Akkermans 1989 ed., Excavations at Tell Sabi Abyad - Prehistoric Investigations in the Balikh Valley, Northern Syria, B.A.R. International Series 468, Oxford. The Cultivated and Wild Plants, 521-550 in: P. M. M. G. Akkermans ed., 1996 Tell Sabi Abyad - The Late Neolithic Settlement, Istanbul. Zeist W. van, W. Waterbolk-van Rooijen and S. Bottema Some Notes on the Plant Husbandry of Tell Hammam et-Turkman, 705-715 1988 in M. N. van Loon ed., Hammam et-Turkman I, Istanbul, Appendix 2.

Fig. 1. Humerus of sheep with cutmark (photo: M. IJdo, IPPJAAC University of Amsterdam).

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Fig. 2a. Suid lower jaw with a blow inflicted on its lower part (photo: M. IJdo, IPPIAAC University of Amsterdam).

Fig. 4. Awl made from an ovicaprid metapodial (photo: M. IJdo, IPP/AAC University of Amsterdam). Fig. 3. Femur of onager with gnawing marks (photo: M. IJdo, IPPIAAC University of Amsterdam).

Fig. 2b. Detail.

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Early Halaf

30 25 20 %15

10 5 0 5 sherds) (Table 2). These designations may be related to the size and occupational stability (longterm vs. short-term occupation) of settlements (Horne 1993, 1994). Site size estimates are based on paced measurements and site sketches. Most site areas were calculated using a simple formula for the area of an oval: (length/width/2)1. On large, multi-component sites, settlement areas for each period are estimated based on the extent of diagnostic ceramics relative to mound subdivisions. For sites measuring less than 1 ha, the entire site area was used for each period.

Problems and limitations of survey data For analysis of the spatial patterning of archaeological remains there exist a number of analytical techniques borrowed and adapted from human geography. Common methods employed here for identifying and interpreting settlement patterns include analyses that emphasize synchronic patterning, such as the gravity model of interaction (Alden 1979; Haggett 1965:35-40; Johnson 1977:481-487; Plog 1976), reconstruction of hypothetical territories based on Thiessen (or Voronoi) polygons (Boots 1986, Grant 1986), and rank-size analysis (e.g., Crumley 1976; Hodder 1979; Johnson 1980, 1981; Pearson 1980). Methods that highlight diachronic patterning include the comparison of these patterns through time and the determination of demographic trends based on site size and population estimates and continuity of settlement location.

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The most fundamental source of potential error in the analysis of settlement patterns is the coverage and reliability of the survey dataset. This is directly related to variable preservation and visibility of sites and components on sites, as well as to survey methodology. In the present case, because the survey procedure started with "threedimensional" landscape features recognized through remote sensing, we may expect that some low-lying or "two-dimensional" artifact scatters have been missed. As noted above, Wilkinson's intensive pedestrian survey along stretches of the Balikh River in the microregion of Tell Sabi Abyad and Tell Hammam et-Turkman has revealed several lowmounded sites that were not visible on the aerial photographs. Likewise, according to Wilkinson's (1996, 1998) geomorphological and pedological information, low site visibility due to aggradation along the Balikh River and its tributaries suggests that sites in these areas may be missing from the regional dataset. Sites potentially missing from this dataset are probably rather small in size and may be characterized by low occupational stability, i.e. short-term or seasonal habitation. All but one or two sites discovered along the Balikh River north of Tell Hammam et-Turkman in the area intensively surveyed by Wilkinson are smaller than one hectare in area. That all such sites are not missing from the survey record, however, is indicated by site BS-86, a very low site that was identified in 1983 in the cotton fields surrounding Tell es-Seman (BS-83). Discovery of this site suggests that survey coverage around large sites was more intensive than in empty areas or areas of low site density, another biasing process. The geomorphological study of Wilkinson (1996, 1998) allows us to divide the survey area into zones of varying degrees of visibility. Generally, good visibility is restricted to the terraces to the east and west of the river valley. Here, smaller sites and landscape features such as hollow ways, canals, areas of upcast, and off-site sherd scatters are visible on the surface. Areas of low or poor archaeological visibility are restricted to the flood plain of the Balikh and its tributaries, which, for the most part, occur on the east side of the valley. Moderate visibility characterizes the valley north of Tell Hammam et-Turkman (BS-175). To the south, however, in the broad plain around Tell es-Seman (BS-83), the entire width of the valley is characterized by low visibility. South of there, where the valley narrows before approaching the Euphrates, visibility improves and small sites should be visible if present. The potential under-representation of small sites (i.e., less than one hectare) should not effect the reconstruction of general settlement patterns, such as the division of the valley into territories around larger village sites with Thiessen polygons. Likewise, the accuracy of gravity model analysis might not be severely effected because small sites "weigh" less and frequently occur within interaction "plateaus" around larger sites. According to Johnson (1987), rank-size curves excluding sites measuring less than one hectare may be relatively accurate reflections of settlement systems. Rank-size curves

