A very generous gift to the OSU Archaeometry program is supporting exciting new research in Upper or Northern Mesopotamia, in Iraqi Kurdistan
For decades, archaeologists had identified Southern Mesopotamia as the “heartland of cities” and the “cradle of civilization”. But recent archaeological surveys and excavations in Northern Mesopotamia demonstrate that many features of complex civilizations emerged in the north in parallel with the south. The OSU Radiation center is enhancing this new perspective, with information on regional economic developments.
Our research in Iraqi Kurdistan examines the development of artisan production and exchange networks through the lens of ceramic manufacture, from the beginning of the Ubaid (5500-4500 BCE) through the Early Bronze Age (3300 – 2100 BCE).
In partnership with an international team of researchers, we hope to trace the transition from household-level pottery production providing ceramic vessels to a single community, to larger, specialized workshops whose goods were potentially distributed throughout the region.
Ultimately, we want to examine how the changes observed in ceramic production articulate with socio-economic changes evidenced in patterns of status differentiation observed within sites and with the settlement densities and hierarchies observed in regional surveys.
Our Research Initiatives
I. Clay Survey
Our first challenge is to determine clay composition signatures for specific watercourses and erosional plains throughout the region to assess the scale and nature of geochemical variability within this region. Key to this endeavor is a cooperative project with scientists from Tishk International University (TIU), to use remote sensing to locate areas with high clay content that could be sampled as possible sources of potting clays. Prior research by Dr. Ayad M. Fadhil Al-Quraishi successfully utilized LANDSAT-7 imagery to distinguish areas of clayey soils from soils heavy in silt or sand.
Dr. Al-Quraishi’s team has now targeted 50 locations on the Erbil Plain with predicted values for high clay content. Field sampling will verify clay content and provide samples to be shipped to the OSU Archaeometry Lab. These will then be analyzed via INAA and ceramic petrography to provide a regional framework of clay geochemistry.
II. Identifying Ceramic Compositional Signatures
We are collaborating with archaeologists who have access to ceramic collections from sites in the region to begin building a regional database. Ceramics that represent production debris or localized styles or forms are of greatest interest, but we welcome samples that serve the research interests of our collaborators.
Combining chemical analysis via INAA with optical mineralogy, we have defined five distinct signatures for ceramics manufactured on the Erbil plain (right). Future work will compare these with surrounding regions, including the Rania Plain, the Bazian Basin, and the foothills near Tepe Gawra.
Key sites and partners to date:
- Surezha - Dr. Gil Stein (University of Chicago) and Dr. John Alden (University of Michigan)
- Helawa – Drs. Luca Peyronel, Diego Gatta, and Andrea Zerboni (University of Milan)
- Bab-u-Kur – Dr. Tim Boaz Bruun Skuldbøl (Danish Archaeological Expedition to Iraq)
- Kani Shaie – Dr. Steve Renette & Dr. Michael Lewis (University of Cambridge)
- Tepe Gawra – Dr. Mitchell Rothman (Penn Museum) & Dr. Luca Volpi (University of Rome)
Acknowledgements
This work would not be possible without the gracious permission and assistance of the Erbil Museum, the Directors of Antiquities for Erbil Governate and the Kurdistan Regional Government. We are also grateful to those institutions - including the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures of Chicago, the Penn Museum, the Milwaukee Public Museum, and the British Museum – for granting access to their ceramic collections for this research.