Institute of Archaeology

This paper is the preliminary report of an ongoing research on the Early Dynastic contexts uncovered by L. Woolley at Ur in 1920s-1930s. The aim of this study is to reconstruct the contexts of the ED levels, in order to provide an updated archaeological sequence. To reconstruct each context, the excavated materials will be associated according to their stratigraphical and functional relationships. The sequence of the Pit will be discussed on the basis of the examination of the Ur excavations original records stored at the British Museum. In addition a series of unpublished objects kept at the British Museum and the University Museum of Philadelphia will be presented.

Between 1930-1932 C. L. Woolley and his staff investigated the so-called “archaic” levels of the Ziqqurat Terrace, the sanctuary of the moon god Nanna-Zu’en at Ur. Two superimposed phases (Archaic II-I) of a complex consisting of a large rectangular boundary wall encompassing domestic-like buildings (kitchen temples), were extensively exposed. This paper aims at re-assessing the Archaic I phase evidence from a contextual point of view. In order to reconstruct the excavated loci, a thorough analysis of the unpublished archive of the Ur excavation kept at the British Museum of London was carried out, and the original materials, housed at the BM and the Penn Museum of Philadelphia, were taken into examination afresh. The outcome of this study would be a functional analysis of the Archaic I phase, completed by a new discussion of the finds. This would provide new element for the discussion of the chronological framework of this phase, as well as shed more light on the activities carried out in one of the most important sanctuaries of Early Dynastic Mesopotamia.

Between 1930 and 1932 C. L. Woolley and his staff investigated the so-called “archaic” levels of the Ziqqurat Terrace, namely the sanctuary of the moon-god Nanna at Ur. Two superimposed phases (Archaic II-I) of a large complex consisting of a rectangular boundary wall and domestic-like buildings were exposed. This paper aims at re-assessing the Archaic I phase evidence in the light of both the unpublished archives and the original materials of the Ur excavation kept in the British Museum (London) and in the Penn Museum (Philadelphia). The outcome of this paper is a new discussion of the use of space and the chronological framework of this phase, in order to throw more light on one of the most important sanctuaries of Early Dynastic Mesopotamia.

This article presents a reconsideration of the architecture, stratigraphy and finds from Building Level H, excavated in Trial Pit F at Ur. Analysis of Woolley's original excavation records, kept at the British Museum, provides the basis for a contextual reconstruction. A new complete study of published and unpublished materials now housed at the British Museum and at the Penn Museum of Philadelphia is offered here. Distribution of in situ artefacts is examined here in order to provide insights on the function of the excavated loci. Finally, pottery and glyptic assemblages, considered from a regional perspective, are used to define the chronological horizon of Level H.

Political economies of early Mesopotamia are traditionally modeled upon text-oriented research and unilinear schemes. These approaches are flawed in many ways and often over-emphasized the agency of élite groups. An integrated strategy combining archaeological, textual and anthropological theories is used here to draw a more nuanced picture of social arrangements in early 3rd millennium BC Ur. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the changes of political organization and on the manifold economic strategies put in place by political powers in an early urban system in southern Mesopotamia

The present article aims at modeling patterns of storage and exchange of consumables in the first half
of the 2nd millennium BC (Middle Bronze Age) in Northern Levant. For reconstructing collection
and distribution of staple products at intra- and inter-societal level, data are drawn from archaeological
case studies and administrative technologies. The goal of this investigation is that of shedding
more light on the economic integration between different sectors of the population in the Levantine
societies of the Middle Bronze Age, with a particular focus on the strategies used by political elites
for extracting capital from primary production and craft activities.

Emergent institutions are considered pivotal in the shift from small-scale to urban, and politically- centralized societies in the ancient Near East. Despite the abundance of evidence on this phenomenon, a detailed definition of the “structures and performances” of emergent political institutions is yet to be offered, making early Mesopotamian institutions as de facto black boxes. This paper focuses on the construction of large-scale networks by political institutions in Late Chalcolithic Mesopotamia with the aim of reframing narratives on their developmental traits. The article draws on archaeological, textual and anthropological evidence for attempting to define some determinants of institutional behaviors and political economies in early urban Mesopotamia.

According to an ever-growing social scientific literature, the power of the state to raise revenues (levy taxes) is considered one of the pillars of state capacity, alongside the control of violence, rule of law, and public goods provision.  Although sporting the earliest recorded examples of states in human history, the link between state building and taxation remains an understudied topic in Ancient Near Eastern history. In this contribution we aim at filling this gap by using the case study of Early Bronze Age Ebla, in Syria. Indeed, the wealth of information stemming from the thousands of cuneiform tablets forming the Ebla Royal Archives (ca. 2390-2300 BC), and the almost 50 years of uninterrupted systematic archaeological exploration of the site of Tell Mardikh, provide truly unique data-sources for studying the mechanics of state building in this region. This contribution aims at proposing a general framework for conceptualizing Ebla’s fiscal structure within the phenomenon of the Upper Mesopotamian state formation process, that can also provide some general insights into the origin of the fiscal order and state capacity in premodern state-level societies.