'The changing face of clay': continuity and change in the transition from village to urban life in the Near East.

'The changing face of clay': continuity and change in the transition from village to urban life in the Near East. Writing in 1923, J.L. Myres attributed the 'gulf whichseparates the study of the Old Stone Age from that of the New' tothe appearance of a 'more varied and far more expressivesource' of archaeological knowledge than stone, bone or antler.This new source of information was clay and, according to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. Myres, thereare special reasons for its 'eloquence' which we may recountsince they form the basis of this study (Cambridge Ancient History1923:70 [original emphasis]): First, clay is eminently plastic; unlike stone, wood or fibre, ithas no 'grain' or texture of its own; it is therefore fictile,and can be modelled into any form characteristic of the natural'grain' or texture of any other material; all objects ofpottery are therefore literally figments of the potter's will,fictions (to vary the phrase) of his memory and imagination. 'Hathnot the potter power over the clay?'. But the potter, and stillmore those people who will use his pots, are creatures of habit. The growth of the archaeological record The archaeological record is a term used in archaeology to denote all archaeological evidence, including the physical remains of past human activities which archaeologists seek out and record in an attempt to analyze and reconstruct the past. since Myres' day hasgreatly enlarged the scope of his initial insight. Shaped into figurinesand tokens by the first horticultural communities of the FertileCrescent Fertile Crescent,historic region of the Middle East. A well-watered and fertile area, it arcs across the northern part of the Syrian desert. It is flanked on the west by the Mediterranean and on the east by the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, and includes all or parts , clay was soon appropriated in the manufacture of fired anddecorated vessels. By the 4th millennium BC, it had become the materialupon which seals and written signs, the tools of urban administration,were impressed, and its plastic and thermal qualities provided themoulds which later made possible the casting of sophisticated metalartefacts through the lost-wax technique. A primary constructionmaterial from the inception of farming onwards, clay also played anintegral part in the development of architectural forms which, throughsymbolic elaboration, acted as frameworks for the formation of corporategroups and the negotiation of social roles. More than any other surviving medium of human expression, clay nowserves to bridge the gap between late Stone Age prehistory prehistory,period of human evolution before writing was invented and records kept. The term was coined by Daniel Wilson in 1851. It is followed by protohistory, the period for which we have some records but must still rely largely on archaeological evidence to and the firstwritten documents in the archaeological record. It allows us to relatethe transition from prehistory to history as a continuous story, ratherthan focusing upon the postulated revolutions - Neolithic and urban(Childe 1936) - which mark the beginning and end of the process. Infollowing the changing applications of clay, we therefore gain access tothe interplay between symbol and practice, meaning and means, in thetransition from village to urban life in the Near East. PPNA-B: The ancestral house and Levi-Strauss 'Exchange, as a total phenomenon, is from the first a totalexchange, comprising food, manufactured objects, and that most preciouscategory of goods, women.' LEVI-STRAUSS The Elementary Structures of Kinship (1969: 60-61) The initiatives of those people who joined the flow of settlementinto PPNA PPNA Power Plate North America Inc. (Chicago, IL)Jericho during the 10th millennium BC(1) yielded allunexpected bonus. In addition to providing a habitat in which wildpulses and cereals could produce unprecedented grain surpluses (Sherratt1980; 1997a), the moist groundwater soils in the vicinity of Aines-Sultan offered excessive quantities of something else: mud, and, morespecifically, clay. At Jericho and contemporary Mureybit (Phases IA-II)this prodigious resource was initially used to supplement wood and stonein the construction of better-insulated and less ephemeral houses, andto provide interior furnishings such as benches, storage bins andhearths. The latter features acted as foci for the generation of socialroles relating to relating torelate prep → concernantrelating torelate prep → bez��glich +gen, mit Bezug auf +accfood processing Food processing is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food for consumption by humans or animals. The food processing industry utilises these processes. and preparation (Cauvin 1977). During the 9th millennium BC, the firing of clay to produce smallceramic vessels at Mureybit III occurred simultaneously with themodelling of human figurines. The majority depicted women, many withfull breasts and hips and protruding stomachs, emphasizing those aspectsof the female body associated with reproduction (cf. Cauvin 1977: 34-5;1985; McAdam 1997). A concern with perpetuating occupational rights issuggested by the burial of some individuals beneath or adjacent tohouses at this time. This desire to reproduce social relations acrossgenerations, already evident at earlier Natufian sites such as Mallaha(Boyd 1995: 22), would have placed a premium upon the acquisition ofspouses, possibly mediated through cultural exchanges between exogamous ex��og��a��my?n.1. The custom of marrying outside the tribe, family, clan, or other social unit.2. Biology The