1.
Mesopotamia
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In the Iron Age, it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires. The Sumerians and Akkadians dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of history to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his death, around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthian Empire. Mesopotamia became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians, with parts of Mesopotamia coming under ephemeral Roman control. In AD226, eastern part of it fell to the Sassanid Persians, division of Mesopotamia between Roman and Sassanid Empires lasted until the 7th century Muslim conquest of Persia of the Sasanian Empire and Muslim conquest of the Levant from Byzantines. A number of primarily neo-Assyrian and Christian native Mesopotamian states existed between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD, including Adiabene, Osroene, and Hatra, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. The regional toponym Mesopotamia comes from the ancient Greek root words μέσος middle and ποταμός river and it is used throughout the Greek Septuagint to translate the Hebrew equivalent Naharaim. In the Anabasis, Mesopotamia was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria, the Aramaic term biritum/birit narim corresponded to a similar geographical concept. The neighbouring steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the part of the Zagros Mountains are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia. A further distinction is made between Northern or Upper Mesopotamia and Southern or Lower Mesopotamia. Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the Jazira, is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad, Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf and includes Kuwait and parts of western Iran. In modern academic usage, the term Mesopotamia often also has a chronological connotation and it is usually used to designate the area until the Muslim conquests, with names like Syria, Jazirah, and Iraq being used to describe the region after that date. It has been argued that these later euphemisms are Eurocentric terms attributed to the region in the midst of various 19th-century Western encroachments, Mesopotamia encompasses the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, both of which have their headwaters in the Armenian Highlands. Both rivers are fed by tributaries, and the entire river system drains a vast mountainous region. Overland routes in Mesopotamia usually follow the Euphrates because the banks of the Tigris are frequently steep and difficult. The climate of the region is semi-arid with a vast desert expanse in the north which gives way to a 15,000 square kilometres region of marshes, lagoons, mud flats, in the extreme south, the Euphrates and the Tigris unite and empty into the Persian Gulf. In the marshlands to the south of the area, a complex water-borne fishing culture has existed since prehistoric times, periodic breakdowns in the cultural system have occurred for a number of reasons. Alternatively, military vulnerability to invasion from marginal hill tribes or nomadic pastoralists has led to periods of trade collapse and these trends have continued to the present day in Iraq
2.
Neolithic
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It ended when metal tools became widespread. The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant about 10, 200–8800 BC. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, and the so-called proto-Neolithic is now included in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic between 10,200 and 8800 BC. By 10, 200–8800 BC, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep. By about 6900–6400 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order, the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery. Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture, unlike the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species reached the Neolithic. The term Neolithic derives from the Greek νέος néos, new and λίθος líthos, stone, the term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC, early development occurred in the Levant and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are attested in southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by around 8000 BC. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards, the Neolithic 1 period began roughly 10,000 years ago in the Levant. A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe dated around 9500 BC may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic tribes, evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity. At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres, contain limestone pillars carved with animals, insects, Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Jericho, Israel, Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, the start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Tahunian and Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree. The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming, in the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-seeding occurred. The grain was ground into flour, emmer wheat was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated
3.
Type site
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In archaeology a type site is a site that is considered the model of a particular archaeological culture. For example, the site of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A culture is Jericho. A type site is often the eponym. For example, the site of the pre-Celtic/Celtic Bronze Age Hallstatt culture is the lakeside village of Hallstatt. In geology the term is used similarly for a site considered to be typical of a rock formation etc. A type site contains artifacts, in an assemblage, that are typical of that culture, type sites are often the first or foundational site discovered about the culture they represent. The use of term is therefore similar to that of the specimen type in biology or locus typicus in geology. New Caledonia, of the Lapita culture
4.
