The Spatial Dimensions of Early Mesopotamian Urbanism: The Tell Brak Suburban Survey, 2003–2006

Abstract

The 2003–2006 Suburban Survey at Tell Brak investigated the spatial dimensions of the city's urban origins and evolution via intensive systematic surface survey. This report places this research in the broader context of research on Near Eastern urban origins and development, describes the survey and remote sensing methods and summarises the results, which challenge several long-held models for the timing and geographical origins of urbanism in the Near East. Urbanism at Brak coalesced over the course of several centuries in the late fifth and early fourth millennia BC, when it evolved from a series of spatially discrete settlement zones into a 130-hectare city, without the benefit of irrigated agriculture. Other urban phases occurred in the late third millennium (70 hectare) and in the Late Bronze Age (45 hectare), all with different urban morphologies. Brak's final settlement occurred in the Abbasid period, when a 14-hectare town grew around the Castellum. In addition to the timing, growth and variability of urban form at the site, the Suburban Survey also documented well preserved off-site ancient landscapes of tracks, field systems and irrigation canals.

Contextualizing Early Urbanization: Settlement Cores, Early States and Agro-pastoral Strategies in the Fertile Crescent During the Fourth and Third Millennia BC

“…The emergence of urbanization at the key fourth millennium centre of Tell Brak ( Fig. 1) appears to have been an indigenous phenomenon, contemporary with or even preceding the development of cities in southern Mesopotamia Ur et al 2007Ur et al , p. 1188Emberling 2003). In contrast, urbanization within the third millennium states not only occurred in the context of the use of writing, and the existence of complex social and economic organization, but also witnessed the construction of monumental buildings within public quarters as at Tells Beydar, Leilan, Mozan and Brak (Lebeau 2003;Weiss 1989;Pfälzner 2010;Oates et al 2001).…”

From Traditional Farming in Morocco to Early Urban Agroecology in Northern Mesopotamia: Combining Present-day Arable Weed Surveys and Crop Isotope Analysis to Reconstruct Past Agrosystems in (Semi-)arid Regions

“…We applied this 'weed plus isotope' approach to archaeobotanical material from Early Bronze Age (mid-late third-millennium cal BC) Tell Brak, an early urban centre of c. 70 ha in northern Mesopotamia Oates, Oates, and McDonald 2001;Ur, Karsgaard, and Oates 2011). This material derives from primary and secondary contexts, ranging from crops stored in pots in small storage rooms of high-status late Early Jazira (EJ) III (c. 2400 cal BC) households destroyed by fire in areas CH and ER, to an Akkadian public building ('Southern Building') (c. 2300-2200 cal BC) in area FS and post-Akkadian (c. 2200-1950 cal BC) domestic contexts (Oates, Oates, and McDonald 2001, 15-98).…”

“…N values, best represented in material from the EJ III burned buildings dating to c. 2400 cal BC (Figures 13-14), plausibly reflects a spectrum of intensity evidenced spatially through landscape survey: from intensively managed 'infield' areas, corresponding to sherd scatters dating to the mid-late thirdmillennium cal BC immediately surrounding the settlement, to more extensively managed fields further away from the urban core, the extent of which are arguably indicated by 'hollow ways' resulting from human and animal traffic in and out of the site past arable fields (Ur, Karsgaard, and Oates 2011). It is possible that the dramatic increase in 'manure scatter' during this particular period represented a concerted effort to raise soil productivity levels, which were often lower than those documented in the low-intensity modern fields discussed here (Figure 11).…”

“…Landscape survey around Tell Brak and other thirdmillennium cal BC cities has identified 'hollow ways' radiating out from urban cores and plausibly tracing the extent of their arable catchments (Wilkinson et al 1994;Wilkinson 2003, 111-20;Ur, Karsgaard, and Oates 2011;Ur 2015). The evidence reported here is consistent with this picture, but clarifies that cereal production was predominantly under extensive, low-intensity management.…”

Mapping patterns of long-term settlement in Northern Mesopotamia at a large scale

“…An intensive field survey of the surface of Tell Brak systematically recorded sherd densities at 50-to 100-m intervals (Fig. 3G), in an area about 5 km 2 in size (32,33), and one can evaluate true and false positives even at pixel level (Fig. 3F).…”