fusion of two gametes that are not closely related. households and village groups (bride/groom-wealth). Intensification of this pattern of change with the onset of PPNB PPNB Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (era)(8500-7000 BC) is evident at the northern Levantine Le��vant?1?The countries bordering on the eastern Mediterranean Sea from Turkey to Egypt.Le sites of Tell RamadIII, Ghoraife I-II, Ras Shamra Ras Shamra:see Ugarit. VC and Tell Aswad I-II (de Contenson1971; 1979; 1983), further inland on the Euphrates floodplain floodplain,level land along the course of a river formed by the deposition of sediment during periodic floods. Floodplains contain such features as levees, backswamps, delta plains, and oxbow lakes. at TellMureybit IVA-B (Cauvin 1977) and Tell Abu Hureyra Tell Abu Hureyra ("tell" is Arabic for "mount") was a site of an ancient settlement in the northern Levant or western Mesopotamia. It has been cited as showing the earliest known evidence of agriculture anywhere. (Mellaart 1975: 54-5),at Cayonu I-IV on a northern tributary of the Tigris (Cambel &Braidwood 1970), and at southern Levantine sites such as 'AinGhazal Ghaz´aln. 1. A kind of Oriental lyric, and usually erotic, poetry, written in recurring rhymes. (Rollefson et al. 1992), Jericho (Kenyon 1960) and Beidha VI-II(Kirkbride 1966; 1968). The repeated superimposition In graphics, superimposition is the placement of an image or video on top of an already-existing image or video, usually to add to the overall image effect, but also sometimes to conceal something (such as when a different face is superimposed over the original face in a of rectangularbuildings over a single piece of land gave rise to 'tells'(Byrd 1994: 660), while enhanced emphasis upon locality and ancestorsresulted in more elaborate treatment of the dead. Detachment of theskull from the corpse, and its occasional display within housesfollowing 'revivification' with plaster and paint, ispractised at a number of sites (Garfinkel 1994). This mirrors theelaboration of the house-interiors with red paint or ochre, traces ofwhich are preserved on the plaster surfaces of floors and walls. It is within this context that we first witness the widespreadcreation of clay figurines, anthropomorphic Having the characteristics of a human being. For example, an anthropomorphic robot has a head, arms and legs. and zoomorphic zo��o��mor��phism?n.1. Attribution of animal characteristics or qualities to a god.2. Use of animal forms in symbolism, literature, or graphic representation. , and a rangeof minute geometric tokens, mostly discs, cones, spheres and cylinders.These not only appear all over the Levant Levant(ləvănt`)[Ital.,=east], collective name for the countries of the eastern shore of the Mediterranean from Egypt to, and including, Turkey. but also far to the east onthe forested flanks of the Zagros Mountains and the adjoining Khuzistanplain. Comparable developments in sedentary life had been under waythere, at sites such as Karim Shahir, Tell M'lefaat, Jarmo, AliKosh, Tepe Guran, Ganj Dareh and Tepe Asiab (Braidwood 1961; Braidwoodet al. 1960; Hole et al. 1969; Mortensen 1964; Smith 1972). Despite thefact that they share a common medium and make their first appearancesimultaneously during the 9th and 8th millennia BC, clay figurines andtokens have only recently been considered as parallel or relatedphenomena, or as part of wider developments affecting the structure ofvillage life in the Neolithic of the Near East. Previous discussions have related figurines to social andpsychological processes thought to be at work within particular villages(e.g. Haaland & Haaland 1995; Hamilton et al. 1996), focusingoverwhelmingly upon female figurines to the exclusion of the many animalrepresentations and the rarer sexless sex��less?adj.1. Lacking sexual characteristics; neuter.2. Lacking in sexual interest or activity: a sexless marriage. or male examples (see Ucko 1968;McAdam 1997). These different classes of figurine emerge together,however, along with geometric tokens. It seems far-fetched to suggestthat village communities from the Mediterranean coast to the PersianGulf simultaneously underwent independent transformations at this time,leading to their manufacture. Interaction between these sites must,therefore, be an aspect of their creation and use. With this in mind, it is interesting to note the proliferation ofthe PPNB cultural pattern over a far greater geographical area than thatof the PPNA. This is concomitant with a heightened circulation of exoticsubstances, archaeologically attested in the distribution of attractivestones, shells and occasionally metals used in the manufacture ofdecorative items such as beads, pins and pendants (Mellaart 1975; deContenson 1983). These materials changed hands within an arena ofexchange, the outer bounds of which extended in an arc from the Sinaipeninsula to the Persian Gulf across the Fertile Crescent (Dixon &Renfrew 1976). Preserved inorganic materials map out the potential areawithin which organic desirables, such as wild fruits of limited naturalrange and cultivated cereal grains, moved (Runnels & van Andel 1988;Sherratt 1997b: 6-7). Since no means of bulk overland transport wouldbecome available until the domestication domesticationProcess of hereditary reorganization of wild animals and plants into forms more accommodating to the interests of people. In its strictest sense, it refers to the initial stage of human mastery of wild animals and plants. of the donkey some threemillennia later, those animals already under human control would haveformed a particularly important source of mobile wealth. Within this growing field of interaction, clay would have presenteditself as an excellent