Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-grxwn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-22T13:03:04.815Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

PEERING INTO THE DUSTY CORNERS: MICRO-DEBRIS ANALYSIS AND USE OF SPACE AT THE SITE OF ABU TBEIRAH (NASIRIYAH, IRAQ)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2018

Susanna Cereda  and
Licia Romano
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Excavations carried out in the last five years by “La Sapienza” University of Rome and Iraqi teams at the site of Abu Tbeirah (Nasiriyah, Iraq) exposed a large multi-phased mud-brick building (Building A), internally articulated into various rooms with different purposes, which probably hosted a wide range of activities. This building presents an opportunity to investigate the use of these spaces in order to glimpse the daily life and the socio-economic structure of its past inhabitants. In this paper we present the preliminary outcomes of this study, based on the results of a micro-debris analysis that looked at the distribution of the material residues embedded within the floor of Room 5 of the building.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 80 , December 2018 , pp. 79 - 111
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

Cereda is the author of Sections 1.2, 1.3, 3, 4 and 5; Romano of Sections 1.1 and 2; while Section 6 is the joint work of both authors.

References

Alhaique, F., Romano, L., Gabbianelli, F., Valentini, A. and D'Agostino, F.. 2015a. “A Sumerian Equid Burial from Abu Tbeirah (Southern Iraq)”. Convegno AIAZ, Associazione Italiana Archeozoologia, November 11th-14th 2015, Lecce. Conference Poster.Google Scholar
Alhaique, F., Tafuri, M.A., Romano, L. and D'Agostino, F.. 2015b. “Cibo per i morti e cibo per i vivi, una prospettiva dalla Mesopotamia meridionale all'alba della storia”. Riunione Scientifica dellʼIstituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria L. Conference Paper.Google Scholar
Banks, E. J. 1905. “Plain Stone Vases from Bismaya”. American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 22(1): 35–40.Google Scholar
Barrelet, M. T. 1974. “Dispositifs à feu et cuisson des aliments à Ur, Nippur, Uruk”. Paléorient 1(1): 243–300.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, P. 1977. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brusasco, P. 2004. “Theory and Practice in the Study of Mesopotamian Domestic Space”. Antiquity 78: 142–157.Google Scholar
Brusasco, P. 2015. “Interaction between Texts and Social Space in Mesopotamian Houses: A Movement and Sensory Approach”, in Müller, M., ed. Household Studies in Complex Societies (Micro) Archaeological and Textual Approaches. OIS 10. Chicago: Oriental Institute, pp. 117–149.Google Scholar
Bullard, R. G. 1970. “Geological Studies in Field Archaeology”. Biblical Archaeologist 33: 99–132.Google Scholar
Buringh, P. 1960. Soils and Soil Conditions in Iraq. Baghdad: Republic of Iraq, Ministry of Agriculture.Google Scholar
Cessford, C. 2003. “Microartifactual Floor Patterning: The Case at Çatalhöyük”. Assemblage: The Sheffield Graduate Journal of Archaeology 7. http://www.assemblage.group.shef.ac.uk/issue7/index.html (accessed August 1, 2016).Google Scholar
Childs, C. 2004. “Interpolating Surfaces in ArcGIS Spatial Analyst”. ArcUser July/September: 32–35. http://www.esri.com/news/arcuser/0704/files/interpolating.pdf (accessed August 1, 2016).Google Scholar
Cohen, A.C. 2005. Death Rituals, Ideology, and the Development of Early Mesopotamian Kingship. Ancient Magic and Divination 7. Leiden-Berlin: Brill.Google Scholar
Connan, J. 1999. “Use and Trade of Bitumen in Antiquity and Prehistory: Molecular Archaeology Reveals Secrets of Past Civilizations”. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 354: 33–50.Google Scholar
Crawford, H. E. W. 1981. “Some fire installations from Abu Salabikh, Iraq”. Paléorient 7(2): 105–114.Google Scholar
Crawford, H. E. W. 1983. More Fire Installations from Abu Salabikh. Iraq 45: 32–34.Google Scholar
DʼAgostino, F. and Romano, L.. 2013. “Rediscovering the History of Ancient Iraq: The Excavations at Abu Tbeirah” in Filipovic, A. and Troiano, W., eds. Strategie e Programmazione della Conservazione e Trasmissibilità del Patrimonio Culturale. Roma: Fidei Signa Scientific Editions, pp. 212–221.Google Scholar
