Stability and Change in Potting Communities across Mesopotamia from the Early Ubaid to Late Chalcolithic 1

Abstract

Abstract. In this work we examine developments in ceramic use through the Ubaid and Late Chalcolithic 1 periods in Greater Mesopotamia. Our paper is a heuristic study of ceramic assemblages across the period from 5300 to 4200 BCE. This period roughly corresponds to the Ubaid 3 and 4, and Late Chalcolithic 1. We explore the periods that correspond to the spread and dissolution of what has been referred to as the Ubaid interaction sphere. This is carried out through analysis of the development of ceramic assemblages across an area that covers southern and northern Mesopotamia including northern Syria and Iraq and southeastern Turkey. The goal is to understand the strength and directionality of interactions between sites across the Ubaid/LC1 transition, and how the use of ceramics may have changed over time. To do this we use Principal Component Analysis and Formal Network Analysis to analyze ceramic assemblages belonging to 72 different sites from the selected time period. This approach helps us explore the strengths of connections within potting industries across three time-slices roughly corresponding to the Ubaid 3, Ubaid 4, and Late Chalcolithic 1. Our results show that rather than a complete and sudden breakdown of communication networks from the Ubaid to the LC1 there was a gradual disintegration of the network that started during Ubaid 4 and continued into LC1.

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