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typically fall-off steeply below one hectare, which Johnson (1987: 109) suggests may reflect the size below which "settlement economic viability decreases rapidly" or the size below which the scale of agricultural productivity or cooperative requirements are not relevant to the regional economic system, security, or administrative requirements. The under-representation of small sites, however, will bias our view of microregional patterning within site catchment areas, and the size and distribution of dispersed or rural settlement.

spring of 'Ain al-'Aris 4 km south of the modem Syro-Turkish border. In this sense, "the Balikh valley forms a distinct geographical and ecological unit located entirely within our area of survey" (Akkermans 1993:139). In such an arid environment, hydrological and climatic conditions will have determined to a large extent the distribution of prehistoric settlements in the valley. As noted above, rainfall data and landscape characteristics suggest that rainfed cultivation was only possible in the northern portion of the valley, and that irrigation was necessary for the cultivation of crops further south (e.g., Wilkinson 1998; Beaumont 1996). That being the case, we might expect distinct settlement patterns in the two portions of the valley (cf. Beaumont 1996; Lewis 1988). For example, settlements dependent on irrigation systems should tend to be located along the river or canals tapping the river, whereas settlement in the dry-farming zone may be more dispersed, perhaps depending more on access to and the quality of soils. Likewise, dependence on irrigation systems may dictate a certain level of cooperation between settlements concerning maintenance of canals and allocation of water supplies. These possibilities were already recognized by Akkermans, who suggested that within the Balikh valley, "social units or polities may divide the valley in coherently organized regional units" (Akkermans 1993:7).

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Another difficulty that has featured prominently in the spatial literature is the problem of using site size to estimate population levels. Related to this is the relation between population levels and functional size, or the number and range of goods and services available at a specific site. Ethnoarchaeological research generally confirms a direct relationship between site size and population, although with a few caveats (e.g., Kramer 1980, 1982; Sumner 1989). Such research in Iran suggests that population density may be significantly different in small and large settlements (Kramer 1980), local environmental conditions must be considered, and the age of a settlement may also be a significant determinant of variations in population density. The correlation between population and range of available functions or functional size has been generally confirmed by research in human geography (Haggett 1965:101-107), but pre-capitalist and special-purpose sites may not be so categorized. Joan Oates (1977:106), for example, notes that for Assyrian capitals, documentary evidence shows that a correlation between size, importance, and the number of "service functions" cannot be made. Similarly, frontier settlement systems may contain special-purpose frontier towns where far more goods and services would be concentrated than would be expected from size correlations (Lewis 1984). Finally, we must address problems with the correlation between survey regions and past cultural, political, or economic regions and territories. Related to this are the determination of an appropriate scale for regional investigation (determining system boundaries) and the fit between the scale of inquiry and the variable scales of past political, economic, and social systems. Due to the fact that the size of an area of investigation is largely determined by logistics and modern political boundaries that have very little to do with past systems, it is unlikely that survey units will contain a complete settlement system (Paynter 1983:253-255). To address these kinds of concerns Crurnley (1979; and Marquardt and Crumley 1987) introduced the concept of effective scale, which refers to any scale at which pattern may be recognized and meaning inferred. Recently, LuAnn Wandsnider (1998) has applied the related concept of "landscape elements" (Forman and Godron 1986) in the identification of regions and the investigation of regional scale processes. Landscape elements are spatial units that contain distinct amounts and distributions of energy, materials, and species. Wandsnider suggests partitioning the landscape into "landscape elements that are sensitive to the prehistoric processes and conditions we hope to understand," and then "examining archaeological materials with respect to these landscape elements" (Wandsnider 1998:97). As for the survey data at hand, Akkermans (1993:7) noted that, even though the Balikh Survey was restricted to a portion of a more extensive drainage network that extends as far north as Urfa in Turkey, the actual Balikh river floodplain stems from the

