Incipient Social Complexity in The Ubaid Horizon (5800-4000 BC)

叙利亚幼发拉底河流域的泰尔扎伊丹（Tell Zeidan）的发掘工作调查了6000年前“大美索不达米亚”（今伊拉克、叙利亚和土耳其东南部）世界上最早的城市文明的根源。最早的城市都起源于早期的“神庙镇”，最早出现于公元前5500-4000年的巴比伦时期。因此，了解乌拜文化对于研究复杂社会最初是如何发展的至关重要。不幸的是，大多数乌拜德神庙镇仍然极难调查，因为这一时期的考古水平埋在底格里斯河和幼发拉底河的冲积泥沙的深层沉积物之下，或者埋在数千年后的占领之下。然而，在扎伊丹的发掘为调查乌拜德时期的政治和经济组织提供了一个独特的机会，因为这个城镇没有被河流泥沙深深掩埋，而且它的史前水平可以直接进入现在的地表。乌巴德时期见证了美索不达米亚南部第一个复杂社会的发展，最早的证据是有寺庙、经济分化、灌溉和集中领导的城镇。公元前5000年，乌拜德的影响从美索不达米亚南部扩展开来，形成了一种从叙利亚延伸到波斯湾1500公里的广泛风格。然而，令人沮丧的是，我们仍然对Ubaid社会的三个关键方面知之甚少：a)政治领导和社会分层在这些政治中是如何发挥作用的；b)阿拉伯风格是否通过殖民、贸易或某些意识形态的影响而传播；c)在更广阔的Ubaid范围内，是什么过程将该地区不同的当地群体联系起来？到目前为止，我们对叙利亚乌拜德人的信息完全来自对小村庄遗址的挖掘。然而，扎伊丹广阔的水平挖掘可以提供第一个代表性的社区组织视图，在一个大型的乌巴德区域中心。2008年的测试挖掘发现了公元前6000-4000年的连续地层序列，使该项目能够追踪乌巴德文化传播到该地区的方式，以及它如何作为一个复杂的社会运作。第五千年后职业的缺失允许在扎伊丹的乌拜德时期城镇的广泛水平暴露。在上美索不达米亚没有其他已知的地点可以提供这种类型的数据。扎伊丹的发掘对学术研究、国际合作和文化遗产保护有着深远的影响。该项目将为考古理论和我们的经验知识做出贡献，因为它提供了第一个机会，让我们得以了解一个乌巴德区域中心的广阔区域。这将使研究人员能够记录复杂社会最初是如何发展和运作的。该项目还对国际研究合作产生重大影响。作为与叙利亚古物部共同指导的项目，该项目将通过培训当地大学生和以英语和阿拉伯语出版研究成果，改善与中东考古学家的互动。最后，该项目将教育当地社区重视和保护其丰富的文化遗产。项目工作人员将安排现场参观、公开讲座和阿拉伯语书面指南，在拉卡省博物馆和当地学校免费分发。

Excavations at Tell Zeidan in the Euphrates river valley of Syria investigate the roots of the world's earliest known urban civilizations 6000 years ago in "Greater Mesopotamia" (modern Iraq, Syria, and southeast Turkey). The first cities all have their roots in earlier "temple towns" that first arose in the Ubaid period ca. 5500-4000 BC. Understanding the Ubaid culture is thus crucial for any investigation of how complex societies first developed. Unfortunately, most Ubaid temple towns remain extremely difficult to investigate, because the archaeological levels of this period lie buried beneath deep deposits of alluvial silts from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, or beneath millennia of later occupations. However, excavations at Zeidan give a unique opportunity to investigate political and economic organization in the Ubaid period, because this town was not deeply buried by river silts, and its prehistoric levels are immediately accessible beneath the present ground surface.The Ubaid period saw the development of the first complex societies in southern Mesopotamia, with the earliest evidence for towns with temples, economic differentiation, irrigation, and centralized leadership. Ca. 5000 BC, Ubaid influence expanded out of southern Mesopotamia to form a widespread style extending over 1500 km from Syria to the Persian Gulf. However, we still know frustratingly little about 3 key aspects of Ubaid society: a) how did political leadership and social stratification actually function in these polities; b) did Ubaid styles spread through colonization, trade, or the influence of some ideology; and c) what processes linked the diverse local groups across this area within the broader Ubaid horizon? Until now, our information on the Ubaid in Syria has derived entirely from the excavation of small village sites. However, broad horizontal excavation at Zeidan can provide the first representative view of community organization at a large Ubaid regional center. 2008 test excavations found a continuous stratigraphic sequence from 6000-4000 BC, allowing the project to trace the ways that Ubaid culture spread into this region, and how it functioned as a complex society. The absence of post 5th millennium occupations permits broad horizontal exposures of the Ubaid period town at Zeidan. No other known site in upper Mesopotamia can provide this type of data.Excavations at Zeidan have significant broader impact for scholarship, international collaboration, and cultural heritage protection. The project will contribute to both archaeological theory and to our empirical knowledge by providing the first opportunity to expose broad areas of an Ubaid regional center. This will permit researchers to document how complex societies first developed and functioned. The project also has major impacts on international research collaboration. As a jointly directed program with the Syrian Antiquities Department, the project will improve interaction with Middle Eastern archaeologists by training local university students and by publishing its results in both English and Arabic. Finally, the project will educate the local community to value and protect its rich cultural heritage. Project staff will develop site tours, public lectures and written guides in Arabic for free distribution at the Raqqa provincial museum and local schools.