Sayfalar

7 Ekim 2010 Perşembe

From Prehistory to History 2: The Rise of Urban Civilzation in the Ancient Near East

Terminology

Dry farming
SurplusAlluvial plains, irrigation
Craft specialization
Social complexity
Pristine civilizations
Uruk
Wheel-made pottery

Fact: Establishment of First Villages and then Agricultural Transformation
















Settlement in Mesopotamia
Alluvial Plains created by the Euphrates and Tigris rivers = Mesopotamia (modern term)
Village type of settlements begin here in the course of the 6th millennium (irrigation)
Settlement pattern studies
In the course of the 4th millennium development of one major urban scale center: the city of URUK (Warka in modern Arabic, Erech in the Old Testament),


How do we define an urban center?
Following criteria derived from G. Childe’s original proposal:














Uruk Period: 4th Millenium BC, Peak around 3000 BC. Below is a plan of Uruk city.
Anu Temple in Uruk, ca 3200 BC:




Monumental buildings in URUK, ca. 3200 BC:


Early Dynastic Political Economy
Size of settlements
Full-time specialization of labor
Economic surplus
Monumental public works
Long-distance trade
Institutionalization of religion
Emergence of writing