Between an End and a New Beginning

Abstract

New research in previously unexplored or poorly documented areas of Greater Mesopotamia has made it possible to define better the chronology and distinctive material aspects of the Ubaid cultural phenomenon. In particular, the end of the Middle Chalcolithic period has been investigated in well-stratified contexts comparable with the best-known archaeological record from the Mosul-Tepe Gawra region or the Syrian steppe despite the regionally changing nature of the Ubaid cultural sphere. This article aims to present a very elemental characterisation to make this transition better recognisable during fieldwork activities. From this perspective, my paper discusses some recent ceramic data and radiocarbon dates from northern Mesopotamia (from the sites of Logardan and Boskin, in the Zagros Piedmont) and southern Mesopotamia (from the site of Tell ‘Uwaili). This approach does not intend to underestimate the complexity and diversification of economic, social, and cultural dynamics developed in different remote areas within the Ubaid sphere. On the contrary, the analysis of ceramic evolution (not only in its most superficial and visible aspects but also according to technical characteristics) aims to verify whether, towards the end of the Obeid phase, the Mesopotamian cultural world still had its own internal coherence, or whether the post-Obeid transition marked a general cultural fragmentation along divergent lines of development in the different regions.