Samarra
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Sāmarrā is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate,125 kilometers north of Baghdad, in 2003 the city had an estimated population of 348,700. Samarra was once in the Sunni Triangle of violence during the violence in Iraq. In the medieval times, Samarra was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, in 2007, UNESCO named Samarra one of its World Heritage Sites. The remains of prehistoric Samarra were first excavated between 1911 and 1914 by the German archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld, Samarra became the type site for the Samarra culture. Since 1946, the notebooks, letters, unpublished excavation reports and photographs have been in the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, the civilization flourished alongside the Ubaid period, as one of the first town states in the Near East. It lasted from 5,500 BCE and eventually collapsed in 3,900 BCE, a city of Sur-marrati is insecurely identified with a fortified Assyrian site of Assyrian at al-Huwaysh on the Tigris opposite modern Samarra. The State Archives of Assyria Online identifies Surimarrat as the site of Samarra. In 836 the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim founded a new capital at the banks of the Tigris, here he built extensive palace complexes surrounded by garrison settlements for his guards, mostly drawn from Central Asia and Iran or North Africa. Although quite often called Mamluk slave soldiers, their status was quite elevated, for his son al-Mutazz he built the large palace Bulkuwara. Samarra remained the residence of the caliph until 892, when al-Mutadid eventually returned to Baghdad, the city declined but maintained a mint until the early 10th century. After the collapse of the Abbasid empire in about 940 Samarra was abandoned and its population returned to Baghdad and the city rapidly declined. Its field of ruins is the only metropolis of late antiquity which is available for serious archaeology. This has made it an important pilgrimage centre for the Twelvers, in addition, Hakimah and Narjis, female relatives of the Muhammad and the Imams, held in high esteem by Muslims, are buried there, making this mosque one of the most significant sites of worship. In the eighteenth century, one of the most bloody battles of the 1730–1735 Ottoman–Persian War, the Battle of Samarra, took place, the engagement decided the fate of Ottoman Iraq and kept it under Istanbuls suzerainty until the First World War. Many local people were displaced by the dam, resulting in an increase in Samarras population, Samarra is a key city in Saladin Governorate, a major part of the so-called Sunni Triangle where insurgents were active during the Iraq War. Though Samarra is famous for its Shii holy sites, including the tombs of several Shii Imams, tensions arose between Sunnis and the Shia during the Iraq War. On February 22,2006, the dome of the al-Askari Mosque was bombed, setting off a period of rioting
5.
Tell es-Sawwan
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Tell es-Sawwan is an important Samarran period archaeological site in Saladin Province, Iraq. It is located 110 kilometres north of Baghdad, and south of Samarra, the site is a primarily Ubaid, Hassuna, and Samarra culture occupation with some later Babylonian graves. It is considered the site for the Samarran culture. Tell es-Sawwan is an oval mound 350 metres long by 150 metres wide with a height of 3.5 metres. The main mound was surrounded by a defensive ditch and a strong mudbrick wall. The village consisted of houses and other buildings thought to be granaries. The inhabitants of Tell es-Sawwan were farmers who used irrigation from the Tigris to support their crops and they used stone and flint tools similar to those of the Hassuna culture. The site was excavated by a team from the Iraqi Directorate General of Antiquites in seven seasons between 1964 and 1971, the second season was led by Khalid Ahmad Al-adami and the sixth and seventh season by Walid Yasin. Cities of the ancient Near East Abdul Qadir al-Tekriti, The Flint and Obsidian Implements of Tell es-Sawwan, Sumer,24, pp. 53–36,1968 Keith Flannery and Jane C. Wheeler, Animal Bones From Tell as-Sawwan Level III, Sumer, breniquey, Rapport sur deux campagnes de fouilles à Tell es-Sawwan, 1988-1989, Mesopotamia, vol. 27, pp. 5–30,1992 F. Strika, Clay human figurines with applied decoration from Tell Es-Sawwan, Mesopotamia,33, pp. 7–21,1998 Joan Oates, The Baked Clay Figurines from Tell es-Sawwan, Iraq, vol
6.
Pre-Pottery Neolithic B
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Pre-Pottery Neolithic B is a division of the Neolithic developed by Kathleen Kenyon during her archaeological excavations at Jericho in the West Bank. In addition the flint tool kit of the period is new, one of its major elements is the naviform core. This is the first period in which architectural styles of the southern Levant became primarily rectilinear, earlier typical dwellings were circular, elliptical, pyrotechnology was highly developed in this period. During this period, one of the features of houses is evidenced by a thick layer of white clay plaster floors highly polished. It is believed that the use of plaster for floor. The earliest proto-pottery was White Ware vessels, made from lime and gray ash, built up around baskets before firing, sites from this period found in the Levant utilizing rectangular floor plans and plastered floor techniques were found at Ain Ghazal, Yiftahel, and Abu Hureyra. The period is dated to between ca.10,700 and ca.8,000 BP or 7000 -6000 BCE. Danielle Stordeurs recent work at Tell Aswad, an agricultural village between Mount Hermon and Damascus could not validate Henri de Contensons earlier suggestion of a PPNA Aswadian culture. Instead, they found evidence of a fully established PPNB culture at 8700 BC at Aswad, similar sites to Tell Aswad in the Damascus Basin of the same age were found at Tell Ramad and Tell Ghoraifé. How a PPNB culture could spring up in this location, practicing domesticated farming from 8700 BC has been the subject of speculation. Like the earlier PPNA people, the PPNB culture developed from the Earlier Natufian but shows evidence of a northerly origin, work at the site of Ain Ghazal in Jordan has indicated a later Pre-Pottery Neolithic C period which existed between 8,200 and 7,900 BP. Cultures practicing this lifestyle spread down the Red Sea shoreline and moved east from Syria into southern Iraq
7.