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In the analysis of settlement patterns that follows, we are interested in three things: 1) distinctive settlement patterns that may reflect adaptations to local climatic and environmental conditions; 2) the degree of continuity of settlement locations through time; and 3) local conditions and historical trajectories that may have motivated and structured Middle Assyrian settlement in the region. LATE SECOND MILLENNIUM SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE BALIKH VALLEY

Based on recent re-survey and assessment of previous survey records, occupations of Period VII (early second millennium), VIIIA (14th-13th centuries), and VmB (13th1lth centuries), and M (early first millennium) were identified. Descriptions of each site and recorded ceramic assemblages are summarized in Table 2. Early second millennium B. C.settlement patterns: Balikh VII The distribution of early second millennium B.C. settlement in the Balikh valley provides a baseline, of both demographic and hierarchical information, for comparison with succeeding periods. Two sites in the Balikh valley figure prominently in relevant documents from the early second millennium: Tuttul identified with Tell BiCa(BS-1) in the south, at the confluence with the Euphrates, and Harran in the north, in the plain that bears its name, just north of the present Syrian-Turkish border. These two sites are the most prominent mounds in the area and may have been centers of two principle settlement systems centered on the Balikh valley throughout much of the Bronze Age. The present study does not include Harran or any sites in the vicinity because our survey data are limited to the Syrian side of the international border. Other sites mentioned in the Emar itinerary (Goetze 1953, 1964; Hallo 1964) and presumably located within the Balikh valley include: Apqu la Baliha, the source of the Balikh River at 'Ain al-'Ariis or a site in the vicinity; Sahlala, probably Tell Sahlan (BS-247); Zalpah, possibly identified with Tell

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Hammam et-Turkman (BS-175) (van Loon and Meijer 1988:xxv-xxvi); and SerqiAhuna, possibly Tell es-Seman (BS-83/84) (van Liere 1963:Fig.2). I have identified 50 sites with components dated to the early second millennium (Figure 2). Average site size during this period is 2.78 ha and ranges from 25 ha, the largest site, Tell Bica, to less than half a hectare. Together they account for about 143 ha of aggregate site area. Because this period is not the main focus of my research and I have not dealt with the early second millennium ceramic sequence to the extent that I have the late second millennium, these data are preliminary. They will no doubt be subject to subsequent revision and correction. Thiessen polygons constructed around higher order sites reveal eight hypothetical territorial divisions of the valley, with areal constriction increasing from south to north. These territories correspond to seven interaction clusters defined by the gravity model that form roughly around the seven larger settlements of the valley. These include Tell BiCaat the Balikh-Euphrates confluence, Tell Seman in the Seman plain, Site BS-139 on the Wadi 'Ain 'Isa near the Qaramokh-Balikh confluence, Hammam et-Turkrnan, Tell Jittal, Tell Sahlan, and Tell Breri-Tell Abyad at the modern international border (Figure 2). With the exception of Tell Bica, each higher order site includes from 4 to 10 smaller nearest neighbors. The most extensive interaction cluster is that focused on Tell esSeman, but the settlement interaction becomes more intense with a greater degree of boundary overlap north of Tell Hammam et-Turkman. This is a clear indication of the greater density of settlement in the north, i.e. above the 250 mm isohyet, where rainfed agriculture was less risky. There also appears to be a diminution of settlement near the 250 rnm isohyet, south of Tell Zkero (BS-152). Rank-size curves provide further insight into the organization of settlement throughout the valley. The rank-size curve for Period VII sites from the entire Balikh valley is nearly log-linear (rsi=0.05). This is frequently taken as an indication of a wellintegrated settlement system (Johnson 1977, 1980, 1987; Paynter 1978; Falconer and Savage 1995). When we divide the valley into north and south land-use zones according to the distribution of settlement relative to variability in annual rainfall, quite different rank-size curves emerge (Figure 3). The curve for settlement in the north is convex, with a greater number of larger sites than predicted by the rank-size rule (rsi=0.21). This suggests that there may be two or more pooled systems or, more likely, in light of the sites of Harran and Sultantepe looming in the north, that the northern part of the study area is located on the periphery of a larger settlement system and political economy (Johnson 1980, 1981; Paynter 1983). The southern rank-size curve is best described as primo-convex (rsi=-0.3I), which may suggest the existence of separate systems (Falconer and Savage 1995) or a settlement system composed of relatively independent or weakly integrated subsystems (Johnson 1981). In light of the location and size of Tell Bica, it seems likely that Tell Bica may have been more closely integrated with additional settlements and possibly other settlement clusters along the Euphrates.

