CLAR 120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Warka Vase, Ubaid Period, Uruk Period
Document Summary
Mesopotamia: land between two rivers (tigris and euphrates) The first civilizations are in the north in the steppe (not going to talk about specific places: there is differentiated architecture and fortification. Why did the first cities develop: establishment of ceremonial center or temple (political, economic, religious taxes, trade, brings people together, ability to conduct long-distance trade (stock-baring distances along the river) Ubaid period (5000-3000bc: extensive agriculture, irrigation, settlements grow in size, settlement hierarchy, technological innovations (slow wheel for pottery, more complex trade networks, temples (ex. Emergence of central powers/authority: higher degree of social complexity. Ubaid period: chiefdoms: no prestige goods, no chiefly burials, no iconographic evidence for chiefs, no clear evidence of social stratification, no depictions/signs of warfare or rivalry, economic strategies for power: Wealth finance non utilitarian items: ** small localized chiefdoms based on ritually mobilized staple finance **
