Late Chalcolithic Ceramic Development in Southern Iraqi Kurdistan: The Stratigraphic Sounding at Kani Shaie

Abstract

Kani Shaie is a small archaeological site in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, centrally located in the Bazian Basin, a narrow valley at the western edge of the Zagros Mountains along the major route between Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah. Its main mound was inhabited almost continuously from the fifth to the middle of the third millennium, c. 5000–2500 B.C.E. This period of Mesopotamian prehistory, corresponding to the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, witnessed major transformations such as initial urbanism and intensification of interregional interaction networks. The recent resurgence of fieldwork in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is beginning to reveal local trajectories that do not always match the established chronological framework, which is largely based on changes in ceramic technology and styles observed in northern Mesopotamia. Here, we discuss the ceramic sequence retrieved from a step trench at Kani Shaie spanning the entire Late Chalcolithic (c. 4600–3100 B.C.E.). A bottom-up approach to potting traditions at the site allows an initial assessment of the relationship between local communities in the Zagros foothills and large-scale developments in the Mesopotamian world. We argue that the evidence from Kani Shaie reflects a long process in which different communities of practice made active choices of adopting, adapting, or rejecting non-local cultural practices.

Establishing an Absolute Chronological Framework for the Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age in Iraqi Kurdistan: Radiocarbon Dates From Kani Shaie

“…500 years before the following MM VIb (LC1) levels. Considering the continuity in the pottery assemblages (Renette et al 2021: Figure 17) and lack of clear evidence for a break in the stratigraphic sounding, such a long hiatus seems unlikely and cannot at present be substantiated by this single radiocarbon sample. However, this result can also not be fully rejected considering the unusually high date ranges provided for the Ubaid-LC1 transition by the Surezha project (Stein 2018).…”

“…The sequence consists of 12 levels (SS-1-12; mainly defined by the construction of new architecture) that are combined into subphases (MM Va-d and MM VIa-b) based on changes in the ceramic assemblages (Renette et al 2021: Figure 17). Even though our approach to defining these ceramic assemblages prioritized the internal, sitespecific development by identifying vessel shapes and fabrics within the site's ceramic corpus before determining external comparanda, the phasing largely matches the general LC1-5 chronological framework established for northern Mesopotamia, albeit with distinct local characteristics (Renette et al 2021). Subperiods LC3 and LC5 proved to be more difficult to reliably identify based on ceramic parallels due to the absence of specific vessel shapes that have been used to define those periods in northern Mesopotamia (Renette et al Table 1 Kani Shaie Main Mound phasing (B levels are from Area B, which is a 5 × 5 m trench at the top of the southern slope of the mound; SS levels are from the Stratigraphic Sounding, which is a downward continuation of Area B as can be seen in Figure 5).…”

“…The chronology of the site has been assessed initially through analysis of the ceramic assemblages based primarily on technological aspects of manufacture (through macroscopic inspection of fabrics) and vessel shapes, as well as stylistic characteristics of surface treatment (especially painted decoration) in relation to existing typologies from contemporary sites (Renette et al 2021). Limited evidence from other object categories, especially administrative clay sealings that are impressed with distinctive seals, supports this relative chronological framework.…”

“…Finally, the lowest phase so far reached at Kani Shaie, MM VII (levels SS-13-15), is dated to the Early Chalcolithic 'Ubaid period based on ceramic parallels (Renette et al 2021: Figure 6). This phase produced only a single seed and radiocarbon date.…”

“…Excavations at the site of Kani Shaie in southern Iraqi Kurdistan during 2013-2016 have documented a continuous sequence spanning the entire LC and renewed occupation during the early EBA, providing the rare opportunity to construct a stratigraphically anchored local chronology of the Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age within a single archaeological site. Having established a relative ceramic chronology from a reliable stratigraphic sequence (Renette et al 2021), here we present results of radiocarbon analysis of a series of samples retrieved from this stratigraphic sounding spanning the late 'Ubaid in the early fifth millennium BCE to the first centuries of the EBA in the third millennium BCE. The radiocarbon dates presented here produce the skeleton for an endemic absolute chronological framework for Iraqi Kurdistan and represent the first such sequence from a site with a continuous occupation during the entire LC.…”