Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Ubaid Agriculture at Kenan Tepe, Southeastern Turkey

University Of Connecticut, Storrs CT

Investigators

Abstract

Under the supervision of Dr. Alexia Smith, Philip Graham will analyze Ubaid period archaeobotanical remains from the site of Kenan Tepe in order to better understand the agricultural system at the site and its relationship to social change. The Ubaid period was a time of social transformation that followed the emergence of small agricultural villages and preceded the first large territorial states. This development began in Southern Mesopotamia in modern day Iraq, and gradually spread north. Kenan Tepe is located near the Tigris River in Southeastern Turkey within the sphere of Northern Mesopotamia. It has generally been assumed that the social changes evident at this time were facilitated by intensified agriculture and that the spread of Ubaid culture modified existing social structures through increased privatization of agricultural produce. This hypothesis has never been tested with plant data. Archaeobotany, the study of plant use in antiquity, is an ideal tool for investigation agricultural practices and examining this idea. During the latter part of the Ubaid period (4650 BC) Kenan Tepe was occupied by individuals living in household units and elements of the Ubaid culture, such as the pottery, architectural style, and other artifacts had been adopted. One of the Ubaid household structures on the mound burned in antiquity in a catastrophic fire. This burning led to the preservation of large amounts of botanical remains in their original locations, providing a unique opportunity to investigate how the agricultural system of the Ubaid period functioned and how that system was expressed on the household level. The excavators at Kenan Tepe paid special attention to the collection of micro remains, especially charred botanicals, and over 300 samples will be examined in this study. Mr. Graham's research integrates household archaeology and archaeobotany to investigate the level of privatization of agricultural produce and social stratification by examining the differences in the archaeobotanical assemblages between households. Activity areas, or discrete locations where a specific activity occurred, will be identified and associated with agricultural practice and plant use. By mapping spatial differences in archaeobotanical assemblages across the site, the movements of plants around the household and the settlement can be assessed. This project will have broader impacts outside of archaeobotany and the archaeology of the Ubaid. One goal of this project is to educate the public about the important relationships between the agricultural economy and social change. This will be accomplished by presenting the results of this study in both Turkey and the United States. Copies of the results will be sent to archaeologists working in Turkey so that they will have free and open access to the data. In the United States, public outreach efforts include partnering with two local museums, the Connecticut Archaeology Center and the Robbins Museum of Archaeology in Massachusetts to give a series of free public lectures. At the same time, publication in referred journals will continue to disseminate the project's results to the scientific community. Finally, Philip Graham will gain valuable training in archaeobotanical methods and data analysis and ecological survey.