Materials and Landscape

The most important tool for Mesopotamian archaeologists is pottery. The density of pottery per cubic meter of archaeological soil here is probably the highest of any region. The basic sequence of diagnostic pottery forms and decoration is well established, and this is instrumental in the identification and characterization of chronological phases (see Pottery Analysis: Stylistic). Regrettably, this does mean that Mesopotamian ceramic studies tend to foreground morphology, decoration, and seriation, while study of assemblages and their meanings often comes second. We are also limited by the preponderance of urban excavations, which affects reconstruction not only of pottery assemblages but also of all other aspects of material culture (see Urban Archaeology).

Mounded tell sites are typical of the region and are the clearest signs of past occupation in the generally flat landscapes. Clustering of resources, the need to avoid good agricultural land, and the attachment to ‘place’ mean that once sites were chosen for settlement they tended to remain occupied, or at least to be frequently reoccupied, for centuries or millennia. The buildup of occupational debris and the rebuilding of mud brick houses on previous foundations result in the distinctive shape of these sites and their relatively rapid vertical growth. But low single-period sites, multiple-mounded sites, off-site sherd scatters and ancient roads also make up important foci of archaeological research in Mesopotamia.

Mesopotamia can be characterized as a ‘landscape of destruction’ in archaeological terms. Alluvial accumulation and dune abrasion in the south and wind and water erosion in the north have covered or removed parts of large sites and entire small sites. Millennia of intensive agriculture and modern industrialized cash crop farming have taken a heavy toll on both sites and landscape features. Looting and illegal excavation has increased astronomically in the last two decades. Mesopotamia’s archaeological record is perennially under threat (see Illicit Antiquities).