D'Agostino, F. and Romano, L.. 2014. “Rediscovering Sumer. Excavations at Abu Tbeirah, Southern Iraq” in Cerasetti, B. and Lamberg-Karlovsky, C.C., eds. ʽ My Life is like the Summer Roseʼ. Maurizio Tosi e lʼArcheologia come modo di vivere. Papers in honour of Maurizio Tosi for his 70th birthday. BAR-IS 2690. Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 163–167.Google Scholar
D'Agostino, F., Khadem, A., Romano, L., Vidale, M. and Angelozzi, M.. 2011. “Abu Tbeirah. Preliminary Report of the First Campaign (January-March 2012)”. Rivista degli Studi Orientali 84 (2011): 17–34.Google Scholar
D'Agostino, F., Romano, L., Khadem, A., Tafuri, M.-A.. 2013. “Abu Tbeirah. Preliminary Report of the Second Campaign (October-December 2012)”. Rivista degli Studi Orientali 86 (2013): 69–92.Google Scholar
D'Agostino, F. and Romano, L.. 2015. “Abu Tbeirah, Nasiriyah (Southern Iraq). Preliminary Report on the 2013 Excavation Campaign” in Biga, M. G., Cordoba, J. M., del Cerro, C. and Torres, E., eds. Homenaje a Mario Liverani fundador de una ciencia nueva. Omaggio a Mario Liverani fondatore di una nuova scienza. ISIMU. Madrid: UAM Ediciones. Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, pp. 209–221.Google Scholar
D'Agostino, F. and Romano, L.. 2016. “Abu Tbeirah. Preliminary Report of the 2012–2013 Campaigns” in Stucky, R.A., Kaelin, O. and Mathys, H.-P., eds. Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (ICAANE), Basel (Switzerland): Wiesbaden, pp. 45–55.Google Scholar
D'Agostino, F., Romano, L., Khadem, A., Alhaique, F., Celant, A., Festa, G., Forte, V., Lemorini, C., Medeghini, L. and Tafuri, M.A.. In press. “Tell Abu Tbeirah. Preliminary Report of the First Four Campaigns”. Sumer.Google Scholar
Delougaz, P. and Lloyd, S.. 1942. Pottery from the Diyala Region. OIP 63. Chicago: Oriental Institute.Google Scholar
Dunnell, R. C. and Stein, J. K.. 1989. “Theoretical Issues in the Interpretation of Microartifacts”. Geoarchaeology 4: 31–42.Google Scholar
Dupras, T. L. and Schultz, J. J.. 2013. “Taphonomic Bone Staining and Color Changes in Forensic Contexts” in Pokines, J. and Symes, S. A., eds. Manual of Forensic Taphonomy. Boca Raton: CRC Press, pp. 315–340.Google Scholar
Fladmark, K. R. 1982. “Microdebitage Analysis: Initial Considerations”. Journal of Archaeological Science 9: 205–220.Google Scholar
Foster, C. P. 2009. Household Archaeology and the Uruk Phenomenon: A Case Study from Kenan Tepe, Turkey. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Gifford, D. 1978. “Ethnoarchaeological Observations of Natural Processes Affecting Cultural Materials” in Gould, R. P., ed. Explorations in Ethnoarchaeology. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pp. 77–101.Google Scholar
Hassan, F. A. 1978. “Sediments in Archaeology: Methods and Implications for Palaeoenvironmental and Cultural Analysis”. Journal of Field Archaeology 5: 197–213.Google Scholar
Hayden, B. and Cannon, A.. 1983. “Where the Garbage Goes: Refuse Disposal in the Maya Highlands”. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 2: 117–163.Google Scholar
Hendon, J. A. 1996. “Archaeological Approaches to the Organization of Domestic Labor: Household Practices and Domestic Relations”. Annual Review of Anthropology 25: 45–61.Google Scholar
Hodder, I. and Cessford, C.. 2004. “Daily Practice and Social Memory at Çatalhöyük”. American Antiquity 69: 17–40.Google Scholar
Hull, K. L. 1987. “Identification of Cultural Site Formation Processes through Microdebitage Analysis”. American Antiquity 52: 772–783.Google Scholar
Katz, D. 2003. The Image of Netherworld in the Sumerian Sources. Bethesda: CDL Press.Google Scholar
Katz, D. 2007. “Sumerian Funerary Rituals in Context” in Laneri, N., ed. Performing Death. Social Analyses of Funerary Traditions in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean. OIC 3. Chicago: Oriental Institute, pp. 167–188.Google Scholar
La Motta, V. and Schiffer, M. B.. 2001. “Behavioral Archaeology: Toward a New Synthesis” in Hodder, Ian, ed. Archaeological Theory Today. Cambridge: Polity Press, pp. 14–64.Google Scholar
Matthews, W. and Postgate, J. N.. 1994. “The Imprint of Living in an Early Mesopotamian City: Questions and Answers” in Luff, R. and Rowley-Conwy, P. eds. Whither Environmental Archaeology?. Oxbow Monograph 38. Oxford: Oxbow. pp. 171–212.Google Scholar
McMahon, A. 2006. Nippur V. The Early Dynastic to Akkadian Transition: The Area WF Sounding at Nippur. Chicago: Oriental Institute.Google Scholar