Halaf culture
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The Halaf culture is a prehistoric period which lasted between about 6100 BCE and 5100 BCE. Small amounts of Halaf material were excavated in 1913 by Leonard Woolley at Carchemish. However, the most important site for the Halaf tradition was the site of Tell Arpachiyah, now located in the suburbs of Mosul, the Halaf period was succeeded by the Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period which comprised the late Halaf, and then by the Ubaid period. However, those views changed with the recent archaeology conducted since 1986 by Peter Akkermans, a formerly unknown transitional culture between the pre-Halaf Neolithics era and Halafs era was uncovered in the Balikh valley, at Tell Sabi Abyad. Currently, eleven occupational layers have been unearthed in Sabi Abyad, levels from 11 to 7 are considered pre-Halaf, from 6 to 4, transitional, and from 3 to 1, early Halaf. No hiatus in occupation is observed except between levels 11 and 10, although no Halaf settlement has been extensively excavated some buildings have been excavated, the tholoi of Tell Arpachiyah, circular domed structures approached through long rectangular anterooms. Only a few of these structures were ever excavated and they were constructed of mud-brick sometimes on stone foundations and may have been for ritual use. Other circular buildings were probably just houses, the best known, most characteristic pottery of Tell Halaf, called Halaf ware, produced by specialist potters, can be painted, sometimes using more than two colors with geometric and animal motifs. Other types of Halaf pottery are known, including unpainted, cooking ware and ware with burnished surfaces, there are many theories about why the distinctive pottery style developed. The theory is that the pottery came about due to regional copying, Halaf pottery has been found in other parts of northern Mesopotamia, such as at Nineveh and Tepe Gawra, Chagar Bazar and at many sites in Anatolia suggesting that it was widely used in the region. In addition, the Halaf communities made female figurines of partially baked clay and stone, the seals are thought to mark the development of concepts of personal property, as similar seals were used for this purpose in later times. The Halaf people used tools made of stone and clay, copper was also known, but was not used for tools. Dryland farming was practiced by the population and this type of farming was based on exploiting natural rainfall without the help of irrigation, in a similar practice to that still practiced today by the Hopi people of Arizona. Emmer wheat, two-rowed barley and flax were grown and they kept cattle, sheep and goats. Halaf culture ended by 5000 BC after entering the so-called Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period, many Halafians settlements were abandoned, and the remaining ones showed Ubaidian characters. The new period is named Northern Ubaid to distinguish it from the proper Ubaid in southern Mesopotamia, the first maintain an invasion and a replacement of the Halafians by the Ubaidians, however, there is no hiatus between the Halaf and northern Ubaid which exclude the invasion theory. The most plausible theory is a Halafian adoption of the Ubaid culture, Akkermans, Peter M. M. G. Schwartz, Glenn M. The Archaeology of Syria, From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies, the Ancient Near East, History, Society and Economy
8.
Hassuna culture
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The Hassuna culture is a Neolithic archaeological culture in northern Mesopotamia dating to the early sixth millennium BC. It is named after the site of Tell Hassuna in Iraq. Other sites where Hassuna material has been found include Tell Shemshara, by around 6000 BC people had moved into the foothills of northernmost Mesopotamia where there was enough rainfall to allow for dry agriculture in some places. These were the first farmers in northernmost Mesopotamia, Hassuna people lived in small villages or hamlets ranging from 2 to 8 acres. At Tell Hassuna, adobe dwellings built around open central courts with fine painted pottery replace earlier levels with crude pottery, hand axes, sickles, grinding stones, bins, baking ovens and numerous bones of domesticated animals reflect settled agricultural life. Female figurines have been related to worship and jar burials within which food was placed related to belief in afterlife, the relationship of Hassuna pottery to that of Jericho suggests that village culture was becoming widespread