medium of communication between sedentary groupsdispersed throughout the Near East. Available in abundance to villagersfrom the Levant to Khuzistan, clay was intrinsically associated with theproductive capability of the land, and culturally linked to theconstruction and maintenance of houses, evoking a background of commoninterests relating to sedentary life and ancestral heritage. Theprocesses of shaping, firing and even breaking forms in clay provided aperformative per��for��ma��tive?adj.Relating to or being an utterance that peforms an act or creates a state of affairs by the fact of its being uttered under appropriate or conventional circumstances, as a justice of the peace uttering language of negotiation in which transactions could takeplace, lending dramatic weight to the proceedings. The presence of aritualistic rit��u��al��is��tic?adj.1. Relating to ritual or ritualism.2. Advocating or practicing ritual.rit aspect to the conclusion of exchanges is likely, given theapparent absence of other forms of contract and the lack of centralizedauthority to enforce property rights at this time. Under these circumstances, it might be envisaged that therepresentation of objects in clay played a role in the conduct ofexchanges, particularly those involving high levels of risk andcommitment, where the prior negotiation of agreeable terms may have beenimportant. The transport of livestock (sheep and goats) over longdistances would constitute one such scenario. Depictions of wild animals WILD ANIMALS. Animals in a state of nature; animals ferae naturae. Vide Animals; Ferae naturae. such as boars in figurine assemblages may, in turn, indicate the promiseof carcasses to be taken in the hunt and presented at ceremonial feasts,where new cycles of exchange would have been initiated and existing onesfuelled. Boars would have been a primary source of prestige both as themain edible attraction and for their tusks, which were made intopendants (mementos?) at Ali Kosh (Mellaart 1975: 75, 82). Hunting ofwild pigs as well as gazelle gazelle,name for the many species of delicate, graceful antelopes of the genus Gazella, inhabiting arid, open country. Most gazelles are found only in Africa, but several species range over N Africa and SW Asia; the Persian, or goitered, gazelle ( , onager, auroch, ibex and smaller mammalsis amply attested at PPNB sites in the Near East (Mellaart 1975: 65-7,83). Like boar, many of these species could serve the dual functions ofconsumption and display through the provision of meat, fur and horns. Marriages, as well as being essential to the perpetuation ofancestral houses, are also primary occasions for feasting and, given thelimits to regular contact during the PPNB, for the cementing of economicand political relationships between communities far-removed from oneanother. A significant number of the female anthropomorphic figurinespresent in Near Eastern villages during the 9th and 8th millennia BC maytherefore have represented the principal objects of pre-nuptialnegotiations, against which animals and easily-portable manufacturedgoods, similarly represented and enumerated by clay figurines andgeometric tokens, were bartered and exchanged. Hassuna-Samarra-Halaf: the sexual division of labour 'The sexual division of labour in farming is bound to beclosely linked to the type of agriculture, the relations of production Relations of production (German: Produktionsverhaltnisse) is a concept frequently used by Karl Marx in his theory of historical materialism and in Das Kapital. Beyond examining specific cases, Marx never defined the general concept exactly. to the means of production Means Of Production is a compilation of Aim's early 12" and EP releases, recorded between 1995 and 1998. Track listing"Loop Dreams" – 5:30 "Diggin' Dizzy" – 5:33 "Let the Funk Ride" – 5:11 "Original Stuntmaster" – 6:33 .' GOODY Production and reproduction (1976: 35) During the second half of the 8th millennium BC a string ofsettlements was established along the foothills of the Zagros and Taurusmountains. Flanking the routes to highland obsidian sources, thisdistinctive group of villages, reaching from Cayonu to Shemshara viaTell Maghzaliyah, occupied a zone of mutual interest to participants inexchange cycles operating to the east and west. Still largely aceramic,these sites maintained a flowing trade in obsidian blades, marblebracelets and leaf-shaped projectile projectilesomething thrown forward.projectile syringesee blow dart.projectile vomitingforceful vomiting, usually without preceding retching, in which the vomitus is thrown well forward. points. Some communities exploitedtheir nodal location at the apex of the Fertile Crescent, developingadvanced manufacturing techniques which added value toregionally-accessible raw materials (see Bader 1993: 13-16, 21). Continued economic specialization characterizes the first half ofthe 7th millennium BC, during which the steppes of northern Mesopotamiawere extensively colonized by groups using crude chaff-tempered ceramiccontainers for the storage, preparation and consumption of food(Kirkbride 1974; Merpert & Munchaev 1993). Images of male livestockand women with hands below their breasts were applied in clay to theouter surfaces of these vessels, thereby associating them with thecultural context of eating and drinking. Offering unprecedented accessto the networks along which goods travelled, the occupation of thesteppes also demanded the inception of a labour-intensive agriculturalregime, reflected in the use of chipped stone hoes at Hassuna sites(Bernbeck 1995). The necessary restructuring of productive roles wasaugmented by the management of increasing numbers of domesticated do��mes��ti��cate?tr.v. do��mes��ti��cat��ed, do��mes��ti��cat��ing, do��mes��ti��cates1. To