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Mid-second millennium B. C. settlement patterns: Balikh VZZZA Very few toponyms or textual information of any sort related to the Balikh valley are known from the mid-to-late second millennium until the period of Middle Assyrian ascendancy. This is undoubtedly a result of the fact that archives of the Mitanni royal city, Washshukanni, have not been found ti1 now, and that no substantial textual remains, like those from Munbaqa on the Euphrates or those from Nuzi, have been found in contemporary sites in northern and northeastern Syria. That Harran was still an important city and region is implied by its prominent mention, for example, in the Deeds of Suppiluliuma, and in later treaties and land disputes between the Hittites and Assyrians. For the time being, we must rely entirely on archaeological evidence for the reconstruction of Mitanni and Hanigalbat settlement histories in the Balikh valley. Forty-one sites in the Balikh valley contain evidence of mid-second millennium B.C. occupations (Figure 4). Average site size for this period is 2.37 ha, and the range extends from 11 ha for the largest site, still Tell Bica, to less than 0.5 ha. As in the preceding period, average site size in the south (3.16 ha) is greater than that in the north (2.03 ha). Mitanni period sites account for a total of 94.6 ha of aggregate settled area, and represent a slight decrease from the preceding period. Thiessen polygons constructed for the higher order mid-second millennium B.C. (Period VIIIA) settlements reveal essentially the same eight territorial divisions of the Balikh valley identified above for the early second millennium (Figure 5). The resulting areas are of more or less equal length throughout the southern three-quarters of the valley but become much more confined in the north, toward the Turkish-Syrian border. The gravity model analysis generally confirms these hypothetical divisions of the valley by defining as many as six interaction clusters, with the greatest amount of congestion occurring in the north between Tell Hammam et-Turkman and Tell Sahlan (Figure 5). As was recognized for the preceding period, the gravity model analysis also highlights the division of the valley into north and south zones which correspond to the theoretical dryfarming-irrigation zones. Two connected site clusters contain most of the settlement of the southern portion of the Balikh: one centered on Tell es-Seman (BS-83/84) and one on sites BS-117 and BS139. These site clusters correspond to broad expanses of Balikh valley alluvium. The Tell es-Seman cluster is located in the plain that bears its name, and the BS-117 cluster is situated at the confluence of the Qaramokh and Balikh Rivers, where the valley becomes slightly constricted. The northern Balikh valley is characterized by a higher density of settlement, as it was in preceding periods (Akkermans 1993) and in more recent times (Lewis 1988). Here, average settlement size is about 2 ha. Based on the gravity model analysis three interaction clusters are identified in the north: one centered on Tell Hammam et-Turkman and Tell Jittal, one at Tell Sahlan, and one including Tell Breri and Tell Abyad. Rank-size curves depicting the vertical distribution of Mitanni settlement in the valley are not very revealing. When combined, sites recorded in the valley form a convex curve. Rank-size curves for separate north and south portions of the valley are also convex,

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MIDDLE ASSYRIAN EXPANSION AND SETTLEMENT

although the rank-size curve of settlements in the south is nearly log-linear (Figure 6). The pattern in the south reflects merely the dwindling of the size and possibly the influence and power of Tell Bica, the highest ranked site. It seems likely that settlements in the north were still part of a larger settlement system that included Harran.

the preeminent site in the valley, nonetheless, and was, at some time, home of a be1 pahete.

