Social archaeology of the potters of North Mesopotamia in the 5th - 4th millennium BC

本研究的目的是重建铜石时代的美索不达米亚的社会经济发展，使用从解决告诉Kosak Shamali，叙利亚的考古数据。该遗址位于幼发拉底河上游的东岸，自1994年以来一直是东京大学团队深入考古调查的重点。1994年至1997年的发掘工作产生了丰富的乌拜德至乌拜克时期的史前材料，包括一系列带有陶工陶和窑的分层制陶作坊。发掘的区域可能是几个世纪以来的专门工作场所，因此提供了关于铜石器时期社会经济结构发展以及陶器生产技术的宝贵数据。详细的分析定义了铜器时代Tell Kosak Shamali陶器生产“专业化”的变化性质。这表明公元前4000年前早期的陶器生产主要是在独立专业化体系下进行的，而公元前4000年后的陶器生产则明显是由独立专业化和附属专业化的混合体系所支配。这种转变似乎相当迅速，可能是由各种社会因素，如日益复杂的社会中的政治和象征性要求所引导的。

The present study aimed to reconstruct the socio-economic development of the Chalcolithic period of Mesopotamia, using the archaeological data from the settlement of Tell Kosak Shamali, Syria. The site, situated on the east bank of the Upper Euphrates, has been a focus for intensive archaeological investigations by the University of Tokyo team since 1994. The excavations in 1994 to 1997 produced rich prehistoric materials of the Ubaid to Uruk period, including a series of stratified pottery workshops completed with potter's too]s and kilns. The excavated area may have been a specialized workplace for several centuries, thus providing valuable data on the development of socio-economic structure as well as pottery production technology in the Chalcolithic period. The detailed analysis a defined the changing nature of "specialization" for pottery production at Tell Kosak Shamali in the Chalcolithic period. It suggests that the pottery production prior to the early 4th millennium BC was mostly conducted under the independent specialization system, while that of the later period was apparently governed by the mixing system of the independent ,,and attached specialization. The shift seems a rather rapid one, probably guided by a variety of such social factors as political and symbolic demands among the increasingly more complex society.