cause to feel comfortable at home; make domestic.2. To adopt or make fit for domestic use or life.3. a. cattle. Further south, in the more arid heartland of the Samarracomplex, the digging and maintenance of irrigation irrigation,in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow certain crops, e.g., rice. canals demanded acomparable investment of labour, the co-ordination of which is alsoattested in the small-scale fortifications at Choga Mami and Telles-Sawwan (Oates & Oates 1976). Alongside the adoption of time-consuming agricultural and pastoralactivities, settlements of the Hassuna-Samarra-Halaf complex, dating tothe late 7th and 6th millennia BC, produced elaborate pottery andtextiles (implied by large numbers of spindle whorls) on anunprecedented scale, often in circumscribed or secluded areas of thevillage. At Yarim Tepe I, boundary walls marked off a space in whichdomed pottery kilns were concentrated (Merpert & Munchaev 1993: 76),while Hajji Firuz Tepe and Arpachiyah provide detailed evidence for thecommunal nature of food preparation and pottery firing, centred aroundhearths and kilns (Voigt 1983; Hijara et al. 1980). At Hajji Firuz Tepethe working of flint and obsidian was carried out away from thesefeatures which, as Voigt suggests, may have provided women with adiscrete social setting for productive life (1983: 310-11). Hassuna, Samarra and Halaf ceramics often display an intense fusionof images within a visual vernacular, clearly generated in relation tothe production and decoration of textiles and basketry basketry,art of weaving or coiling and sewing flexible materials to form vessels or other commodities. The materials used include twigs, roots, strips of hide, splints, osier willows, bamboo splits, cane or rattan, raffia, grasses, straw, and crepe paper. . The bodies ofwomen wore closely associated with these products, as strikinglyillustrated by a vessel from Yarim Tepe II (Merpert et al. 1981: 40-41,[ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE X-XI OMITTED]). Concurrently, naked femalefigurines, which had been typical of PPNB, were now increasinglyreplaced by partially covered forms. The latter bear markings suggestiveof suggestive ofDecision making adjective Referring to a pattern by LM or imaging, that the interpreter associates with a particular–usually malignant lesion. See Aunt Millie approach, Defensive medicine. clothing, ornament and cosmetic treatment of the skin (e.g. Mallowan& Cruikshank Rose 1935: [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURES 45-46 OMITTED];Mellaart 1975: 149, 166), indicating greater participation by women inthe discourse of cultural display. At Tell Sabi Abyad (Level 6, c. 6200 BC) in the Balikh Valley ofnorthern Syria (Akkermans & Verhoeven 1995; Akkermans 1996) thedivision of the site into rectangular and round buildings('tholoi') seems related to an increasingly pronounceddivision of labour between the sexes. The presence of pestles, spindlewhorls, loom-weights and bone awls testify to food processing andweaving within round buildings, while rectangular buildings, bycontrast, were used exclusively for the storage of grain and the conductand recording of economic transactions. Two rooms within a rectangular complex at Tell Sabi Abyad containedlarge numbers of clay geometric tokens and figurines as well as hundredsof sealings, many bearing stamped impressions, which would have beenapplied to ceramic containers and basketry (Akkermans & Duistermaat1996: 20-21). The anthropomorphic figurines, which are exclusivelyfemale, had been systematically broken at the neck or waist afterfiring, a practice also observed at the contemporary sites of Yarim TepeI (northern Mesopotamia; Merpert & Munchaev 1993: 92, [ILLUSTRATIONFOR FIGURE 6.10 OMITTED]), Tell es-Sawwan (central Mesopotamia; Oates1966: 151) and Hajji Firuz Tepe (Iranian Azerbaijan; Voigt 1983:175-81). The excavators proposed the use of geometric tokens toenumerate To count or list one by one. For example, an enumerated data type defines a list of all possible values for a variable, and no other value can then be placed into it. See device enumeration and ENUM. quantities of a specified commodity (Akkermans and Verhoeven1995: 24), while the introduction of seals provided a special form ofeconomic identity, and may signal the emancipation of property andtrading relations from those of kinship (cf. Akkermans & Duistermaat1996, but also comments by Bernbeck and others; see also Alizadeh 1994). A symbolic rhetoric based around representations of wild anddomesticated animals pervaded the regulation of resources withinrectangular compounds, implying an association with the male-dominatedrealms of animal husbandry animal husbandry,aspect of agriculture concerned with the care and breeding of domestic animals such as cattle, goats, sheep, hogs, and horses. Domestication of wild animal species was a crucial achievement in the prehistoric transition of human civilization from , herding and hunting. The roof of one of thebuildings at Tell Sabi Abyad, in which administrative procedures wereconducted, supported a series of emblematic clay 'torsos'adorned with wild sheep horns and the limbs of bovids. These images alsoappear upon the sealings found within, which feature straight-limbedhuman figures with heavy eyebrows, as well as goat or gazelle withpronounced curving horns, and 'bucrania'. In the laterHalaf-period levels at this site, the facade of a two-storey rectangularcomplex was buttressed with monumental niches (Akkermans & Le Miere1992: 12-15), and contained the by-now familiar assemblage of clayfemale and animal figurines, and geometric tokens. It seems reasonable to assert that buildings such as these