Dan Lawrence

Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Landscapes of Settlement and Mobility in the Middle Euphrates: A Reassessment

Abstract Urbanization occupies an ambiguous position in the development of the Middle Euphrates region of Turkey and Syria, in part because the area frequently formed a contested region between other stronger Early Bronze Age polities. This paper aims to review evidence from a series of archaeological surveys to illustrate trends in settlement during the 4th and 3rd millennium BC. Re-analysis of survey data from three exemplar regions in the Middle Euphrates demonstrates that by including settlement away from the main Euphrates Valley we get a picture of two main zones of settlement corresponding to agro-ecological zones. In the northern zone, settlements underwent phases of nucleation and dispersal through time, but long-term configurations were relatively stable. In contrast, a southern zone, south of the Sajur Valley, was characterized by rapid colonization and some degree of boom and bust growth of towns, perhaps encouraged by the opportunities afforded by the high risk but high rewards of the ‘zone of uncertainty’. Although ecological conditions and climate change played a role in settlement growth and failure, in part by setting the parameters for agro-pastoral production, it is evident that socio-political circumstances, chronic conflict and sheer opportunism were probably key to both the growth and decline of the southern settlements.

Hubs and Upstarts: Pathways to Urbanism in the Northern Fertile Crescent

Abstract The origins of urbanism are a controversial subject, with neo-evolutionary progress through graduated stages of ‘civilisation’ still having significant influence despite criticism, while others in the field prefer more diverse, regionally based trajectories. Using data collected over 30 years and applying the full range of archaeological and historical sources, the authors offer an alternative reading of the evidence, identifying multiple pathways to urbanism within a single region—northern Mesopotamia. Here, early urbanism was a phased and pulsating phenomenon that could be sustained only within particular geographic parameters and for limited periods. Older urban hubs, growing slowly, were accompanied by rapidly expanding new sites, with the combination of the different forms demonstrating the complexities of urban growth.

Long term population, city size and climate trends in the Fertile Crescent : a first approximation.

Over the last 8000 years the Fertile Crescent of the Near East has seen the emergence of urban agglomerations, small scale polities and large territorial empires, all of which had profound effects on settlement patterns. Computational approaches, including the use of remote sensing data, allow us to analyse these changes at unprecedented geographical and temporal scales. Here we employ these techniques to examine and compare long term trends in urbanisation, population and climate records. Maximum city size is used as a proxy for the intensity of urbanisation, whilst population trends are modelled from settlement densities in nine archaeological surveys conducted over the last 30 years across the region. These two measures are then compared with atmospheric moisture levels derived from multiple proxy analyses from two locations close to the study area, Soreq Cave in Israel and Lake Van in south-eastern Turkey, as well as wider literature. The earliest urban sites emerged during a period of relatively high atmospheric moisture levels and conform to a series of size thresholds. However, after the Early Bronze Age maximum urban size and population levels increase rapidly whilst atmospheric moisture declines. We argue that although the initial phase of urbanization may have been linked to climate conditions, we can see a definitive decoupling of climate and settlement patterns after 2000 BC. We relate this phenomenon to changes in socio-economic organisation and integration in large territorial empires. The complex relationships sustaining urban growth during this later period resulted in an increase in system fragility and ultimately impacted on the sustainability of cities in the long term.

Northern outpost of the Caliphate: maintaining military forces in a hostile environment (the Dariali Gorge in the Central Caucasus in Georgia)

Abstract The strategic significance of the Dariali Gorge, the main pass across the central Caucasus, has long been recognised. It forms a border today as it has done for much of the past 2000 years. But how was an effective military force sustained in an isolated Alpine environment? Excavations, osteoarchaeology and landscape survey have revealed that the Early Middle Ages saw as much investment in controlling this key route as there was in Antiquity. Guarded by the same Muslim-led garrison for at least a quarter of a millennium, its survival in a harsh environment was made possible through military effort and long-distance food supplies.

Correction: Long Term Population, City Size and Climate Trends in the Fertile Crescent: A First Approximation

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0152563.].

Progress, problems, and possibilities of GIS in the South Caucasus: an international workshop summary

In response to increased international collaboration in archaeological research of the South Caucases, a recent workshop has addressed important issues in applying GIS to the study of heavily modified landscapes in the former Soviet republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

New Book Chronicle

As I sit down to write this issue’s NBC, Britain is still part of the European Union, although for how long and under what circumstances is something of a mystery, even to our current government. The EU has frequently been compared to an empire, both by its detractors and supporters, demonstrating the political capital we still invest in the term. This NBC will take a short trip into the archaeology of empires and borders, and discover that the issues of integration and migration currently concerning the EU have long histories. We will end with a detour into another pressing concern for many in the present, that of inequality. Here, too, the temporal scope available to archaeology means we have a lot to say.