Metcalfe, D. and Heath, K. M.. 1990. “Microrefuse and Site Structure: the Hearths and Floors of Heartbreak Hotel”. American Antiquity 55: 781–96.Google Scholar
Mohamed, A-R. M., Hussain, N. A., Al-Noor, S. S., Mutlak, F. M., Al-Sudani, I. M., Mojer, A. M., Toman, A. J. and Abdad, M. A.. 2008. “Fish Assemblage of Restored Al-Hawizeh Marsh, Southern Iraq”. Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology 8 (2–4): 375–384.Google Scholar
Moon, J. 1987. Abu Salabikh Excavations 3. Catalogue of Early Dynastic Pottery. London: British School of Archaeology in Iraq.Google Scholar
Ochsenschlager, E. L. 2004. Iraqʼs Marsh Arabs in the Garden of Eden. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.Google Scholar
OʼConnell, J. 1987. “Alyawara Site Structure and its Archaeological Implications”. American Antiquity 52 (1): 74–108.Google Scholar
Otto, A. 2015. “How to Reconstruct Daily Life in a Near Eastern Settlement: Possibilities and Constraints of a Combined Archaeological, Historical, and Scientific Approach”, in Müller, M., ed. Household Studies in Complex Societies (Micro) Archaeological and Textual Approaches. OIS 10. Chicago: Oriental Institute, 61–82.Google Scholar
Özbal, R. 2006. Households, Daily Practice, and Cultural Appropriation at Sixth Millennium Tell Kurdu. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Northwestern University.Google Scholar
Pfälzner, P. 2015. “Activity-Area Analysis: A Comprehensive Theoretical Model”, in Müller, M., ed. Household Studies in Complex Societies (Micro) Archaeological and Textual Approaches. OIS 10. Chicago: Oriental Institute, pp. 39–60.Google Scholar
Rainville, L. 2000. “Microdebris Analysis in Early Bronze Age Mesopotamian Households”. Antiquity 74: 291–292.Google Scholar
Rapp, G. J. 1975. ” The Archaeological Field Staff: the Geologist”. Journal of Field Archaeology 2: 229–237.Google Scholar
Romano, L. 2015. Banchetto e Simposio nella Mesopotamia del Protodinastico. Rivista degli Studi Orientali Suppl. LXXXVIII. 1. Rome: Fabrizio Serra editore.Google Scholar
Rosen, A. M. 1986. Cities of Clay: The Geoarchaeology of Tells. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Rosen, A. M. 1989. “Ancient Town and City Sites: A View from the Microscope”. American Antiquity 54 (3): 564–578.Google Scholar
Schiffer, M. B. 1972. “Archaeological Context and Systemic Context”. American Antiquity 37: 156–165.Google Scholar
Schiffer, M. B. 1976. Behavioral Archaeology. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Schiffer, M. B. 1996. Formation Processes of the Archaeological Record. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.Google Scholar
Shahack-Gross, R., Bar-Yosef, O. and Weiner, S.. 1997. “Black-Coloured Bones in Hayonim Cave, Israel: Differentiating Between Burning and Oxide Staining”. Journal of Archaeological Science 24: 439–446.Google Scholar
Thesiger, W. 1954. The Marshmen of Southern Iraq. London: Royal Geographical Society.Google Scholar
Ullah, I. I. 2002. “The State of Microarchaeology Today, with Special Implications for Household Archaeology and Intra-Site Spatial Analysis”. MicroCommons, Item 77, http://www.microcommons.org/items/show/77 (accessed August 1, 2016).Google Scholar
Ullah, I. I. 2012. “Particles from the Past: A Diachronic Study of the Spatial Patterning of Microrefuse from Room Floors at Late Neolithic Tabaqat al-Bûma, Northern Jordan” in Parker, B. and Foster, C. P. eds. Household Archaeology: New Perspectives from the Near East and Beyond. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 123–138.Google Scholar
Ullah, I. I., Duffy, P. R. and Banning, E. B.. 2015. “Modernizing Spatial Micro-Refuse Analysis: New Methods for Collecting, Analyzing, and Interpreting the Spatial Patterning of Micro-Refuse from House-Floor Contexts”. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 22: 1238–1262.Google Scholar
Verderame, L. 2009. “The Primeval Zodiac: its Social, Religious, and Mythological Background” in Rubiño-Martín, J.A., Belmonte, J. A., Prada, F., and Alberdi, A., eds. Cosmology Across Cultures. Conference Series 409. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, pp. 151–156.Google Scholar
Weiner, S. 2010. Microarchaeology: Beyond the Visible Archaeological Record. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wright, P. J. 2005. “Flotation Samples and Some Paleoethnobotanical Implications”. Journal of Archaeological Science 32: 19–26.Google Scholar