wereused by men to create a political and economic realm apart from women.The increasing significance of domesticated cattle as a primarygenerator of mobile wealth (Akkermans & Le Miere 1992: 30-31; cf.Sherratt 1997b: 252-69) is suggested at this time by the prominence ofbull-heads and rams in the decoration of widely-circulated Halafceramics (e.g. Mallowan & Cruikshank Rose 1935: 154-71; Davidson& McKerrell 1976: 53; 1980: 164) and by the introduction of bullfigurines into the clay animal assemblage at Tell Sabi Abyad (Akkermans& Verhoeven 1995: 25, [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 15 OMITTED]). Lesshampered by the cost of ceremonial feasting, the decline of which issignalled by a marked decrease in wild animal bones at most sites(Merpert 1993: 122), transactions predicated upon the exchange oflivestock could occur with greater frequency than earlier forms of tradebased upon marriage alliance. Concurrently, a new etiquette of exchange developed, more in tunewith the motives of short-term acquisition. This involved controlledhospitality within the walls of male-oriented buildings, employing arange of richly decorated serving vessels [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1OMITTED] and, almost certainly, textiles (cf. Voigt 1983: 308-316). Thecultural rapport inherent in such encounters remained linked to theproductive activities of women, and may have led on occasion to lastingalliances based on marriage. Since women were the first resource overwhich socially defined rights of control were exercised, it is notsurprising that female symbolism played a part in the extension ofproperty rights to other categories of goods. Hence clay femalefigurines, evoking sentiments of trust and reciprocity associated withnuptial nup��tial?adj.1. Of or relating to marriage or the wedding ceremony.2. Of, relating to, or occurring during the mating season: the nuptial plumage of male birds.n. agreements, may have been broken in such contexts as a symbolicact of contract between men (cf. Oates 1996: 167). The growing autonomy of round structures from rectangularsuperstructures is visible as a gradual process spanning the 7thmillennium BC (for transitional stages see Voigt 1983: 3067,[ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURES 127-8 OMITTED]; Akkermans & Verhoeven1995: 9, [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 3 OMITTED]; Merpert & Munchaev1993: 94-7, [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 6.11 OMITTED]). By the end of theHalaf period, sites such as Arpachiyah and Yarim Tope II featured anumber of independent round or keyhole-shaped buildings, which resemblemonumental bread-ovens or domed kilns (cf. Buccellati et al. cited inMoorey 1994: 154). At Arpachiyah (Phase A Two, Levels VIII-VI) such'tholoi' first appear within a walled precinct where thesecondary burial of skulls in ceramic jars took place (Hijara 1978;Hijara et al. 1980: 134). Beneath the floor plaster of one such buildingat Yarim Tope, a foundation deposit containing spindle whorls, ceramicfragments, a clay figurine, pendants and animal bones was found, and thein situ In place. When something is "in situ," it is in its original location. contents of other 'tholoi' suggest that activitiesassociated with females, notably weaving and food-processing, alsopredominated within them (Merpert & Munchaev 1993: 139). Such assemblages may be contrasted with the in situ contents ofcontemporary rectangular structures, notably the well-preserved (ifmisleadingly named) 'potter's workshop' at Arpachiyah 6.Thousands of cores and chips indicate the working of stone here, whilethe variety of paraphernalia, including stone phalli/finger-bones,limestone female statuettes and amulets (Mallowan & Cruikshank Rose1935: 99-104), signify a ritualistic context for the production ofexotic items, including an exquisite necklace of obsidian beads andcowries found beneath the collapsed roof (Mallowan & Cruikshank Rose1935: plate XI). Perforated clay tags or 'bullae', oncesuspended upon the string binding with which packages were sealed, werealso recovered, and bore impressed signs (von Wickede 1990;[ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURES 54-66 OMITTED]). The prominent location ofthis building at the apex of the mound suggests a central location inthe village, comparable to that occupied by a rectangular buildingadorned with a bull's skull at Tell Aswad (Mallowan 1946: 123-6). These developments coincide with the first use of lead and copperat Arpachiyah, and occur shortly after the earliest signs of smelting atYarim Tepe II (Mallowan & Cruikshank Rose 1935: 103-4, plate X-i;Merpert & Munchaev 1993: 247-8). It seems likely that metallurgicalskills were initially concentrated in the mountainous and semi-desertareas on the northern and southern fringes of Mesopotamia (Chernykh1992; Moorey 1995). The forging of contacts required for the absorptionof this technology and its products into lowland communities is evidentin the penetration of Halaf ceramics and architecture into the highlandsaround Ergani Maden (copper and malachite malachite(măl`əkīt), a mineral, the green basic carbonate of copper occurring in crystals of the monoclinic system or (more usually) in masses. It is translucent or opaque; the luster is silky, vitreous, adamantine, or dull. ) and the Malatya-Keban region(copper and gold). Sites such as Tilki Tepe in the region of Lake Vanalso indicate a more direct interest in the sources of obsidian. Thesematerials would have entered lowland communities through the movementsof transhumant pastoralists, enhancing the role of men as procurers ofexotica ex��ot��i��ca?pl.n.Things that are curiously unusual or excitingly strange: such gustatory exotica