100

The relative isolation of Tell Bica is further emphasized by the distinct types of 14th century (Spatbronzezeitliche) ceramics found there. Of the recently excavated Spatbronzezeitliche sherds, which Prof. Stromrnenger allowed me to examine in 1995, most are more like types published from Tell Munbaqa and Tell Hadidi (Dornemann 1979, 1981) in the Upper Euphrates than those identified at Tell Harnrnam et-Turkman and throughout much of the Balikh valley. Further investigation of stylistic and technological variability in the Balikh Valley must await full publication of these materials from Tell Bica.

Late second millennium (Middle Assyrian) settlement: Balikh VIlIB For the historical geography of Middle Assyrian settlement in the Balikh valley we have documents from two sites on the western periphery of the Middle Assyrian state, Tell Chuera (Harbe) and Tell Sabi Abyad, and texts from Tell Sheikh Hamad (Durkatlimmu), whose officials received correspondence concerning this area (see Wiggermann this volume).

101

BS-327 located in the south may be situated along a transport route leading northsouth along the Balikh valley, or east towards the Lower Khabur, although its significance is not yet known because of the possibility of another Middle Assyrian settlement cluster at Tell es-Seman. Similarly, the nature of settlement in the northern part of the valley is not completely understood because of the slight possibility of a Middle Assyrian settlement at and in the vicinity of Tell Abyad. Due to the prominence of Harran in contemporary documents we might expect a substantial population there. It may be significant that ~ i d d l eAssyrian settlement was concentrated near the southern limit of feasible dry-farming. This may suggest an attempt at agricultural colonization in an under-utilized or previously abandoned marginal area. It may also reflect the colonization of an area within a safe distance from surviving power centers or without significant land ownership issues. Reference to grain subsidies from Khabur in the Dur-katlimmu texts, as well as the supply of horses and wagons, indicate that Middle Assyrian settlement in the Balikh valley was subsidized to some extent, perhaps only during seasons of low yields. Clues to understanding this include the degree of settlement continuity and the nature and location of settlement abandonment and decline. SETTLEMENT AND DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS

Six sites with Middle Assyrian (Period VIIIB) components have been identified in the Balikh survey dataset (Figure 7). These are Tell Sahlan (BS-246), Tell Jittal (BS-21I), Tell Hammam et-Turkman (BS-175), Tell Sabi Abyad (BS-189), Khirbet esh-Shenef (BS- l7O), and Tell Abbara (BS-327). These sites range in size from as much as 8 ha (Tell Sahlan) to 0.3 ha (Khirbet esh-Shenef). Six other sites have been included as possible, although minor Period VIIIB occupations due to the presence of one or two possible Middle Assyrian forms. These include Tell es-Seman (BS-83), BS-106, BS-161, BS199, BS-200, and BS-296, all of which would have been quite small settlements. From what we know about the size and compact nature of excavated Middle Asyrian settlements (e.g. at Tell Sabi Abyad and Tell Chuera) it is possible that Middle Assyrian remains may have been destroyed or capped by later and more extensive remains at Tell es-Seman, Tell Abyad, or Tell Bica. That Middle Assyrian ceramics could be found in considerable quantities on smaller sites is suggested by the assemblage present in surface collections at Khirbet esh-Shenef. Excavations at this small site confirmed the attribution to the Middle Assyrian period (Bart1 1990).

Demographic trends are typically represented by number of sites and aggregate settled area for each recognized archaeological phase, with the tacit assumption that site area is generally proportional to human population and range of economic or political functions present. Related to this are patterns of continuity in settlement location and occupational stability, which can be represented by summations of the number of specific locations reoccupied, abandoned, or newly established in consecutive periods.

