Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-995ml Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-19T09:11:17.245Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Revisiting the Sealands: Report of Preliminary Ground Reconnaissance in the Hammar District, Dhi Qar and Basra Governorates, Iraq1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2014

Carrie Hritz
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, 516 Carpenter Building, University Park, PA 16802-3405, cah52@psu.edu
Jennifer Pournelle
Affiliation:
University of South Carolina, Environment and Sustainability Program, School of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, Byrnes Building, Suite 430 A, 901 Sumter Street, Columbia, SC 29208, jpournelle@environ.sc.edu
Jennifer Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, Campus Box 1169, 1 Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO. 63130, jensmith@wustl.edu

Abstract

The flourit of early Sumerian civilization in southern Iraq marked a degree of economic differentiation, sociopolitical complexity, and urbanization previously unseen in the ancient world. This article reports the results of recent geo-archaeological investigation of three complementary resources in southern Mesopotamia that are thought to have offered an ecological advantage, thus laying the economic foundations for these developments: (1) expansive irrigable plains; (2) vast pasture lands; and (3) the littoral resources of levee back swamps/deltaic marshes. Focusing on the area of the Hawr al-Hammar marshes, the authors conducted preliminary archaeological, geological and landscape investigation over the course of 18 days in the autumn of 2010, funded by a U.S. National Science Foundation High Risk Research in Physical Anthropology and Archaeology grant.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

Conducted September 11–22,2010 under NSF-HRRPAA Award # 1045974, with permission from the Iraq State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH), and the Iraq Ministries of Culture, Interior, and Tourism. We are especially grateful to: SBAH Director Quais Hussein Rasheed and SBAH representatives from Dhi Qar and Nasiriya for their support; Sheikh 'Ali ibn Muhammed al-Ghizi and Dhaif Muhsen Al-Ghizi, Site Curator of Ur, for their hospitality, support, and guidance; and to the Iraq Ministry of the Interior for providing police escorts within each governorate and city district.