as killer bee honey and fresh catnip sauce. . Contact and exchange over long distances, however, remained linkedto the internal structural prerogatives of village life [ILLUSTRATIONFOR FIGURE 2 OMITTED]. In defining the latter, architecture became anagent of social exclusivity The domestic hearth no longer provided ashared focus for production, consumption, exchange and ritual. Insteadwe see a process of fission fission,in physics: see nuclear energy and nucleus; see also atomic bomb. in which circumscribed spaces, symbolicallyelaborated to reflect the disparate economic functions of men and women,provided discrete realms for the performance of activities perceived associally incommensurate in��com��men��su��rate?adj.1. a. Not commensurate; disproportionate: a reward incommensurate with their efforts.b. Inadequate.2. Incommensurable. . The village institutions to which this gaverise, while still small in scale, may already have exhibited importantaspects of their later urban counterparts, notably: the mystification mys��ti��fi��ca��tion?n.1. The act or an instance of mystifying.2. The fact or condition of being mystified.3. Something intended to mystify.Noun 1. ofmanufacturing processes involving certain materials, the establishmentof a distinct realm for female labour, and the creation of an exclusiveenvironment in which male status groups managed resources and engaged intrade and mutual hospitality.(2) The 'Ubaid period: the domestication of female labour 'As painted pottery shifted gradually to the deterioration ofdesign in later periods . . . a fundamental social transformation wasunder way that we have set aside altogether in our thinking and have notdealt with.' R.MCC (The Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation, Austin, TX) The first high-tech research and development consortium in the U.S., created in 1982 by leading companies within the electronics industry. . ADAMS (closing remark at the 'Ubaid Symposium,Elsinore, 1988)(3) During the 6th and early 5th millennia BC the ceramic horizon knownas Late 'Ubaid is attested over an unprecedented area of the NearEast, reaching from the modern Gulf States and southwestern Iran, viaMesopotamia, to the northern Levant and eastern Anatolia. In northernand central Mesopotamia, it coincides with the widespread constructionof rectangular multi-room buildings, based on a tripartite plan (Tobler1950; Forest-Foucault 1980; Jasim 1985; Real 1984; Akkermans 1089). Withtheir appearance, the overt use of architecture to reinforce socialdistinctions within villages is abandoned, in favour of greater outwardhomogeneity. In the 'Ubaid levels at Tell Abada, for instance,administrative and possibly ceremonial functions, now involving a clay'proto-tablet', are concentrated in a single building(Building A). This structure is slightly more elaborate than others inthe village but essentially shares the same tripartite plan as thesurrounding domestic units. In Level III, this layout is also used fortwo structures identified as specialized pottery workshops (Jasim &Oates 1986). Structurally uniform, tripartite buildings nevertheless enclosedtheir occupants within a corporate 'shell' encompassing anunprecedented range of activities, while maintaining their mutualexclusivity through the internal control of space and movement([ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 3 OMITTED]; cf. Roaf 1989). One effect of thiswas to redefine the relationship between women, work and the household.Weaving and food preparation were now performed in relative isolation,increasing the amount of time spent within the house and diffusing theidentity of women as a self-conscious group within the village.Opportunities to congregate around open-air ovens and kilns stillexisted at Tell Abada (Jasim & Oates 1986: 353, [ILLUSTRATION FORFIGURE 1 OMITTED]), but were now limited in time to the performance ofparticular tasks. Even outside the household the segregation of onefemale activity from another was enhanced by the erection of designatedwork areas for pot-firing (now occasionally using double-chambered kilnsfor a faster turnover of vessels; Moorey 1994: 154) and decoration,spatially removed from the location of cooking ovens (Jasim 1989: 85-8). Mortuary practices suggest that another aspect of this greaterconfinement may have been a prolonged obligation to nurture infants.Young children are conventionally buried within storage or cookingvessels beneath the floors of 'Ubaid buildings, while adults aregenerally interred in cemeteries outside the settlement (Hole 1989).This would indicate that infants were considered part of the domesticrealm (and symbolically, perhaps, the natal realm), implying aprotracted period of nurturing within the household preceding initiationinto the community at large. The variety of tasks performed by women isunlikely to have decreased, therefore; what had been reduced was theirpotential to become the focus of collective ideas relating to femaleproductivity. The impact of these organizational changes is evident in thecontrast between Late 'Ubaid ceramics and their Halaf predecessors.Whereas Halaf vessels were created entirely by hand, allowing theproducer flexibility in her use of time and choice of design, theadoption of a pivoted work surface during the Late 'Ubaid period(Nissen 1988: 46) served to regulate and accelerate production whileencouraging the creation of simple linear designs by applying paint tothe rotating vessel. This was exacerbated by the segregation of pottingfrom the production of textiles, inhibiting discourse between pottersand weavers during manufacture and discouraging the 'organic'transposition transposition/trans��po��si��tion/ (trans?po-zish��un)1. displacement of a viscus to the