Jemdet Nasr period

Coordinates: 32°43′01″N 44°46′44″E / 32.71694°N 44.77889°E / 32.71694; 44.77889
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Jemdet Nasr Period
Area corresponding to the Jemdet Nasr culture in light brown. The area corresponding to the Uruk culture is in yellow.
Geographical rangeMesopotamia
PeriodBronze Age
Datesc. 3100 BC – c. 2900 BC
Type siteTell Jemdet Nasr
Major sitesTell Abu Salabikh, