Magic Spades in Mesopotamia

MAGIC SPADES IN MESOPOTAMIA THEOPHILE J, MEEK T HE past few years have been stirring ones in Me~o~otam~a~ arc~aeology. N ever since Geor?e . ' Sm!th s thrillIng dIscovery of the Flood Story In 1872 have there been such startling 'finds, each year vying ' with the others in ' the importance of its discoveries,' Never has' there been such activity in the field, with all the important nations represented in the work. .Numer-' OllS sites have been excavated in every part of the country, on a scale not attempted before and following a vastly more scientific technique, with careful attention given to stratification, pottery types, and the careful recording of all finds. 1 The result has been, not only an enlargement of our knowledge of the periods of ,Mesopotamian history concerning which we had some previous knowledge, but the opening up of a whole vista of pre-history absolutely , undreamed of a few years ago, carrying us back to a date unbelievably remote, estimated to be at least as early as 50ooB.C.2 I t is the purpose of this paper to sketch the new picture of Mesopotamian history that has resulted from these discoveries, and it will deal with the several ,P~Ei?~.i~5~~()~?1.?.~i~_~!__?_~~~~.:...._ ...__._.__ __.______..____..... _ ....___._ .. lThe modern technique is well set forth in, two manuals: Bade, A Manual of Excavation in the Near East, 1934, and du Buisson, La Technique des Joui/les arcMologiques, 1934. 2Unfortunatel'y there is no generally accepted , system of chronology for Mesopotamian history, because there is no date that can be fixed with absolute certainty earlier than the ninth century B.C. Astronomers have attempted to determine certain early dates astronomically, but, working on exactly the same data, they have arrived at very different results) no two of them agreeing. An important tablet discovered by the University of Chicago expedition at Khor. sabad some years ago would help to solve some of the problems, but unfortunately the tablet still remains unpublished. The dates given in this paper follow a short chronology and are considerably lower than those of many scholars. If they err in any respect, it is in being too conservative. 228 MAGIC SPADES IN MESOPOTAMIA THE PRE-DYNASTIC PERIOD, c. 5000 to c. 3000 B.C. Until comparatively recent times practically nothing was known about the Pre-dyn. astic Period, beyond the meagre statements incorporated in their historical records by the Sumerians themselves. Then came the excavations at Tell Halaf in north-western Mesopotamia and at , al-Ubaid, Uruk, and Jemdet N asr in the south, each in turn revealing for the first time a distinct period of prehistoric culture, that can now be fitted into a sequence of four, each with its own several phases of development. Since it was at these sites that the several periods were first clearly atte.sted, they have given their names to the periods and these are accordingly known in chronological order as the Tell Halaf, the al-Ubaid, the Uruk, and the Jemdet N asr periods. 1. The Tell H ala! Period. Artifacts of Mousterian man have been discovered by Miss Garrod in caves near Sulaimaniya in central ¥esopotamia, and some incised and monochrome burnished wares have been found on virgin soil at certain northern sites, such as Nineveh, Tepe Gawra, Arpachiya, Chagar Bazar, and Tell Halaf, which show affinities with the neolithic pottery of Syria and may in turn be neolit~ic. However,' the oldest cultllre so far definitely attested in Mesopotamia, the Tell Halaf,3 is clearly chalcolithic. From· various indication ? we know that metal ·was used, but not very extensively . At Tepe Gawra a hoard of fluted gold beads·was discovered, secreted in a pot, the earliest examples of worked metal known and the first evidence of value being placed on gold. In this period great skill was shown in the working of obsidian into knives, scrapers, beads, vases, and bowls; and the usual array of seals (stamp-·The excavations at Tell Halaf itself are reported by von Oppenheim, Der Ttll l/alaJ, 1931; also published in an English translation. 229 THE...