opposite side.2. of designs between media. The channelling of female labourinto more intensive, antisocial antisocial/an��ti��so��cial/ (-so��sh'l)1. denoting behavior that violates the rights of others, societal mores, or the law.2. denoting the specific personality traits seen in antisocial personality disorder. work environments and the introductionof machinery which constrained movement and expression occurred as partof a general drive towards specialization, standardization and increasedoutput in the economy of the Near East. These changes responded to rapidproliferation in the range of available consumer-products during thelater 6th and 5th millennia BC: what Sherratt (1997b: 8-9) has called'the diversification of desire' (cf. McGovern et al. 1997). The transformation of villages into hotbeds of manufacture waslinked to the wider consolidation of northern Mesopotamian contacts,providing a flow of manufactured goods which could support permanenttrading centres beyond the plains. To the north at Degirmentepe 7, wherean administrative complex of clear Mesopotamian character wasestablished en route to the copper and silver sources of Anatolia (Esin1989; 1994), the tripartite building was transformed into a ceremonialcentre with vivid wall-paintings and a raised altar where the mainhearth would normally stand. A comparable process was triggered on thesouthern plains of Mesopotamia (Sumer) and Khuzistan which marked theway, respectively, to the maritime resources of the Persian Gulf and thenative copper and exotic stone of Iran (see Sherratt 1995). At Eridu atripartite building (level XI) was raised directly over a series ofsmall existing shrines, incorporating an altar and offering table. Farto the east, a large building adorned with clay models of goat horns waserected at Susa, adjacent to which stood a series of chambers in whichgrain was stored and a partially exposed building with monumental wallsfrom which a number of spindle-whorls were recovered. These structureswere elevated upon a massive mud brick platform which yielded a largegroup of administrative seals. Arranged beneath them, adjacent to theplatform, were pottery kilns, grain silos and other craft areas (Pollock1989). Institutions which took millennia to develop in northernMesopotamia appear to have been grafted onto the existing communities ofSumer, taking on a hierarchical aspect not detectable in their area oforigin. Here the incorporation of dispersed villages into overarchingsocial and economic networks involved a strong element of ceremonyincluding burial rites which provided occasions for the affirmation ofsupralocal ties, transforming both Susa and Eridu into centres ofpilgrimage (Hole 1989; Vertesalji 1989; cf. Sherratt 1995). Crudely madeclay figurines of livestock, particularly painted bulls and rams, arecommon in the 'Ubaid levels at Tell 'Uqair, Eridu, Ur and Uruk(e.g. Lloyd & Safar 1943: plate XVIII; Woolley 1955: 12; Ziegler1962: Abb.44-57; Forest 1996: 87), while large copper axes, disk-shapedpendants/clothing fasteners and richly decorated beakers were interredwith the dead at Susa. During this phase of rapid centralization, clay appears to haveacted as a performative medium through which processes of transition andintegration into new social roles could be tangibly expressed, and hencereinforced. The terracotta figurines found within graves at Susa, Eriduand Ur introduce the motif of a woman suckling a child, while her maleequivalent holds a phallic phallic/phal��lic/ (-ik) pertaining to or resembling a phallus. phal��licadj.1. Of, relating to, or resembling a phallus.2. sceptre SCEPTRE - Designing and analysing circuits.["SCEPTRE: A Computer Program for Circuit and Systems Analysis", J.C. Bowers et al, P-H 1971]. (e.g. Woolley 1955: plate 20; Safaret al. 1981: 234-7; Forest 1996: 88). Differences between the male andfemale physique are de-emphasized in these figurines by the applicationof dominant, androgynous an��drog��y��nous?adj.1. Biology Having both female and male characteristics; hermaphroditic.2. Being neither distinguishably masculine nor feminine, as in dress, appearance, or behavior. forms of body ornamentation ornamentationIn music, the addition of notes for expressive and aesthetic purposes. For example, a long note may be ornamented by repetition or by alternation with a neighboring note (“trill”); a skip to a nonadjacent note can be filled in with the intervening , and by the similaroverall proportions (broad shoulders and narrow hips) of male and femalestatuettes (Strommeager 1962: plates 10-12). The peculiar heads andfaces of both male and female forms serve further to obfuscatedissimilarities between the sexes, and link them to an establishedtradition of cranial cranial/cra��ni��al/ (-al)1. pertaining to the cranium.2. toward the head end of the body; a synonym of superior in humans and other bipeds.cra��ni��aladj. deformation and ornamentation which is firstevident at sites of the Halaf-Samarra complex to the north (Molleson& Campbell 1995), where direct precursors for these distinctiverepresentations are found (Roaf 1990: 56). They suggest a growingmystification of male creative forces, while the reproductive role ofwomen, like their productive role in the changing economy, wasincreasingly rationalized. Conclusion: the construction of male authority and the context ofearly writing The transformation of Late 'Ubaid centres into foci of urbansettlement during the late 5th and 4th millennia BC augmented existingeconomic developments which were already linked, such as the secondaryexploitation of animals for dairy products and wool and theconcentration of a workforce to process and package the yield (cf. Potts1997). The prominence of the tripartite building-plan