109-115

• Badra, Nancy

The period extended between the end of the fourth millennium BC, i.e. Chalcolithic Age, and the beginning of the third millennium BC, i.e. Early Bronze Age, was characterized by the existence of a transition phase that did not exceed five hundred years. That period called Ninevite 5 and it lasted from 3000 to 2500 BC. Radical changes had happened during that period before the shifting to build the big cities and the establishment of the Akkadian Empire around 2500 BC. After the settlement expansion across the last stage of the fourth millennium that named LC 5 “Late Chalcolithic 5” territories that extended from the south of Iraq to the north of the Syrian Jazireh, we notice that, at the end of the fourth millennium and the beginning of the third one, a recess had occurred to that expansion and the number of inhabited sites, which were dwelled in high population density, had drastically decreased to only reach 30%. Except of some small rural sites in north of Iraq and Khabour Basin in the north-east of Syrian Jazireh, this period was marked _ although it lasted for a short time _ by several features, at top of it all, is its unique and distinguished pottery that it had not been found anywhere before Ninevite 5 and which characterized by its shape, color and decoration. Distinctive pottery is not the only feature that characterized this period but also work specialization in Khabour Basin sites where the Upper Khabour Basin specialized in rain-fed agriculture to grow grains and then transfer them to the Middle Khabour Basin where they used to be cleaned processed and stored in specific facilities. These stored grains used to be either shipped to other sites along the Khabour river, like Mari, or be consumed locally by residents of the sites in Khabour Basin or served as fodder for animals.

• History and Archaeology
• Arts

• Αρχαιολογία

early bronze age, Ninevite 5 period, Khabour Basin, settlement expansion, pottery, work specialization

1. Abdel Salam, A. (1973) Geography of Syria, Damascus.Abdel Salam, A (1989-1990) SYRIAN GEOGRAPHICAL REGIONS, DAMASCUS.Al-Quntar, S. (2008) Urban reformation of the dry farming plains of north Mesopotamia, tracing the ninevite 5 at Tell Hamoukar, PHD dissertation non published, Liverpool Uni-versity.Christie, A. (1970) The excavation at Nineveh, Arpachiyah, Chagar Bazar and Tell Brak, 1931-1939, the British museum, session3, 13Forest, J.D. (1996) Mésopotamie, l’apparition de l’état VII-III millénaires, Paris.Fortin, M. (1990) Rapport préliminaire sur la 2ém campagne de fouille a Tell Atij et la 3ém a Tell Gudeda sur le moyen Khabour, Syria, Vol. 67, No.2, 170-85.Fortin, M. (1998) New horizon in ancient Syria, the view from Atij, Near Eastern Archaeolo-gy Vol. 61,1, 115-121.Hole, F. (1999) Economic implication of possible storage structures at Tell Ziyadeh, NE Syria, Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol.26, No.3, 16-20.Mallowan, M. (1987) Memories of Max Mallowan, Baghdad.Ristvet, L. (2005) Settlement economy and society in the Tell Leilan region, Syria, PHD candi-date in Assyriology near east archaeology, University of Cambridge.Sanchez, C. (2011) Vallée du Khabour quartiers d’habitation et premiers moments de l’urbanism en Mésopotamie du nord, Vol. I, Madrid.Schwartz, G. (1994) Before Ebla, Models of Pre-State Political organization in Syria and Northern Mesopotamia in Chiefdoms and early states in the Near East the organizational dynamics of complexity, Monographs in World Archaeology, Vol.18, 153-74.Weiss, H. (1991) Archaeology in Syria, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 95, no.4, 683-740.Weiss, H. (1994) Archaeology in Syria, American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 98, no.1, 101-158.Wilkinson, T. and Tucker.D.J. (1995) Settlement development in the north Jazireh, Iraq, Vol. XXI, 95-115.Wilkinson, T. (2004) Settlement and land use at Tell Es-sweyhat in the upper Lake Assad area, Syria, Vol. 110, 87-110.