Review:In 1978 one of the world's most distinguished Assyriologists wrote, 'a systematic and critical inventory of the technological achievements of Mesopotamian civilization is needed to establish the degree to which Mesopotamian man succeeded in mastering nature, an essential aspect of the man-nature relationship in any civilization. This inventory will remain woefully inadequate, however, for two reasons: the paucity of the evidence available and the lack of scholarly interest in material culture' (A.L. Oppenheim, quoted in Moorey 1985: ix).
Although some preliminary studies of ancient Mesopotamian materials had been attempted, there was at that time no publication even superficially comparable with Alfred Lucas' Ancient Egyptian materials and industries, a veritable materials bible in Egyptology. Some years ago Roger Moorey set out to remedy this situation, and his immensely useful BAR volume, Materials and manufacture in Ancient Mesopotamia: the evidence of archaeology and art, was published in 1985. It presented the existing published evidence for the interactive technologies of metal, glazed materials and glass, and has proved an invaluable reference volume for students and specialists alike.
It has been Moorey's intention to provide Oppenheim's 'systematic and critical inventory' of a range of materials comparable with Lucas, a more difficult task since preservation in Mesopotamia does not begin to match that in Egypt. Nonetheless, Moorey has been remarkably successful, a success which the new volume carries a significant stage further.
Here are extensively revised chapters drawn from the 1985 publication together with new chapters covering the stone-working crafts, both common and ornamental (chapters 1 & 2); bone, ivory and shell (chapter 3); and the building crafts (chapter 6); the latter also incorporates a section on glazed brick architectural ornament drawn from the 1985 volume. Chapter 5 is an up-dated version of the original 1985 section on metals and metalworking, while chapter 4 is an extended version of the original sections on glaze and related materials, and glass, to which a new section on the craft of the potter has been added.
Tools as well as techniques provide the focus, and all published analyses are carefully documented. As in the 1985 volume, notes are provided on terminology, both ancient and modern, chronology and geography. In the new volume an introductory chapter provides general background on agriculture, resources, routes and transport, together with comment on the textual sources, which in Mesopotamia, though still minimally explored, are of far greater potential than those of Egypt.
Archaeologists have often been criticized for an excessive preoccupation with material culture, while the history of technology has in general been consigned to a relatively low academic status. As Childe wrote long ago, 'the bulk of the archaeological record falls within the domain tritely termed "Material Culture", but such trifles do not constitute the archaeological record; they merely provide a frame to support a pattern of more vital tissue' (1956: 38, 56).
In the Near East Moorey is well aware of the degree to which 'processual archaeology' and its theoretical successors have been instrumental in the 'lack of concern with the systematic study of local crafts and industries'. Indeed, the post-war focus on the emergence of food-producing societies and the subsequent, and in the Near East concomitant, growth of complex urban states 'has increased rather than diminished the tendency to marginalise coherent studies of material culture' (p. v).
Moorey's aims are relatively modest, though this comment should in no way be taken to indicate a less-than-overwhelmingly successful book. It is not his purpose to write a history of craft and technology, but to present the available data as a first step towards the accomplishment of such a volume(s). Ideally, archaeological and textual evidence of the types published here should be integrated within a wider social and economic framework, but in the Near East the lack of interest in such studies has left Moorey a monumental task simply in the first stage of such an enterprise.
Nor is his emphasis on 'invention' in an 'origins' sense: 'Technological change was not a series of self-contained stages linked together in some chain of causality. As always, cultural factors were as important as practicability in determining whether or not craft practices were modified or changed. Any successful technology, in the broadest sense, is the result of a subtle combination of physical means (resources and tools) and social communication (diffusion and training) . . . and degree of receptivity.' Moreover, 'in ancient Mesopotamia traditional ways of doing things persisted side-by-side with newer ways' (p. vi).
We are all in Moorey's debt, and the few remarks that follow constitute the most minor of suggested additions to an impressive and very readable text. The present volume covers work published through 1991. Obviously, much has been published since that time, in particular the first volumes of Kleinfunden from the very important excavations at Uruk-Warka, which will add substantially to our knowledge of stone, metal and glass-related crafts.
Among the few minor additions that might be suggested are, on p. 2: the seeder plough is illustrated on an Early Dynastic seal from Suleimeh (Al-Gailani Werr 1992: no 17).
P. 3: domesticated bovids are now known as early as the 7th millennium b.c. (Bouqras), while the TT6 house at Arpachiyah 'overlies' the tholoi.
