The economic and institutional determinants of trade expansion in Bronze Age Greater Mesopotamia

Benati, Giacomo; Guerriero, Carmine; Zaina, Federico

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2021.105398

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…If the data collected from Tell Rumah do not allow precise assessment of the attained level of water management, they contribute to predate the emergence of the earliest artificial watercourses. Therefore, while current narratives (Adams & Nissen, 1972;Pournelle, 2003;Rost, 2017) -Matthews et al, 1999;Benati et al, 2021;Danti, 2010;Parker et al, 2006;Riehl et al, 2009;Weiss, 2000;Zanchetta et al, 2014). Although the effects of this long event were different in the various regions of the Near East, its impact on the Mesopotamian alluvium has been confirmed by recent studies (Clarke et al, 2016;Palmisano et al, 2021;Weiss, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…), known as the 5.2 ka B.P. event (Bar‐Matthews et al, 1999; Benati et al, 2021; Danti, 2010; Parker et al, 2006; Riehl et al, 2009; Weiss, 2000; Zanchetta et al, 2014). Although the effects of this long event were different in the various regions of the Near East, its impact on the Mesopotamian alluvium has been confirmed by recent studies (Clarke et al, 2016; Palmisano et al, 2021; Weiss, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During the entire Early Dynastic periods I-III (2900-2350 B.C.E. ), digging and maintenance of waterways and irrigated lands were in the hands of city-states (Benati et al, 2021(Benati et al, , 2022Richardson, 2012;Schrakamp, 2018;Ur, 2013a;Weiss, 2003). With the emergence of the Akkadian large-scale polity (ca.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The exploitation of arable land and water management under the direct control of centralised state institutions became the dominant mode of agricultural production (Benati et al, 2021(Benati et al, , 2022Rost, 2017) again. This is well-illustrated by the archives of ancient Umma (Molina, 2008), which bear witness to a complex system organised around the bureau of agriculture with its hierarchy of administrators.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Development of water management strategies in southern Mesopotamia during the fourth and third millennium B.C.E.

Mantellini,

Picotti,

Al‐Hussainy

et al. 2024

Geoarchaeology

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The last two decades witnessed increasing scholarly interest in the history of water management in southern Mesopotamia. Thanks to many geoarchaeological research projects conducted throughout the central and southern Iraqi floodplains, a general understanding of the macrophases of anthropogenic manipulation of this vast hydraulic landscape has been achieved. However, current narratives mostly rely on studies at a regional scale and are based on excessively long chronological phases (often spanning a whole millennium). A finer‐tuned analysis at a submillennial scale is needed to better appreciate the dynamics that led to the development of artificial canals and irrigation systems and the creation of harbours in cities and other navigation‐related facilities. The Iraqi‐Italian QADIS project is addressing this issue through a systematic geoarchaeological investigation in the south‐eastern area of the Qadisiyah province. We aim to update the current narrative by analysing case studies involving specific periods of occupation. We performed 17 boreholes to propose a date on the functioning period of the hydraulic works in five selected archaeological sites of this region. This approach allowed us to understand changes in water management strategies in both the short and the medium term (i.e., on a scale of centuries). In this paper, we present the results for the fourth and third millennia B.C.E. This period witnessed a crucial passage from the basic exploitation of natural watercourses for irrigation and occasional navigation to the emergence of the first system of artificial canals and intraurban harbours.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of water management strategies in southern Mesopotamia during the fourth and third millennium B.C.E.

Mantellini,

Picotti,

Al‐Hussainy

et al. 2024

Geoarchaeology

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Long-Term Urban and Population Trends in the Southern Mesopotamian Floodplains

Marchetti,

Bortolini,

Menghi Sartorio

et al. 2024

J Archaeol Res

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The processes of long-term urbanization in southern Mesopotamia are still insufficiently investigated, even though recent studies using large datasets and focusing on neighboring regions have paved the way to understanding the critical role of multiple variables in the shaping of settlement strategies by ancient human societies, among which climate change played an important role. In this paper, we tackle these issues by analyzing, within the new FloodPlains Web GIS project, a conspicuous amount of archaeological evidence collected over the past decades at approximately 5000 sites in southern Mesopotamia. We have measured modifications over time in a variety of demographic proxies generated through probabilistic approaches: our results show that the rapid climate changes, especially those that occurred around 5.2, 4.2, and 3.2 ka BP, may have contributed—in addition to other socioeconomic factors—to triggering the main urban and demographic cycles in southern Mesopotamia and that each cycle is characterized by specific settlement strategies in terms of the distribution and the dimension of the urban centers.

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Conflict and returns to scale in production

Sekeris,

Siqueira

2024

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

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The economic and institutional determinants of trade expansion in Bronze Age Greater Mesopotamia

Cited by 6 publications

References 53 publications

Development of water management strategies in southern Mesopotamia during the fourth and third millennium B.C.E.

Development of water management strategies in southern Mesopotamia during the fourth and third millennium B.C.E.

Long-Term Urban and Population Trends in the Southern Mesopotamian Floodplains

Conflict and returns to scale in production

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