Early State Formation In Southern Mesopotamia: Sea Levels .
Journal of Island & Coastal Archaeology, 1:67–99, 2006Copyright 2006 Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1556-4894 print / 1556-1828 onlineDOI:10.1080/15564890600586283Early State Formationin Southern Mesopotamia:Sea Levels, Shorelines,and Climate ChangeDouglas J. Kennett1 and James P. Kennett21Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USADepartment of Earth Science and Marine Science Institute,University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA2ABSTRACTThe evolution of the earliest complex state-level societies andcities from small sedentary communities took place in southernMesopotamia between 8000 and 5000 cal yrs BP during the‘Ubaid and Uruk periods. Attempts to explain this transitionoften discount the role of environmental change and tend toevaluate available archaeological evidence for urban-based statedevelopment either within a static environmental context orassuming conditions similar to those of the present. This practiceis no longer tenable given newly available paleoenvironmentalrecords for the region. Post-glacial sea-level rise resulted in theinundation and creation of the Arabo-Persian Gulf, and, asthe marine transgression slowed in the Middle Holocene, richcoastal and aquatic habitats formed in southern Mesopotamia.These habitats favored the establishment and growth of ‘UbaidPeriod communities and the efficient transport of goods, ideas,and people throughout the region. High water tables alsopromoted early experimentation with irrigation agriculture andthe expansion of these systems as populations grew and thehumid conditions of the Early Holocene gave way to increasingaridity. We argue that the critical confluence of eustatic andclimatic changes unique to this circumscribed region favoredthe emergence of highly centralized, urban-based states.Keywordspaleoenvironment, sea-level rise, ‘Ubaid, Uruk, MesopotamiaReceived 1 July 2005; accepted 1 December 2005.Address correspondence to Douglas J. Kennett, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon,Eugene, OR 97403, USA. E-mail: dkennett@uoregon.edu67
Douglas J. Kennett and James P. KennettINTRODUCTIONSouthern Mesopotamia was the site ofthe earliest large, highly integrated political systems marked by administrativehierarchies and rulers with significantpower and authority—so called statelevel societies (Rothman 2001, 2004).As states developed in this region, people became differentiated socially, morespecialized economically, and highlyintegrated and centralized politically(Flannery 1972). This process resultedin greater interdependence and cooperation between members of society,but it also required a majority of people to relinquish autonomy and allowothers to have greater economic, social,and political benefits. How and whythis occurred in this region first, andlater in several other locations aroundthe world during the Middle and LateHolocene, remains a central questionin anthropological archaeology (e.g.,Adams 2000a; Algaze 2001a; Blantonet al. 1993; Feinman 2000; Feinman andManzanilla 2000; Flannery 1998; Marcus and Feinman 1998; Pollock 1999;Postgate 1992; Rothman 2004; Stein1998, 2001; Yoffee 2005).Although there are indications foroccupation earlier (see below), the firstevidence of permanent human settlement in southern Mesopotamia can betraced to the beginning of the ‘UbaidPeriod at 8000 BP. Between 8000–5500 BP, human populations increasedand aggregated into small towns andnucleated villages. These communitiesultimately provided the foundation forintegrated state-level societies and urbancenters that developed between 5500and 5000 BP, with an associated complex of technological innovations including large-scale irrigation agricultureand writing. A number of theories havebeen proposed as to what stimulatedformation of the earliest known state-68level societies, including: (1) technological and agricultural innovation (Adams1981, 2000b); (2) bureaucratic development necessary to build, maintain,and manage large-scale irrigation necessary for agriculture (Wittfogel 1957,1981); (3) information processing andthe development of centralization andpolitical hierarchies (Wright 1977, 1994,1998, 2001; Wright and Johnson, 1975,1985); (4) increasing warfare in anenvironmentally and socially circumscribed area (Carneiro 1988); (5) increasing intra- and inter regional exchange, colonialism, and cross-culturalcontact (Algaze 1993, 2001b; Wrightand Johnson 1975); and (6) religiousideology and the control or mobilizationof labor (Hole 1983). Proponents ofmulti-causal models suggest that statedevelopment resulted from several interrelated factors, including characteristicsof the regional environment (Adams1981; Algaze 2001a; Crawford 1991;Flannery 1972; Hole 1994; Kouchoukos1999; Pournelle 2003; Redman 1978;Rothman 1994, 2004; Stein 1994, 2001;Wilkinson 2003). Others have suggestedthat state formation emerged as a resultof intrinsic human social interrelationsindependent of environmental factors(Pollock 1992).The processes leading to the emergence of state-level societies in southern Mesopotamia were multivariate,but we argue that these developmentsshould be considered within the context of environmental change (Aqrawi2001; Eisenhauer et al. 1992; Fairbanks1989; Petit-Maire 1992; Sanlaville 1989;Sirocko et al. 1993; Teller et al. 2000).Changes in environmental conditionsare often thought to have played a majorrole in cultural demise (Hodell et al.1995; Issar 1995; Weiss 1997; Weiss et al.1993). In contrast, the potential importance of climate and related environmental change is less accepted as a criticalVOLUME 1 ISSUE 1 2006
Early State Formation in Mesopotamiavariable in the development of culturalcomplexity, but has recently receivedincreased attention (Hole 1994; Kennettand Kennett 2000; Sandweiss et al. 1999;Spier 1996). Except by Hole (1994;see also Nützel 2004), however, therehas been limited consideration of thepotential role of environmental changein the evolution of the state in southernMesopotamia, where the environmenthas been incorrectly characterized bysome archaeologists as stable during theHolocene (Pollock 1992). Evaluation ofthe available paleoenvironmental datademonstrates distinct correlations between the timing of Holocene environmental changes and cultural changes.These correlations, by themselves, donot prove causality but must be considered when evaluating the timing andnature of emergent cultural complexityin this region.We propose that this developmentwas stimulated, in part, by increasedcompetition for resources caused by successive changes in sea-level, shorelines,and climate specific to this region. Inparticular, the expansion and ultimatestabilization of aquatic habitats associated with the marine transgression—habitats more productive than theyare today—favored increased population densities and early group formation,community stability, enhanced maritimetrade, and the emergence of social hierarchies. The natural diversity of resources in coastal/aquatic habitats, incombination with newly domesticatedplants and animals, provided the economic foundation for these developingcommunities, as they did elsewhereduring the Early and Middle Holocene(Binford 1968; Blake and Clark 1994;Moseley 1975). In this paper we describe these changes within the context of cultural development and discuss the possible implications of theseinterrelationships.POSTGLACIAL ENVIRONMENTALCHANGE IN SOUTHERNMESOPOTAMIASouthern Mesopotamia lies in presentday southern Iraq at the head of theArabo-Persian Gulf. Modern climaticconditions are arid to semi-arid, with amean annual rainfall of 139 mm (rangingfrom 72 to 316 mm; Adams 1965).Severe dust storms occur during thesummer months due to semi-permanent,low-pressure zones over the Gulf thatdraw hot, dry winds across the alluvialplain. Because of the region’s extremearidity, agriculture is limited largely tothe floodplains of the Tigris-EuphratesKarun rivers that converge in an extensive wetland region associated with theEl Schatt Delta.The Arabo-Persian Gulf is roughly1,000 km long and ranges from 350 kmto as little as 5 km wide at theStraits of Hormuz, where it joins theGulf of Oman in the northern IndianOcean. This is the shallowest inlandsea of significant area in the world,the bathymetry reflecting a gently inclined basin with a mean depth of only40 m and almost