The North Jazira Survey

This monograph presents a synthesis of four seasons of survey and excavation conducted within a 475 km square enclave of NW Iraq. Intensive site survey and off-site sampling was combined with a drainage dyke survey and four small excavations to provide a good overview of a 9000 year settlement sequence. The work was particularly orientated to investigate the growth of towns in Upper Mesopotamia and relate urbanisation to changes in land use and communication. In the conclusions, defence and trade are both considered as impeti to urbanisation. Centralisation left space for grazing and a textile- based 3rd mill.BC economy but also made society more exposed to the vicissitudes of the harsh environment and prone to crisis. The data and interpretation presented here give a coherent picture of human geography in a peripheral area to the imperial powers of the Bronze Age and Assyrian periods.