Most of the sites with definite Middle Assyrian components are concentrated along the Balikh River between Tell Hammam et-Turkman and Tell Sahlan, i.e., north of the present-day 250 mm isohyet. Average nearest neighbor distance for these sites is just over 4 km. This spacing fits well with the image of interdependent Middle Assyrian settlements with Tell Sabi Abyad out-fitting neighboring settlements, possibly itinerant potters and brewers or other specialists who appear to have been attached to the state or family business collectives (Wiggerman this volume). The rank-size curve of Middle Assyrian sites is nearly log-normal, but the relevance of this is uncertain primarily because of the uncertainty of the size of Middle Assyrian Tell Sahlan. It would have been

Survey data from the Balikh valley depict a general decline in population during the second millennium, both in the total number of settlements occupied and in the aggregate settled area (Figure 8). Similar trends have been noted for most regions of greater Mesopotamia and throughout much of Southwest Asia. For the Balikh valley, we are interested in the rate of decline as it may have effected Middle Assyrian expansion and settlement, and in the nature and location of decline. The mid-second millennium is marked by a slight decline from Period VII to VIIIA, and an even larger drop in the Middle Assyrian period (Period VIIIB). Only 12 Period VIW sites have been identified to date, and as many as six of these are minor or questionable occupations.

General settlement trends in the Balikh valley have been discussed by Wilkinson (1996). He notes a general shift from aggregated settlement centered on large sites in the early second millennium, for example Tell Hammam et-Turkman, to a more dispersed pattern of smaller rural sites of Iron Age, Hellenistic, and Roman date. This defines the long-term demographic trends within which Middle Assyrian settlement and agricultural expansion played a pivotal or transitional role.

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Many researchers have noted a high degree of cultural continuity in the Jazira and northern Mesopotamia between the first and second half of the second millennium (e.g., Dornemann 1978, 1979; Mallowan 1947; Wilkinson and Tucker 1995). The high degree of locational stability or continuity from the early to mid-second millennium B.C. settlement confirm these trends for the Balikh valley (Figure 9). Settlement continuity measurements include the total number of sites occupied during two consecutive periods, the number of sites abandoned between those periods, and the number of newly established sites of the successive period. A relatively high degree of continuity is suggested between the early and mid-second millennia (Period VII and VIIIA), with about 70% of all early second millennium sites also occupied in the Mitanni period (Period VIIIA). Only about 10% of all Period VIIIA sites are new establishments. The trend is reversed, however, in the subsequent Middle Assyrian period, with the abandonment of over 80% of Period VIIIA sites (n=34). By the first few centuries of the first millennium the low continuity trend continues, but overall the number of settlements increases, with the establishment of at least 37 new site locations (90%). The number of sites increases to 41 during Period JX, a number equal to that of Period VIIIA. These sites, however, are generally smaller and occupy almost one-third less aggregate area than did the Period VIIIA sites.

in the south, but a slight increase in the north between the end of Period VII (VII+) and Period VIIIA. This lack of continuity suggests that most sites were abandoned between Period VIIIA and VIIIB, that is, before the establishment of Period VIIIB settlements. This hiatus has been recognized at Tell Hammam et-Turkman and Tell Sabi Abyad, for example, but the duration can only be estimated at present. Estimated population levels further support this trend. Because of the potential variability in population density through time and between functionally distinct site types, population levels may be more effectively displayed as possible ranges of population density, in this case from a high of 200 people per hectare and low of 100 people per hectare. Figure 13 presents possible population levels for the north and south portions of the Balikh valley. Here, we see a great deal of overlap for Periods VII and VIIIA, but no overlap in possible population ranges between Periods VIIIA and VIIIB or between Periods VIIlB and IX. Changes in settlement patterns between the early and mid-second millennium include the disappearance of a number of small settlements and the reduction in the size of large higher order settlements (Figures 14 and 15). For example, Tell Bica apparently declined from a total area of about 25 ha to about half of that, according to the distribution of LBA ceramics recorded during the years of excavation there. Likewise, settlement at Tell esSeman and Tell Harnmam et-Turkrnan was also apparently significantly reduced during the first half of the second millennium. This decline is more pronounced in the south than in the north. For example, at Tell Abyad (BS-280), Period VIIIA (Mitanni) ceramics were identified on a low terrace some 70 m from the main mound, suggesting that it may have even increased in extent. Decline in the number and size of settlements during the Middle Assyrian period (13th-12th century) is even more dramatic. Archaeological evidence from excavations in the valley, e.g. Tell (Hammam) Ibn esh-Shehab, Tell Jidle, Tell Hammam et-Turkman, and Tell Sabi Abyad provide evidence of abandonment or hiatus between the two phases marked by conflagration in some places and packing up and moving in others.

If we investigate patterns in the northern and southern portions of the valley separately we may highlight settlement shifts that reflect adaptations to local conditions and distinct landscape units. Figure 10 presents sites and aggregate area for the northern and southern portions of the valley (as distinguished by the gravity model and 250 mm isohyet), and Figure 11 shows continuity measurements for the same. These data indicate that the rate of decline was greater in the south, both in the number of sites and aggregate area. Likewise, settlement continuity between Periods VII and VIIIA was greater in the north than in the south, as were the number of newly established sites. Forty-three percent of sites in the south were abandoned, whereas less than one-quarter were abandoned in the north. Conversely, over 75% of sites in the north have both Period VII and VIIIA components, and just over half (57%) of the sites in the south contain both periods. Almost no newly established sites occur in the south until the first millennium. It is important to point out that the number of sites and aggregate area for Period VII and IX may be somewhat inflated because these numerical data assume that all sites were occupied during the entire period. Due to the limitations of survey data and our knowledge of the ceramic sequence, these periods represent large spans of time that may be further subdivided upon more intensive dating. The use of standardized site area per unit of time has been suggested as one way of presenting more accurate estimates (Schacht 1984; Weiss 1977:358-361), but as Sumner (1990:9) points out, this kind of standardization makes it impossible to estimate absolute population levels or rates of change. Using methods proposed by Sumner (1990) and Dewar (1991), it is possible to incorporate continuity or occupational stability and occupation span in settlement pattern analysis. Sumner (1990:9), for example, assumes that most sites occupied in two successive phases (e.g. Balikh Periods VII and VIIIA) represent a contemporaneous group of occupations inhabited before, during, and after the transition between the two phases. Figure 12, which in effect combines occupation span and continuity measures by adding the theoretical transitional phase to the demographic trend, shows a steady decline

103

This pattern is further documented at Tell Jittal, a medium-sized three-part low mound along the Balikh about 7 krn north of Tell Hammam et-Turkman. Intensive mapping and systematic surface sampling of Tell Jittal was suggested by Tony Wilkinson because of its proximity to Tell Sabi Abyad and because of the potential it holds for the identification of subtle changes in the size and distribution of occupations for periods relevant to the present study. Sampling was conducted by means of 505-m squares positioned at 5 m intervals along six transects placed across the site. All visible artifacts within these sample units were collected, sorted into chaff-tempered and sand-tempered ware groups, and counted. Figure 16 presents sherd density measurements for Period VIIIA (14th cent.), Period VIIIB (13th-12th cent.), and Period IX (first millennium) phases on the main mound. The adjoining low mound to the northeast contained primarily 14th century ceramics. This points to a decline in settled area from more than 5 ha for the Mitanni phase to about 2 ha for the Middle Assyrian phase. The confined Middle Assyrian settlement at Tell Jittal located at the highest point of the mound is similar to patterns seen at Tell Sabi Abyad and Tell Chuera. This suggests that Middle Assyrian settlements were newly built, smaller, and more concentrated than previous settlements.

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CONCLUSIONS: THE CONTEXTS OF MIDDLE ASSYRIAN AGRICULTURAL EXPANSION

The goal of this brief discussion of settlement development in the Balikh valley was to view Middle Assyrian expansion in a regional and broader historical context. Climate, rainfall, and the potential for feasible agriculture surely played an important role in the development of settlement in the region. However, as the Middle Assyrian example highlights, the development of settlement in the Balikh valley of the late second millennium (and thereafter), was largely determined by the priorities and potentialities of non-local (Assyrian) elites. Such non-local actors may introduce unique methods of organizing agriculture and settlement with distinct economic orientations.

