Stefan Karol Kozlowski

Architecture of the pre‐pottery neolithic settlement in Nemrik, Iraq

Abstract The excavations at the site of Nemrik in northern Iraq have revealed a unique series of pre‐pottery neolithic settlements dating from the ninth to the first half of the seventh millennium be. Especially notable is the evidence for house architecture, including interior fittings and the unusual pillar structures which seem to have been supports for the roof. The architecture displays a clear course of development in technique of construction, form, roof support system and the conception of interior fixtures, from the earliest simple hut‐like structures to large, relatively richly furnished mud‐brick houses with wooden and later, unique to Nemrik, compacted marl roof‐supporting pillars. Technological progress is seen as the major factor in the architectural transformations of the eighth and seventh millennia bc.

Archaeology and Cartography: In Search of the Prehistoric Cultures in the Neolithic Near East

This paper investigates the geographical distribution of several types of artefacts and practices for the earlier stages of the Neolithic in the Near East. Through a rigorous and systematic cartographic process, it is shown that these various distributions are not random but appear to follow recurrent patterns in both time and space. It is suggested that these geographical coherent “territories” correspond to the material translation of a past human reality, although not necessarily past tribes or ethnic groups.