P. 39: to carved stone vessels should now be added those from PPNA Hallan Cemi in Anatolia (Rosenberg & Davis 1992).
P. 75: Gawra XIII is not 'approximately contemporary with Uruk IV'.
P. 104: cylinder seals are now securely dated to Middle Uruk at both Brak and Shaikh Hassan.
P. 151: the earliest pottery vessels known come from Mureybet (with an uncalibrated radiocarbon determination of 8000 b.c., Cauvin 1977: 35); the fire-hardened fragments from Ganj Dareh are the result of the fire which both destroyed and preserved the settlement (cf. Smith 1990: 325, an important article also in the context of chapter 6).
P. 149: the only 'white ware' vessels found up to now east of Syria come from Maghzaliyah; the examples cited from Umm Dabaghiyah and Chagha Sefid are no more than basket linings or lids.
P. 152: a few shreds of very early bi-chrome pottery have been found at 'Oueili; the second colour is not fired and therefore washes off with unfortunate ease!
There are some inconsistencies among prehistoric dates, presumably because some determinations remained uncalibrated in the revised text (e.g. Tell es-Sawwan, pp. 24, 39).
P. 256: the role of metal in 'Ubaid Mesopotamia is said to be minimal, though the inadequacy of the available data is recognized; one would have liked Moorey's view on the role of the "Ubaid settlement' at Deg'ir mentepe (across the Taurus near Malatya) with its extensive evidence for metal-working. Moorey also notes that the early development of lost-wax casting 'indicates some kind of previous development in 'Ubaid contexts' (p. 256).
P. 340: there is some evidence for the architectural use of stone in the 2nd millennium in the unique orthostat and the carved impost blocks from Tell al-Rimah (Oates 1966; 1967).
P. 340: Basalt was used from the Neolithic for grinding-stones, mortars etc., but true mill-stones are a very late (probably Roman) innovation.
In chapter 6 Moorey gives a very useful and comprehensive summary of building materials and their use. A few additional points might be made. Oppenheim, who was an Assyriologist, is perhaps not the best source for a comment on innovation in brick architecture (p. 304), especially since the earliest domes and vaults were built not in fired but in sun-dried mud-brick (e.g. Tell al-Rimah). In fact, despite some experimentation with a concrete-like compacted marl compressed in wooden forms at 7th millennium b.c. Nemrik, throughout the history of Mesopotamia most mortar was of mud composition, even in monumental buildings (and remains so today).
The very large quantity of mortar required for only a simple house would almost certainly exclude the possibility that substances like cedar oil or honey were added for other than ritual purposes, despite their theoretical functional advantages (p. 305). As Moorey remarks, the same type of mixture is used for bricks, mortar and plaster (mud plus water plus straw or chaff, the latter normally used in mortar and plaster), but for the best results the mixture is left to bake or 'ferment' for a short time. Mud-bricks can be salvaged from old buildings (as in one of our dig houses at Brak), but one would expect the bricks for public buildings to have been newly made.
Bricks made from settlement debris (grey as opposed to red from fresh soil) are considered to be of better quality. Free-standing columns are now better-attested than at the time of Collon's 1969 paper; of especial importance are the 'hypostyle halls' of early 6th millennium b.c. 'Oueili (Huot & Vallat 1990).
But these are very minor additions to a book of such comprehensive coverage. Indeed, the volume is remarkably free of error, either typographical or factual, a notable achievement in a book so crammed with detailed information. In short, this is an impressive volume, and the detailed technological explanations, the extensive archaeological commentary and the very comprehensive bibliography make it a book that deserves space on the bookshelves of all students of the ancient world. We much look forward to the next edition!
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- Joan Oates,McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research ; University of Cambridge
References CAUVIN, J. 1977. Les fouilles de Mureybet (1971-1974) et leur signification pour les origines de la sedentarisation au Proche-Orient, Annual American School of Oriental Research 44: 19-48.
CHILDE, V.G. 1956. Piecing together the past. New York (NY): Praeger.
AL-GAILANI WERR, L. (ed.). 1992. Old Babylonian cylinder seals from the Hamrin. London: Nabu Publications. Edubba 2.
HUOT, J.-L. & R. VALLAT, 1990. Les habitations a salles hypostyles d'epoque Obeid O de Tell el 'Oueili, Paleorient 16:125-30.
OATES, D. 1966. Excavations at Tell al Rimah. 1965, Iraq 38: 122-39.
1967. Excavations at Tell al Rimah, 1966, Iraq 39:, 70-96.
SMITH, P.E.L. 1990. Archaeological innovation and experimentation at Ganj Dareh, Iran, World Archaeology 21: 323-35.
ROSENBERG, M. & M.K. DAVID. 1992. Hallan Cemi Tepesi, an early aceramic neolithic site in Eastern Anatolia, Anatolica 18: 1-18.
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