Book

The Uruk world system: the dynamics of expansion of early Mesopotamian civilization

University of Chicago PressChicago • Published In 1993 • Pages:

By: Algaze, Guillermo.

Abstract
Recent studies on the archaeological development and early history of areas in the northern and eastern periphery of the southern Mesopotamian alluvium has produced an abundance of information allowing the scholar to explore a number of questions of major import for the early historical development of ancient Near Eastern societies. One of these questions provides the primary focus of this document: '…that of the extent and magnitude of the processes of external expansion that accompanied the crystallization of Sumer-Akkadian civilization in the Mesopotamian alluvium duiring the Uruk period in the second half of the fourth millennium B.C.' (p. ix). However, instead of examining the emergence of civilization in the alluvium from the point of view of changes in the Mesopotamian core iteself, the author focuses on the external manifestation and consequences of that process that includes the colonization of the neighboring Susiana plain of Khuzestan (Iran)and the establishment of a variety of specialized setttlements at strategic locations across the northern plains and in the surrounding highlands.
Subjects
Settlement patterns
Ceramic technology
Routes
Chronologies and culture sequences
Cultural stratigraphy
Cultural participation
Acculturation and culture contact
External migration
tradition
Late Chalcolithic Mesopotamia
HRAF PubDate
2000
Region
Middle East
Sub Region
Middle East
Document Type
Book
Evaluation
Creator Type
Archaeologist
Document Rating
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
John Beierle; 2006
Field Date
1988-1990
Coverage Date
6000-5100 BP (4000-3100 BC)
Coverage Place
Uruk sites, Syro-Mesopotamian Plains, Turkey, Iraq, and Syria
Notes
Guillermo Algaze
Revision of thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1986
Includes bibliographical references (p. [139]-156) and index
LCCN
92027445
LCSH
Iraq--Civilization--To 634/Middle East--Civilization--To 622