essay

Cultural action in the Uruk world

uruk mesopotamia & its neighbors : cross-cultural interactions in the era of state formationSante Fe, NmPublished In 2001 • Pages: 123-147

By: Wright, Henry T. (Henry Tutwiler).

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Wright in this essay on the Uruk world believes that the Uruk expansion period lasted hundreds of years longer than earlier scholars had thought; more than a thousand years in his estimate. He describes the size and diversity of the region surveyed and discusses how travel time had shrunk to some degree in the area because of the better use of the rivers as routes of communication and because of the domestication of the donkey used in transportation. In the basic use of raw materials Wright contradicts Algaze's model by showing that the resources of the alluvium were greater than Algaze implies. The author then reviews some areas that need further study in regard to the material record, these being food production, craft organization, tribute, and control. He concludes this essay with a sketch of the long transition from small, scattered agricultural villages to cities, and increasing political and economic elaboration and competition (Rothman, 2001, no. 18, p. 15).
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Ceramic technology
Chronologies and culture sequences
Diet
Population
Exploitative activities
Exchange transactions
Sociocultural trends
traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Late Chalcolithic Mesopotamia
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2000
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Middle East
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Middle East
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Archaeologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
John Beierle; 2006
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
no date
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
6000-5000 BP (4000-3000 BC)
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey
NotesAdditional notes
Henry T. Wright
For bibliographical references see document 17:Rothman
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
2001049321
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Middle East--Civilization--To 622/Erech (Extinct city)