References

Abell, P.I. and Hoelzmann, P.. 2000. Holocene Palaeoclimates in Northwestern Sudan; Stable Isotope Studies on Molluscs. Global and Planetary Change 64: 112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adams, R. McC. 1978. Strategies of Maximization, Stability, and Resilience in Mesopotamian Society, Settlement, and Agriculture. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 122:329–35.Google Scholar
Adams, R. McC. 1981. Heartland of Cities: Surveys of Ancient Settlement and Land Use on the Central Floodplain of the Euphrates. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Adams, R. McC. and Nissen, H. J.. 1972. The Uruk Countryside: The Natural Setting of Urban Societies. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Al-Baidhany, A., Darmoian, S. and Albadran, B.. 2002. Evolution of Holocene Sedimentary Environments of the Southern Part of Iraq. Basrah Journal of Science B 20(1):7386.Google Scholar
Algaze, G. 1993. The Uruk World System: The Dynamics of Expansion in Early Mesopotamian Civilization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Algaze, G. 2001. The Prehistory of Imperialism: The Case of Uruk Period Mesopotamia. In. Rothman, M. (ed.), Uruk Mesopotamia and its Neighbors: Cross-Cultural Interactions in the Era of State Formation. Santa Fe: SAR Press, pp. 2984.Google Scholar
Algaze, G. 2008. Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization: The Evolution of an Urban Landscape. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aqrawi, A. A. M. 1997. The Nature and Preservation of Organic Matter in Holocene Lacustrine/Deltaic Sediments of Lower Mesopotamia, SE Iraq. Journal of Petroleum Geology 20(1):6990.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aqrawi, A. A. M. 2001. Stratigraphic Signatures of Climatic Change During the Holocene Evolution of the Tigris-Euphrates Delta, Lower Mesopotamia. Global and Planetary Change 28(1-4):267–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aqrawi, A. A. M. and Evans, G.. 1994. Sedimentation in the Lakes and Marshes (Awhar) of the Tigris-Euphrates Delta, Southern Mesopotamia. Sedimentology 41: 755–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aqrawi, A. A. M., Dornas, J. and Jassim, S. Z.. 2006. Quaternary Deposits. In Jassim, S. Z. and Goff, J. C. (eds.), Geology of Iraq. pp. 185–96. Praque: Dolin.Google Scholar
Brückner, H. 2003. Uruk—A Geographie and Paleo-archaeologic Perspective on a Famous Ancient City in Iraq. Geo-Öko 24: 229–8. Bensheim: Georg-August University.Google Scholar
Carter, R. 2006. Boat Remains and Maritime Trade in the Persian Gulf During the Sixth and Fifth Millenia BCE. Antiquity 80(307): 5263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, R. and Crawford, H.. 2001. The Kuwait-British Archaeological Expedition to as-Sabiyah: Report on the Second Season's Work. Iraq 63: 120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canada-Iraq Marshlands Initiative (CIMI). 2008. Southern Iraq Marsh Extent 1973 + 2008. http://www.iraqimarshlands.org/maps/Google Scholar
Eger, A. 2011. The Swamps of Home: Marsh Formation and Settlement in the Early Medieval Near East. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 70(1): 5579.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Firth, R. 2011. A Discussion of the Use of im-babbar2 by the Craft Workers of Ancient Mesopotamia. Cuneiform Digital Library Journal 2011(2): 6.2.36.2.5. http://cdli.ucla.edu/pubs/cdlj/2011/cdlj2011_002.html.Google Scholar
Flannery, K. and Wright, H.. 1966. Faunal Remains from the ‘Hut Sounding’ at Eridu. Sumer 22:61–4.Google Scholar
Gasche, H. (ed.). 2004. The Persian Gulf Shorelines and the Karkheh, Karun, and Jarrahi Rivers: A Geo-Archaeological Approach. A Joint Belgo-Iranian Project. First Progress Report. In Akkadica 125(2): 141215.Google Scholar
Gasche, H. (ed.). 2005. The Persian Gulf Shorelines and the Karkheh, Karun, and Jarrahi Rivers: A Geo-Archaeological Approach. A Joint Belgo-Iranian Project. First Progress Report Part 2. In Akkadica 126(1): 14.Google Scholar
Gasche, H. (ed.). 2007. The Persian Gulf Shorelines and the Karkheh, Karun, and Jarrahi Rivers: A Geo-Archaeological Approach. A Joint Belgo-Iranian Project. First Progress Report Part 3. In Akkadica 128(1-2): 172.Google Scholar
Gibson, M. 1972. The City and Area of Kish. Coconut Grove, Florida: Field Research Projects.Google Scholar
Heyvaert, V. and Baeteman, C.. 2008. A Middle to Late Holocene Avulsion History of the Euphrates River: A Case Study from Tell ed-D¯er, Iraq, Lower Mesopotamia. Quaternary Science Reviews 27: 2401–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heimpel, W. 2011. Twenty Eight Trees Growing in Sumer. In Owen, D. I. (ed.), Garšana Studies. Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology 6. Bethesda: CDL Press.Google Scholar
Hout, J.-L. 1989. Ubaidian Village of Lower Mesopotamia: Permanence and Evolution from 'Ubaid 0 to 'Ubaid 4 as seem from Tell Oueili. In Thuesen, I. (ed.), Upon this Foundation: Ubaid Mesopotamia. Copenhagen: Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications no. 10. pp. 1942.Google Scholar
Hritz, C. 2005. Landscape and Settlement in Southern Mesopotamia: A Geo-archaeological Analysis. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Hritz, C. 2007. Appendix III: Remote Sensing of Sites in and around the Hawr al-Hammar and Hawr al-Hawiza. Akkadica 128: 4549.Google Scholar
Hritz, C. 2010. Tracing Settlement Pattern and Channel Systems in Southern Mesopotamia Using Remote Sensing. Journal of Field Archaeology 35:2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hritz, C., Pournelle, J. R. and Smith, J.. 2012. Mid-Holocene Dates for Organic-Rich Sediment, Palustrine Shell, and Charcoal, Southern Iraq. Radiocarbon 54(1): 6579.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iraq, Kingdom of, Directorate of Antiquities 1976. Atlas al-Mawaqi' al-athariyah fi al-'Iraq (Atlas of the Archaeological Sites in Iraq). Baghdad: Ministry of Culture.Google Scholar