among the earliesturban institutions lends credence to the view (often adduced from latertexts) that some of the latter were conceived of as 'Houses of theDeity'. To some extent, they took social and economic relationsinitially generated within the domestic household as their model, andritualized them on a monumental scale. The centralized organization of a large female workforce engaged inpotting and weaving is attested in some of the earliest texts recoveredfrom ceremonial precincts of the first known cities (Nissen 1993;Pollock 1995; Zagarell 1986). Its recruitment and maintenance had asymbolic dimension indicated by the relief decoration on the famousstone vase from Warka (Heinrich 1936: Tafel 38) which shows a processionof males bringing the yield of their herds, flocks and fields to thegates of an institution where a large female figure (?the goddessInanna) stands. She wears a long robe which almost completely disguisesthe contours of her body while the nude figures of the male providersare fully incorporated into this ordered representation of institutionallife. Her receipt of their offerings at once expresses both authorityand dependence, control and impotence. At this time, male authority received formal expression in stonemonuments such as the 'Uruk Lion Hunt Stele', minor statuary stat��u��ar��y?n. pl. stat��u��ar��ies1. Statues considered as a group.2. The art of making statues.3. A sculptor.adj.Of, relating to, or suitable for a statue. ,and a range of cylinder seals (cf. Schmandt-Besserat 1993). These depicta standardized bearded figure with a round head-dress and wovengarments. The activities he is shown to perform, such as the hunting ofanimals and the tending of herds, play upon themes associated withmasculine power since the early stages of the Neolithic. Others, such aswaging battle, travelling in a boat, and anointing the head of a female,extend the related ideas of violence and protection, venture andprovision, into new areas. His appearance in both relief carving andthree-dimensional statuary is rigid and muscular, evoking qualities ofstrength associated with the medium of stone in which he was rendered. Within this context the first system of visual communication whichwe recognize as writing was developed, employing abstract signsimpressed onto tablets of damp clay. Clay, however, was in no sense a'clean sheet' upon which the new symbolic code could betranscribed; its use as a canvas for the earliest pictographic pic��to��graph?n. In all senses also called pictogram.1. A picture representing a word or idea; a hieroglyph.2. A record in hieroglyphic symbols.3. andnumerical signs was the culmination of a process which had beenunfolding since the beginnings of sedentary life. The early stages ofthis process established the authority of clay in representing andquantifying resources through the use of figurines and tokens, whichwere integrated into the practices of ritual and hospitality throughwhich bonds of biological and fictive kinship were created. Theinception of the stamp seal answered a demand for new forms of economicinteraction and extended the role of clay in the passage of commodities.Able to absorb the imprint of engraved signs, clay 'bullae'carrying identity-marks were attached to the binding of packages,ensuring the recipient that their contents arrived as dispatched. Thisallowed forms of exchange and ownership to develop that were notcontingent upon face-to-face contact between the parties involved. AsHenri Frankfort (1939b: 3) noted, cylinder seals, a later innovation,achieved this in a more elegant way: The form of the cylinder seal is adequately explained by thefunction which it was meant to fulfil, namely to impress a distinctivemark on a soft material of varying extent, the clay with which packagesand store-jars were secured, and which, subsequently, became the vehicleof writing. Urban institutions, responsible for the organization ofunprecedented numbers of people and things, provided a context withinwhich the role of clay as a recipient of signs was abstracted from thephysical processes of storage and exchange, Here the stylus couldsupplement the seal, allowing information to be classified, quantified,ordered, stored and otherwise manipulated in a bureaucratic manner (cf.Goody 1977). The part played by clay in the evolution of cuneiformscript was not, then, that of a passive vehicle for an autonomoussequence of intellectual developments (contra Schmandt-Besserat 1992).Rather, the emergence of writing in the Near East needs to be seen interms of both practice and thought; as both a material and a mentalprocess, the relationship of which to clay was mediated through changingstructures of social and economic interaction in the transition fromvillage to urban life. Acknowledgements. This paper benefited greatly from theconstructive criticism of Roger Moorey and Andrew Sherratt. I amgrateful to them both, and also to Paul Treherne and Lynn Meskell forremarks on an earlier version. My research for 1997-1998 was madepossible by a postgraduate studentship awarded by the British AcademyHumanities Research Board. 1 All dates given in calibrated years BC. 2 For evidence of exchange and ritual in the context ofmale-dominated banquets during the late Early Dynastic period Early Dynastic Period may refer to a period of the 3rd millennium BC in either Egypt or Sumer: Early Dynastic Period of Egypt Early Dynastic Period of Sumer see Green(1993). McAdam (1993) suggests that the shaping of clay figurinesdepicting men, chariots and animals (themes also evoked by the earliestcopper statuettes cast in the 'lost-wax' technique; Frankfort1939; Moorey 1994: 259) was associated with such occasions. 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