book chapter

Heartland of cities: surveys of ancient settlement and land use on the central floodplain of the Euphrates

University of Chicago PressChicagoPublished In 1981 • Pages:

By: Adams, Robert McCormick.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Adams describes the Mesopotamian environment, his surface survey, and its results in this pivitol study on the settlement patterns in Mesopotamia and the Diyala region. Adams' book describes settlements and traces some of the ancient canals and river courses from the Ubaid Period up through the Late Islamic Periods. However, only materials that pertain to the Early Dynastic Period were indexed for Outline of Cultural Materials (OCM) codes. Adams' survey results help to show the urbanization of the area during the Early Dynastic Period, settlement hierarchies, other settlement shifts and land use patterns. He also explores the reasons for the instability of irrigation agriculture in this area; such as the need for a stable central government (an idea that some other authors would dispute - see 3: D'iakonov ) and the problems with salinization of the soil. Adams' book also includes a general site catalog. It provides information on the size of the site, the kind of artifacts found at the sites and the sites' probable time period(s).
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Identification
Topography and geology
Water supply
Settlement patterns
Urban and rural life
Chronologies and culture sequences
Archaeological inventories
traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Early Dynastic Mesopotamia
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2003
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
book chapter
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
Sarah Berry ; 2001
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
mainly Nov. 1968 to Dec 1975; also 1956-1957, the early 1960's, and a little in 1967
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
4900 BP-4334 BP (2900 B.C.-2334 B.C.)
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Mesopotamia; Iraq
NotesAdditional notes
Robert McC. Adams
Includes bibliographical references (p. 353-360) and index
Appendix, pages 295-345, will be found in 11:Wright
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
80013995
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Iraq--Civilization--To 634