nowhere exceeding100 m except near the Straits of Hormuz(Figure 1c) (Purser and Seibold 1973;Sarnthein 1971; Seibold and Vollbrecht1969). Late Quaternary changes in sealevel played a major role in shapingthe environment of this region (Cooke1987; Gunatilaka 1986; Sanlaville 1989;Teller et al. 2000). Although southernMesopotamia is located on a subsidingsedimentary basin (Lees and Falcon1952), tectonic influences on eustacy,including subsidence, are consideredto have been relatively minor compared with glacioeustatic effects duringthe last 15,000 years (Aqrawi 2001;Cooke 1987; Gunatilaka 1986; Lambeck1996; Macfadyen and Vita-Finzi 1978;Sanlaville 1989). This perspective differsJOURNAL OF ISLAND & COASTAL ARCHAEOLOGY69
Douglas J. Kennett and James P. KennettFigure 1. a, b: Sea-level change during the last 18,000 years (Fairbanks 1989; Lighty et al. 1982;Sanlaville 1989; Yafeng et al. 1993). Solid line in b shows well-established sea-level curvebased on Caribbean corals (Fairbanks 1989; Lighty et al. 1982); dashed line is localsea-level curve estimated for northern Arabo-Persian Gulf (Sanlaville 1989; Yafeng et al.1993). All radiocarbon dates have been calibrated to calendar years (BP). c: Modernbathymetry of the Arabo-Persian Gulf (adapted from Sarnthein 1972). (kyr thousandyears)70VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1 2006
Early State Formation in Mesopotamiafrom an earlier, widely accepted viewthat the balance between sedimentation and subsidence rates in southernMesopotamia maintained the Gulf shoreline and delta close to their presentday positions throughout the Holoceneand that inland incursions of the oceanresulted from subsidence (Lees andFalcon 1952).Environmental conditions duringthe latest Pleistocene through MiddleHolocene were different from those oftoday in southern Mesopotamia and theGulf region. About 15,000 BP, globalsea level was still 100 m below present(Figure 1a,b; Fairbanks 1989). Due to theshallowness of the Arabo-Persian Gulf,late Quaternary marine transgressionassociated with deglaciation was onlybeginning to enter this dry, subaerialbasin through the Straits of Hormuz(Figure 2a; Lambeck 1996; Vita-Finzi1978). Calcareous detritus in peri-coastaldunes in the United Arab Emirateswas wind-transported from the exposedGulf floor during the Late Pleistocene(100,000 to 12,000 BP; Teller et al.2000). At this time, the Tigris-EuphratesKarun River system flowed into the Gulfof Oman as the Ur-Schatt (ancient Schatt)River (Gunatilaka 1986; Seibold and Vollbrecht 1969), which traversed the fulllength of the Gulf in its deepest presentday sector. The Ur-Schatt River flowedin an incised canyon, now completelysubmerged, but still evident in thepresent-day bathymetry of the middle tolower Gulf (Sarnthein 1971; Seibold andVollbrecht 1969). This canyon wasformed by downcutting during low sealevels of the last glaciation. A deep-seacanyon extending southwards from thehead of the Gulf of Oman (Seibold andUlrich 1970) was almost certainly cutby turbidity currents carrying sedimentssouthward. Large volumes of sedimentappear to have been transported to theGulf of Oman by the Ur-Schatt River dur-ing Quaternary low sea-level stands, implying substantial river flow. At this time,the modern delta did not exist in southern Mesopotamia (Figures 3) and narrowfloodplains were restricted to the incisedriver canyons. Severe aridity at this timeis indicated by the presence of drownedridge and trough features in the northern Arabo-Persian Gulf, interpreted asfossil sand-dune fields (Sarnthein 1971),and supported by sedimentological(Diester-Haass 1973; Sarnthein 1972)and oxygen isotopic data (Sirocko et al.1993).After 15,000 BP, marine transgression formed the Arabo-Persian Gulf (Figure 2b–f). Sea-level rise during this interval was highly variable, but averaged 1 cm per year until 9000 BP (Figure1a), after which the rate of rise slowed(Fairbanks 1989; Lighty et al. 1982;Warne and Stanley 1993). The patternof global sea-level change after 9000 BPhas yet to be firmly established. Sea-levelcurves from the western Atlantic (Lightyet al. 1982) and southeastern Mediterranean (Warne and Stanley 1993) show aslow rise with a steadily decreasing rate(average 