The Bronze-Age obsidian industry at Tell Mozan (Ancient Urkesh), Syria: redeveloping electron microprobe analysis for 21st-Century sourcing research and the implications for obsidian use and exchange in Northern Mesopotamia after the neolithic.
2010-10
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The Bronze-Age obsidian industry at Tell Mozan (Ancient Urkesh), Syria: redeveloping electron microprobe analysis for 21st-Century sourcing research and the implications for obsidian use and exchange in Northern Mesopotamia after the neolithic.
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2010-10
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Obsidian tools continued to be utilized in Northern Mesopotamia well beyond the introduction of metal but have received little archaeological attention. It is widely held that obsidian sourcing can offer little new information during a period in which there is a variety of artifacts and texts available to study. Obsidian, though, is unparalleled in its widespread use and ability to be sourced, so it provides unique information about contact, exchange, and migration. Its sourcing can complement other types of information and be used to test existing hypotheses. Before the recent excavations at Tell Mozan (ancient Urkesh) in northeastern Syria, most of the information about its inhabitants, the Hurrians, was inferred from linguistic or textual evidence. Identifying the sources of their obsidian artifacts can be useful for testing some of the highly debated inferences.
The research at hand involved three primary goals. I sought, first, to demonstrate a sophisticated approach to obsidian studies in the Near East and, second, to redevelop an analytical technique -- electron microprobe analysis -- for sourcing obsidian. Therefore, I assembled and analyzed a reference collection of over 900 geological obsidian specimens from dozens of sources in Turkey as well as Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Russia. I sourced a large number of artifacts (n = 97) so that I could explore spatial and temporal patterns on a site level. In addition, this analytical technique, if applied critically, can (i) control for obsidian as a mixture, (ii) measure artifacts non-destructively, and (iii) discern two chemically similar obsidian sources: Nemrut Dag and Bingöl A. Thus, based on my results, I not only differentiate these obsidians but also pinpoint the collection loci, down to a kilometer, of the Nemrut Dag obsidians found at Tell Mozan.
My third goal involved identifying the sources of obsidian represented among the Bronze-Age artifacts at Tell Mozan. These results were, in turn, used to explore temporal and spatial patterns of the obsidian sources used at the site, consider broader implications for obsidian use in Bronze-Age Mesopotamia, and examine two issues regarding Urkesh and its Hurrian inhabitants. The overall similarities for two site areas suggest that people living in various parts of Urkesh had similar access to the same obsidian sources. On the other hand, all the sourced obsidian from the temple came from one flow at Nemrut Dag and a service courtyard of the palace contains the only Cappadocian obsidian. In fact, the greatest variety of sources is found in units containing palace courtyards.
Regarding the broader implications, there is evidence at Tell Mozan of production of prismatic obsidian blades and bladelets (e.g, flakes with cortex, cores, and early-series blades), suggesting they were not imported from a production center. In addition, there is a prevailing assumption that, if Bingöl B obsidian is found at a site, one can presume that all of the peralkaline obsidian artifacts came from Bingöl A, not Nemrut Dag. My results reveal that this assumption, based on maximal efficiency, is specious.
The hypothesis of a Hurrian "homeland" as far northeast as Armenia (or beyond) is considered -- but not supported -- in light of my obsidian data. There are no obsidians from northeastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, or Russia that would point to a link to those regions. The atypical variety of obsidian sources at the site suggests that the city may have had a mountainous hinterland to the north. When compared to the existing data for other Khabur Triangle sites, my results support a possible exchange link between Tell Mozan and Tell Brak, perhaps as part of an early Hurrian kingdom.
The research at hand involved three primary goals. I sought, first, to demonstrate a sophisticated approach to obsidian studies in the Near East and, second, to redevelop an analytical technique -- electron microprobe analysis -- for sourcing obsidian. Therefore, I assembled and analyzed a reference collection of over 900 geological obsidian specimens from dozens of sources in Turkey as well as Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Russia. I sourced a large number of artifacts (n = 97) so that I could explore spatial and temporal patterns on a site level. In addition, this analytical technique, if applied critically, can (i) control for obsidian as a mixture, (ii) measure artifacts non-destructively, and (iii) discern two chemically similar obsidian sources: Nemrut Dag and Bingöl A. Thus, based on my results, I not only differentiate these obsidians but also pinpoint the collection loci, down to a kilometer, of the Nemrut Dag obsidians found at Tell Mozan.
My third goal involved identifying the sources of obsidian represented among the Bronze-Age artifacts at Tell Mozan. These results were, in turn, used to explore temporal and spatial patterns of the obsidian sources used at the site, consider broader implications for obsidian use in Bronze-Age Mesopotamia, and examine two issues regarding Urkesh and its Hurrian inhabitants. The overall similarities for two site areas suggest that people living in various parts of Urkesh had similar access to the same obsidian sources. On the other hand, all the sourced obsidian from the temple came from one flow at Nemrut Dag and a service courtyard of the palace contains the only Cappadocian obsidian. In fact, the greatest variety of sources is found in units containing palace courtyards.
Regarding the broader implications, there is evidence at Tell Mozan of production of prismatic obsidian blades and bladelets (e.g, flakes with cortex, cores, and early-series blades), suggesting they were not imported from a production center. In addition, there is a prevailing assumption that, if Bingöl B obsidian is found at a site, one can presume that all of the peralkaline obsidian artifacts came from Bingöl A, not Nemrut Dag. My results reveal that this assumption, based on maximal efficiency, is specious.
The hypothesis of a Hurrian "homeland" as far northeast as Armenia (or beyond) is considered -- but not supported -- in light of my obsidian data. There are no obsidians from northeastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, or Russia that would point to a link to those regions. The atypical variety of obsidian sources at the site suggests that the city may have had a mountainous hinterland to the north. When compared to the existing data for other Khabur Triangle sites, my results support a possible exchange link between Tell Mozan and Tell Brak, perhaps as part of an early Hurrian kingdom.
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University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. October 2010. Major: Anthropology. Advisor: Gilbert B. Tostevin. 1 computer file (PDF); xvi, 1019 pages, appendices A-D. Ill. (some col.)
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Frahm, Ellery Edward. (2010). The Bronze-Age obsidian industry at Tell Mozan (Ancient Urkesh), Syria: redeveloping electron microprobe analysis for 21st-Century sourcing research and the implications for obsidian use and exchange in Northern Mesopotamia after the neolithic.. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/99753.
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