Outside the areas influenced by Uruk culture, the first urbanisation had a strong impact on the Late Chal-colithic cultures found in Syria, south-eastern Anatolia and south-western Iran. This diffusion developed along two main lines: either through small Uruk commercial junctions located in culturally different territories; or in local centres that began to display a typically urban organisation as a result of their relations with Uruk. Notable examples of the first kind of development are Godin Tepe in the Zagros and Hacinebi and Hassek Huyuk in the Upper Euphrates region. Godin Tepe (level V) was a local settlement hosting a small quarter protected by an enclosure wall. It had few buildings and a large number of bevelled-rim bowls, sealed pots, numeral tablets and seal impressions typical of the period. This material reveals that this quarter was a commercial centre for Uruk. The settlement therefore acted as a crucial junction on the trading route linking Khuzistan and Lower Mesopotamia to the areas providing metals and semiprecious stones. This demonstrates the extent of the commercial influence of the large proto-urban cities on the mountainous peripheries.
A similar development can be found at Hacinebi, which also had an enclosed Uruk quarter and Hassek Huyuk, a small, walled settlement (and therefore more a commercial hub than an actual urban settlement). They both feature strong Uruk influences in their pottery and administration. Evidence from the Upper Euphrates Valley (which has been excavated through salvage operations in areas now submerged by artificial basins) has revealed the progressive nature of the diffusion of Uruk culture and its relations with local cultures. The latter were closely linked to the trade of timber and copper from the Taurus Mountains. Uruk colonies were larger in the valley (like at Habuba Kebira) and then decreased into smaller urban settlements (such as Samsat, which was unfortunately flooded before the Late Uruk layers could be reached) and commercial junctions (such as Kurban Huyuk, Hacinebi and Hassek Huyuk) reaching the Taurus Mountains.
A different situation can be found in the area where the Upper Euphrates Valley opens up in vast basins. Notable is the case of Arslantepe (near Malatya), already an important site in the Late Chalcolithic period (Figure 5.2). In the Late Uruk period, with the rise of inter-regional trade, the settlement became the central commercial junction and political counterpart of Lower Mesopotamian trade, which reached the area following the Euphrates upstream and stopping in the colonies in Syria and around the Taurus region. Although the material culture of Arslantepe remained predominantly local in character, the construction of a Late Uruk temple complex over the previous Late Chalcolithic one marks the impact of the Uruk model on the settlement. Therefore, the temple remained Anatolian in terms of architecture, but its complexity, fortification and structure (with two temples, a fortified gate and storehouses) indicate the implementation of a typically urban model in south-eastern Anatolia.
The same can be said about pottery remains. Certain types of pots (such as spouted bottles) were clearly imported or copied from Uruk. Overall, pottery remained local in character (no bevelled-rim bowls, but wheel-made bowls), but proto-urban in its production, type and quantity. This is particularly true in the
Figure 5.2 Malatya in the Late Uruk period. Above: Axonometric view of level VI A (temple, palace entrance, warehouses); Below: Stamp seals.
Case of administrative tools, such as bulla bearing seal impressions, which indicate the administrative supervision of storehouses and individual containers alike. However, the seal impressions continued to feature a strictly local style and design (circular seals with almost exclusively animal depictions), in marked contrast with the few southern examples found there.
As a direct consequence of its proximity to an area rich in copper, metallurgy at Arslantepe was particularly advanced. The area produced copper swords and spearheads of an unparalleled quality in comparison to Mesopotamia. Consequently, Arslantepe was a relatively rich early urban settlement. It featured irrigation agriculture, horticulture, farming (mainly of sheep and goats for wool), the use of timber and metals, an organised administrative body and mass-scale production. In terms of political organisation, the city followed the Lower Mesopotamian model, which was centred on the temple (without a ‘non-religious’ palace). In terms of size, however, the site remained significantly smaller than the Mesopotamian cities. In the words of Marcella Frangipane, Arslantepe was a ‘citadel without a city’, namely, an administrative centre supervising a population spread across villages and pasturelands.
A similar development to the one found in the Upper Euphrates had to exist elsewhere, but is unfortunately not as well attested. In certain areas of the Iranian plateau, the spread of Late Uruk material (bevelled-rim bowls, bulla and numeral tablets) allows us to delineate a commercial network. The latter departed from several centres in Khuzistan (Susa, Levels 18—17 of the acropolis; Choga Mish, Tall-i Ghazir) and reached distant centres (Tepe Siyalk, Level IV 1; Godin Tepe, Level V), laying down the foundations for a process of local urbanisation and early state formation which would characterise the following Proto-Elamite phase.
Regarding the Syrian region on the western side of the Euphrates, Late Uruk influences (attested as far as Hama) do not seem to have had an urbanising effect. The Syro-Palestinian area in the south experienced a different phase, influenced by the proximity of semi-arid territories (between the Transjordan plateau and northern Arabia). Consequently, between the fourth and third millennia bc the region experienced the development of pastoral communities. Just like the Ghassulian pastoral culture that had previously risen on the borders of Palestine, so the case of Tell Jawa in this period continued this trend in these semi-arid lands. It was characterised by pastoral activities, political structures and strategies of production that were completely different from the ones found in Lower Mesopotamia. As a result of these differences, when these communities attempted an urban development (such as in the case of Tell Jawa), they rapidly collapsed.
Another important development, despite concerning a region that will not be taken into consideration here, was the appearance of urbanisation and early state formation processes in Egypt. Despite featuring unique characteristics, Egypt displays certain elements of Uruk culture. These can be traced in some icono-graphic features, pottery types and so on. However, the impact of Mesopotamia on the early state formation of Egypt is currently discredited. This is not only for strictly chronological reasons, which indicate that they were two parallel processes, but also because these similar traits seem to have been purely ornamental, rather than structural. Nonetheless, Egypt experienced a ‘primary’ urbanisation based on its own resources and not a ‘secondary’ one based on trade, as was the case in the Mesopotamian periphery.
World History