0.3 cm per year) from 7000BP to the present (Figure 1b). In thesecurves, rates of rise are especially slowafter 5500 BP. This pattern contrastswith sea-level rise estimates based onwestern Australian evidence of 0.7 cmper year from 9800 BP to a maximumhigh stand at 6300 BP, followed by aslight decrease in sea level inferred to beassociated with a cessation of polar icesheet melting (Eisenhauer et al. 1992). Inspite of these differences, it is clear thatthe rate of global sea-level rise decreasedsignificantly between 6300 and 5500 BP.Rapid rise in sea level during the earlyHolocene (Siddall et al. 2003) of 1 cmper year created a lateral marine transgression in the Arabo-Persian Gulf of 110 m per year, one of the highest ratesknown for any region. The early stages ofJOURNAL OF ISLAND & COASTAL ARCHAEOLOGY71
Douglas J. Kennett and James P. KennettFigure 2. Maps of successive time intervals showing the marine transgression into the AraboPersian Gulf during late Pleistocene-early/middle Holocene. Sea-level estimates fromFairbanks (1989) and based on modern bathymetry (Sarnthein 1972). Position of theUr-Schatt River (ancient Schatt River) estimated from bathymetry (Sarnthein 1972).Marine transgression in southern Mesopotamia at 6000 BP (f) adapted from Sanlaville(1989) and shown in detail in Figure 4.72VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1 2006
Early State Formation in MesopotamiaFigure 3. Schematic cross sections showing inferred three stages in evolution of the delta region ofsouthern Mesopotamia during the latest Quaternary.JOURNAL OF ISLAND & COASTAL ARCHAEOLOGY73
Douglas J. Kennett and James P. KennettFigure 4. Estimated shoreline at 6000 BP in southern Mesopotamia superimposed on present-daygeography. Triangles show locations of early settlements and dots indicate modern cities(adapted from Sanlaville 1989).this transgression ( 15,000 and 11,000BP) filled mainly the deeply incisedcanyon of the Ur-Schatt River in its lowerto middle reaches. The transgressionlater inundated the broader, shallowerGulf region (Figure 4). Most notablerapid rises in sea level in the AraboPersian Gulf occurred between 12,000and 11,500 BP and again from 9500 to8500 BP, and during these periods thelateral transgression probably exceeded1 km per year (Teller et al. 2000:306).1Inundation of the Arabo-Persian Gulfcoincided with an interval of increasedseasonal rainfall across the ArabianPeninsula and southern Mesopotamia74between 10,000 and 6000 BP. Thisinterpretation is based on a variety ofindicators, including sedimentologicalevidence for increased river runoff intothe Arabo-Persian Gulf (Diester-Haass1973), speleothem records from Israeland Oman (Bar-Matthews et al. 1997;Burns et al. 1998, 2001), pollen evidencefor more widespread, less arid vegetation, and the presence of inter-dunelakes on the Arabian Peninsula (Lézineet al. 1998; McClure 1976; Roberts andWright 1993; Rossignol-Strick 1987;Street-Perrott and Roberts 1983) and insouthern Mesopotamia (Wright 1993;Yan and Petit-Maire 1994) between9000 to 6000 BP. Moister conditionsVOLUME 1 ISSUE 1 2006
Early State Formation in MesopotamiaFigure 5. Correlations between late Quaternary climatic changes (1000 BP kyr; Almogi-Labinet al. 1991; Sirocko et al. 1993) and major cultural periods (a) in southern Mesopotamia(Adams and Nissen 1972; Rothman 2004; Wright and Rupley 2001; see also Endnote 2).Fluctuations in dolomite abundance (peak area) values (b) during late Quaternaryin sediment core from Arabian Gulf reflect changes in aridity in Arabia–southernMesopotamia region (Sirocko et al. 1993). The gray band on the dolomite curverepresents interval of highest humidity. Shown at right is the percent change insolar radiation (d) in the Northern Hemisphere in summer (June–August) and winter(December–February) during the last 18,000 years, resulting from the earth’s orbitalperturbations (Kutzbach and Guetter 1986; Kutzbach and Gallimore 1988). Thischange caused summers to be warmer and winters colder in Arabia and southernMesopotamia, with seasonal differences and inferred strength of summer monsoonspeaking at 9000–10,000 BP. Note relationship with humid-arid cycles in the Red Searegion (c), representing