Kouchoukos, N. 2001. Satellite Imagery and Near Eastern Landscapes. Near Eastern Archaeology 64(1/2): 8091.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leng, M.J., Lamb, A. L., Lamb, H. F. and Telford, R. J.. 1999. Palaeoclimatic Implications of Isotopic Data from Modern and Early Holocene Shells of the Freshwater Snail Melanoides Tuberculata from Lakes in the Ethiopian Rift Valley. Journal of Paleolimnology 21: 97106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liverani, M. 1996. Reconstructing the Rural Landscape of the Ancient Near East. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 39(1): 141. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3632524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molina, M. and Such-Gutiérrez, M.. DATE On Terms for Cutting Plants and Noses in Ancient Sumer. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 63(1): 116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plaziat, J. C. and Younis, W. R.. 2005. The Modern Environments of Molluscs in Southern Mesopotamia, Iraq: A Guide to Paleogeographical Reconstructions of Quaternary Fluvial, Palustrine and Marine Deposits. carnets de Géologie/Notebooks on Geology, Brest, Article 2005/01 (CG2005_A01).Google Scholar
Pollock, S. 2001. The Uruk Period in Mesopotamia. In Rothman, M. (ed.), Uruk Mesopotamia and its Neighbors: Cross-Cultural Interactions in the Era of State Formation. Santa Fe; SAR Press, pp. 181232.Google Scholar
Postgate, J.N. 1994. Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History. Routledge. London.Google Scholar
Pournelle, J.R. 2003a. The Littoral Foundations of the Uruk State: Using Satellite Photography Toward a New Understanding of 5th/4th Millennium BCE Landscapes in the Warka Survey Area, Iraq. In Gheorghiu, Dragos (ed.), Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age hydrostrategies. BAR International Series 1123. Oxford: Archaeopress. pp. 523.Google Scholar
Pournelle, J.R. 2003b. Marshland of Cities: Deltaic Landscapes and the Evolution of Early Mesopotamian Civilization. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Pournelle, J.R. 20062011. Traces on the 'Ubaidian Shore: Mid-Holocene Eustasis, Marine Transgression, and Urbanization in the Mesopotamian Delta (Iraq). Presented at: International Conference on the 'Ubaid. University of Durham, UK, April 2006; American School of Oriental Research Annual Meeting 2010-Space, Place, and Landscape in the Old and New Worlds, Atlanta, GA, 17 November 2010 (updated); American Geophysical Union Annual Conference—The Evolution of River Systems since the Last Glacial Maximum and their Interactions with Human Societies, 12 2011 (updated).Google Scholar
Pournelle, J.R. 2007. KLM to Corona: A Bird's-Eye View of Cultural Ecology and Early Mesopotamian Civilization. In Stone, E. C. (ed.), Settlement and Society: Essays Dedicated to Robert McCormick Adams. Los Angeles: UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology and Chicago: Oriental Institute, pp. 2962.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pournelle, J.R. 2012. Physical Geography. In Crawford, H. (ed.), The Sumerian World. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Pournelle, J.R. and Algaze, G.. In press (2013). Travels in Edin: Deltaic Resilience and Early Urbanism in Greater Mesopotamia. In Crawford, H., McMahon, A. and Postgate, J. N. (eds.), Preludes to Urbanism: Studies in the Late Chalcolithic of Mesopotamia in Honour of Joan Oates. Cambridge: MacDonald Institute for Archaeology.Google Scholar
Roux, G. 1960. Recently Discovered Ancient Sites in the Hammar Lake District (Southern Iraq). Sumer 16:2031.Google Scholar
Rowton, M. 1973a. Urban Autonomy in a Nomadic Environment. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 32(1/2): 201–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowton, M. 1973b. Autonomy and Nomadism in Western Asia. Orientalia 42:247–58.Google Scholar
Safar, F., Mustafa, M. A., and Lloyd, S.. 1981. Eridu. Baghdad: Ministry of Culture and Information, State Organization of Antiquities and Heritage.Google Scholar
Sanlaville, P. 1989. Considerations sur l'evolution de la Basse Mesopotamie au cours des derniers millenaires. Paléorient 15(2):527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharlach, T.M. 2004. Provincial Taxation and the Ur III State. Cuneiform Monographs 26. Leiden-Boston: Brill-Styx.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ur, J.A. 2003. CORONA Satellite Photography and Ancient Road Networks: A Northern Mesopotamian Case Study. Antiquity 77(295): 103–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). 2006. Iraqi Marshlands Observation System UNEP Technical Report, ed. by Partow, H.. Nairobi: UNEP/DEWA. http://imos.grid.unep.ch/modules/wfdownloads2/visit.php?cid=3&lid=25Google Scholar
Widell, M. 2009. Two Ur III Texts from Umma: Observations on Archival Practices and Household Management. Cuneiform Digital Library Journal 2009 (6). http://cdli.ucla.edu/pubs/cdlj/2009/cdlj2009_006.htmlGoogle Scholar
Wilcke, C. 2007. Markt und Arbeit im Alten Orient am Ende des 3. Jahrtausends v. Chr. In Reinhard, W. and Stagl, J. (eds.), Menschen und Märkte: Studien zur historischen Wirtschaftsanthropologie (=Institut für historische Anthropologie 9). Vienna: BÖhlau Verlag, pp. 71132.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, T. J. and Tucker, D. J.. 1995. Settlement and Development in the North Jazira, Iraq: A Study of the Archaeological Landscape. Iraq Archaeological Reports 3. Baghdad:British School of Archaeology in Iraq.Google Scholar
Wright, H.T. 1981. The Southern Margins of Sumer: Archaeological Survey of the Area of Eridu and Ur, in Adams, R. McC. (ed.), Heartland of Cities: Surveys of Ancient Settlement and Land Use on the Central Floodplain of the Euphrates. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, pp. 295338.Google Scholar
Wright, H.T. 2011. Minutes of the Meeting “The State of Archaeological Fieldwork in Iraq,” The American Archaeological Research Institute in Iraq, University of Pennsylvania, 02 2011. Unpublished.Google Scholar