The Uruk world system : the dynamics of expansion of early Mesopotamian civilization / Guillermo Algaze.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Algaze, Guillermo, 1954-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Iraq--Civilization--To 634.

Iraq.

Civilization.

Middle East--Civilization--To 622.

Middle East.

Physical Description:

xiv, 190 pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2005.

Summary:

Most archaeologists and historians of the ancient Near East have focused on the internal transformations that led to the emergence of early cities and states in the alluvial lowlands of the Tigris-Euphrates rivers, in what is currently southern Iraq, during the fourth millennium BC. In The Uruk World System Guillermo Algaze concentrates instead on a coterminous phenomenon: the wideranging expansion of southern Mesopotamian (Uruk) cultural influences and emplacements into portions of northern Iraq, northern Syria, and southeastern Turkey. In this extensive study, he contends that the emergence of Mesopotamian civilization cannot be understood without also taking into account developments in outlying areas surrounding the southern Iraqi alluvium. This edition includes a substantial new chapter that explores new data for the nature of Uruk settlement across Syro-Mesopotamia and discusses current interpretations of that phenomenon, which Algaze contends can be understood as the world's first colonial experiment.

Contents:

A Supraregional Perspective 1

Resource Procurement Strategies and Their Impact 2

"Momentum toward Empire" in the Uruk Period 5

A Conceptual Framework for the Analysis of the Evidence 6

2 Uruk Sites in the Susiana Plain of Khuzestan 11

Geographical Framework 11

Mesopotamian Colonization 13

3 Uruk Settlements in the Syro-Mesopotamian Plains and Surrounding Highlands 19

Geographical Framework 19

Uruk Enclaves in Syro-Mesopotamia 23

The Strategic Rationale of Uruk Settlement in Syro-Mesopotamia 41

Uruk Outposts in the Periphery 53

The Chronology of Uruk Settlement in the Periphery 56

4 The Function of Uruk Settlements in the Syro-Mesopotamian Plains and Surrounding Highlands 61

Gateway Communities 61

Uruk Materials in the Surrounding Piedmont and Highlands 63

Uruk Materials in the Syro-Mesopotamian Plains 72

The Commodities Exchanged 74

5 The Late Chalcolithic Period in Syro-Mesopotamia 85

Late Chalcolithic Culture and Social Integration 92

Relations between Uruk Enclaves and Indigenous Communities 96

6 Social Change in the Northern Periphery and the Collapse of the Uruk Expansion 98

The Impact on Indigenous Societies 98

The Collapse of the Uruk Enclave Network 104

Early Bronze Age Sociopolitical Development in the Periphery 107

The View from the Periphery: Informal Empire in the Uruk Period 110

The View from the Core: A World System of the Uruk Period 115

The Context of Expansion 117

Outstanding Problems and Suggestions for Further Research 119

Theoretical Reprise and Cross-cultural Parallels 125

8 The Uruk Expansion: New Interpretations and New Data 128.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [167]-184) and index.

ISBN:

0226013820

OCLC:

57549633