In the Balikh valley, Middle Assyrian expansion seems to have followed a period of decline marked by the decline and eventual abandonment of large settlements. Abandonment of most of the valley is suggested by the general demographic trends presented above and further supported by the distinct structure and orientation of the Middle Assyrian settlement system. Abandonment of population centers in the valley appears to have been complete prior to Middle Assyrian colonization, in which case Assyrian agricultural settlement was located in a vacuum of sorts without sedentary power structures. Because of the limitations of survey data, however, we cannot rule out the possibility that indigenous (Hurrian) inhabitants of the Balikh continued to occupy portions of the valley. For example, we know that nomadic peoples, primarily the SutQ, frequented in the area, and may have settled periodically along the river or at the edge of the steppe. At present we can only speculate about the destructive effects of Middle Assyrian aggression in creating the apparent power vacuum. In this case, abandonment of the region could have been hastened by the policy of deportation, the destruction of villages, pestilence, and the general ravages of war. These processes, however, may have followed other "ecologically or socially induced disasters" (Adams 1981:ll). The information presented here suggests that decline began earlier in the southern portion of the valley where subsistence was highly dependent on irrigation agriculture. Decline in the south may have resulted from the abandonment or failure to maintain irrigation systems. This may have involved a shift from settled agriculture to nomadic or semi-nomadic modes of subsistence. At the same time, agriculturalists could have focused on more reliable rainfed areas to the north. Wilkinson's (1998) investigation of a soil profile near Tell es-Seman suggests that the river had silted up or that flow had stopped reaching this far south by the late second or early first millennium B.C. Lewis (1988) notes that "semi-nomadism" in what Rowton (1973) has labeled "the dimorphic zone" was well adapted to the environmental structure of the Balikh valley. He refers to the historical setting of the late 19th- early 20th century AD, when there was no central sedentary authority and power was held by large Beduin groups. The social and political circumstances of settlement development in the Balikh valley may have been quite similar in the late second and early first millennia B .C.

MIDDLE ASSYRIAN EXPANSION AND SETTLEMENT

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These processes seem to echo what Liverani describes for the collapse of the regional system of the late second millennium as a whole: the degradation of basic, domestic culture, which was reflected in depopulation of rural areas, and in a marked concentration of settlement in coastal or valley areas better provided with land and water [Postgate 19741. The coincidence of a mass of runaways, and the desertion of non-irrigated lands, produces a growth in nomadic (or semi-nomadic) groups which in some regions supplied the political and ideological pole of attraction for the rural villages who no longer felt any solidarity with the royal palace... (Liverani l987:69) Finally, it is important to remember that the Balikh valley was only one of multiple contexts of Middle Assyrian expansion. Other portions of northern Mesopotamia incorporated into the Assyrian state, each potentially having different agricultural potential, population densities, different tactical uses, proxirnities to other resources, and even increasingly greater or shorter distances from the Assyrian core, may have distinct settlement histories and structures. Future research could contrast source areas (Assyrian heartland) and target areas, but also the different environmental and historical structures of various target areas (Balikh, Khabur Basin, Lower Khabur, North Jazira, Middle Euphrates, Tigris, etc.) incorporated in the Middle Assyrian state in order to achieve a fuller picture of the late second millennium in particular and the interplay of environmental and historical factors in general. Due to recent fieldwork on Middle Assyrian sites in the northern Jazira and the immediacy of the results, this picture is coming together.

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MIDDLE ASSYRIAN EXPANSION AND SETTLEMENT

J. D. LYON

Table 2. Second and early first millennium B.C. archaeological sites in the Balikh valley and size estimates (arranged north to south) .

Table 1. Correspondance of Balikh temporal phases with previous studies and sites Present study

Tell Hammam etTurkrnan (van Loon 1988) Harnmarn VlIA

Balikh VII

Tell Sabi Abyad

BS-

Hassan (Pfalzner 1995)

I Hammarn VIIIA

T. Abyad T. Hammam Ibn esh-Shehab

early 2nd

T. Brer~ T. Jidle T. Shrey'an T. &Abed

I

I

Balikh VIIIA Balikh VIIIB

Name

330

Mitanni

1 1450-

0 1 mitannische

mittelassyrische I

Hammam WEE3 Middle Assvrian

1

mittelassyrische It mittelassyrische III

1200

I

1100

1

1

T. Sahlan

T. Eftaim T. Jittal

T. Qardana T. S a b ~Abyad V T. Sab! Abyad 111 T. Sabl Abyad I T. Hammam et-Turkman Kh. esh-Shenef Kh. al-Hajaje T. Breilat

T. ez-Zkero T. Mafraq Slouk

T, as-Sawwan T. Khadriya

T. as-Saman Kh. al8assal

1 T. Bi'a Note. cell shading reflects significance of occupation

Vn

WIIA

i*@i@g&$$e

VIW

D