Nishiaki, Y. (2016) Tell Kosak Shamali (Tishreen). In: A History of Syria in One Hundred Sites, edited by Y. Kanjou and A. Tsuneki, pp. 76–79. Oxford: Archaeopress. (original) (raw)
The discovery ofseveral pottery workshops, updraft kilns, potters tools, wasters and unfired vessel fragments at the site of Tell Sabi Abyad offered the opportunity for a detai/ed study of pottery production organization. 1 Studies ofproduction organization and workshops or kilns are rare in Near Eastern arehaeology. Unfired vessel fragments are even less often reported, and ifthey are published, they are never discussed in detai/. However, at Sabi Abyad these remnants ofvessels and waste from the shaping process proved valuable for the reconstruction ofdiffèrent aspects ofthe production cycle, including clay preparation, shaping and spatial organization in the workshop. LeidenJournal ofPottery Studies 23,2007: 21-40.
THE IRON AGE IIA POTTERY ASSEMBLAGE AT TELL ES-SÂFI/GATH
The Proceedings of the 4th International Congress of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near, 29 March – 3 April 2004, Freie Universität Berlin, Volume II. East Social and Cultural Transformation. The Archaeology of Transitional Periods and Dark Ages, 2008
Investigating the early pottery neolithic of Northern Syria: New evidence from Tell Sabi Abyad
American journal of …
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . Abstract The 2001-2003 excavations at Tell Sabi Abyad in northern Syria have provided important new information on the nature and development of the Pottery Neolithic settlement at the site in the seventh and sixth millennia B.C. The fieldwork has produced a long sequence of small and continually shifting occupations, in the order of 0.5-1.0 ha, each with rich assemblages of very early ceramics and other artifacts. There is proof for localized abandonment and the episodic contraction and expansion of occupation over the site. Living in small, dispersed groups, leaving extensive areas of the site uninhabited, was a basic practice of Neolithic settlers at Tell Sabi Abyad (and probably elsewhere as well) . Of particular note was the discovery of well-preserved building levels belonging to the initial stage of the Pottery Neolithic, ca. 6600-6200 B.C., providing insight into the character of settlement and material culture of one of the poorest known periods in the history of Syria and the northern Levant. Single-and multiroomed houses came to light, often with white-plastered floors and walls. The ceramics from these buildings are among the earliest found in the Near East to date. Distinct changes in the organization of the communities and the material culture took place at ca. 6200 B.C. and were associated with, among other things, the appearance of circular buildings and clay sealings as indicators of controlled storage.* * We wish to express our gratitude to the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums in Damascus, Syria, for its continued assistance and encouragement concerning the research at Tell Sabi Abyad. Particular thanks go to Dr. Bassam Jamous, director-general, and Dr. Michel al-Maqdissi, director of excavations. We also thank Murhaf al-Khalaf , Department of Antiquities, Raqqa, and our representative, Nauras al-Mohammed, for their much-valued help. Warm thanks are also due to Mikko Kriekfor his preparation of the illustrations. The excavations were conducted under the auspices of the Netherlands National Museum of Antiquities and Leiden University, under the direction of Peter M.M.G. Akkermans. The 2001-2003 field seasons and the subsequent analysis of the excavation results were accomplished with the support of the National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden University, Free University Amsterdam, State University Groningen, Syria Shell Petroleum Development BV, Foundation for Anthropology and Prehistory in the Netherlands, and the Netherlands Foundation for Scientific Research (dossier W-02-1 347); we are extremely grateful for their help. 1 All dates in this report are calibrated dates B.C., based on the radiocarbon calibration program Calib Rev.4.4 from the University of Washington. may easily have become centers of social and economic engagement, providing food, shelter, security, and storage, as well as opportunities for marriages, festivities, rituals, and political decisions. Tell Sabi Abyad in the upper Balikh valley of northcentral Syria (fig perhaps unbroken, sequence of occupation and serving as a central place in the local settlement system in the Pottery Neolithic. Made up of about 5 ha and rising up to 6 m above the surrounding plain, Tell Sabi Abyad is among the largest prehistoric sites in the region. Part of the mound as we see it today is deeply buried, and its earliest deposits occur at a depth of 2 to 4 m below the modern field level. Contrary to the impression created at first sight, Tell Sabi Abyad is not a single, coherent site; it consists of four low, contiguous mounds, each with its own history of settlement, that have merged over time ( . Substantial Bronze Age overburdens obscure the early deposits, fill the saddles between the mounds, and add to the illusion of a single site.