a synthesis of changes in lake levels, vegetation history, andsediment data (Almogi-Labin et al. 1991).are also inferred from an extensivenetwork of ephemeral channels (wadis)over the Arabian Peninsula that run intothe Arabo-Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea(Dabbagh et al. 1998; Hötzl et al. 1984)and appear to have been more activeduring the Late Pleistocene and EarlyHolocene (Wilkinson 2003). Increasedrainfall in this region between 10,000and 8600 BP is also inferred froman absence of dolomite at this timein a sediment core from the Gulf ofOman (Sirocko et al. 1993) (Figure 5b).Under arid conditions, dolomite isformed in coastal, supra-tidal evaporiticenvironments (sabkas) in the Gulfregion and wind-transported to theGulf of Oman. Overall, Early HoloceneJOURNAL OF ISLAND & COASTAL ARCHAEOLOGY75
Douglas J. Kennett and James P. Kennettclimatic conditions in Arabia weresemiarid ( 250–300 mm annualrainfall) compared with the ariditythere today (50–100 mm annual rainfall)(Whitney et al. 1983).Paleoceanographic and terrestrialclimatic records in the Red Sea regionindicate relatively humid conditionsbetween 12,000 and 6000 BP(Almogi-Labin et al. 1991), with thewettest interval occurring between 10,000 and 7800 BP (Haynes et al.1989; Street-Perrott and Perrott 1990;Figure 5c). A significant regionalincrease in rainfall between 11,700 and5400 BP has also been inferred from adecrease in oxygen isotopic values inplanktonic foraminifera and pteropodsin a Red Sea core (21 N), interpreted toreflect decreased surface-water salinities(Rossignol-Strick 1987). The amount ofcontinental freshwater runoff at thistime was sufficiently large to decreasesurface-water salinities in the Red Searelative to present-day values. Inferredlow salinities peaked between 8500and 6700 BP, then increased until5400 BP, when average post-glacialvalues were reached (Rossignol-Strick1987). Wet (humid) conditions between9200 and 7250 BP in this region areconfirmed based on increases interrigenous sediment input anddecreasedsurface-watersalinities,as reflected by oxygen isotopes inforaminifera species in sediment coresfrom the northernmost Red Sea (Arzet al. 2003; see Figure 6). These dataare consistent with pollen records andevidence for high lake levels, indicatingEarly Holocene (10,000–5500 BP)increases in precipitation and a pluvialmaximum ( 10,000–7000 BP) in theLevant (Issar 2003) and throughoutsub-Saharan Africa (Ambrose andSikes 1991; COHMAP 1988; Gasseet al. 1990, 1991; Haynes et al. 1989;Haynes and Mead 1987; Kutzbach76and Street-Perrott 1985; Pachur andKröpelin 1987, 1989; Petit-Maire1986, 1990, 1992; Ritchie et al. 1985;Street-Perrott et al. 1985; Street-Perrottand Perrott 1990), coinciding withthe so-called hypsithermal climaticinterval (COHMAP 1988; Gasse et al.1991; Kutzbach and Street-Perrot1985; Lamb 1977; Petit-Maire 1986).Pollen (Lézine et al. 2002; Roberts andWright 1993; Rossignol-Strick 1987),lake level (McClure 1976), and marinesediment (Diester-Haass 1973; Sirockoet al. 1993) data indicate that humidconditions persisted until 6000 BP,although a gradual decrease in humidityhad begun after 8000 BP (Ritchieet al. 1985; Vita-Finzi 1978). Analysisof paleo
that state formation emerged as a result of intrinsic human social interrelations independent of environmental factors (Pollock 1992). The processes leading to the emer-gence of state-level societies in south-ern Mesopotamia were multivariate, but we argue that these developments should be considered within the con-text of environmental change .
Mila Formation 130 Kalshaneh Formation 130 Derenjal Formation 130 Ilebeyk Formation 130 The Tippecanoe Sequence: 133 Shirgesht Formation 133 Niur Formation 133 . Khaneh Kat Formation 217 The End of the Absaroka Sequence in the Central and Northern Arabian Gulf
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3. Distributed formation control architecture In this section, we propose a distributed formation control architecture that accommodates an arbitrary number of group leaders and ensures accurate formation maintenance through information coupling between local neighbors. One solution to formation control is the virtual structure approach [23,24].
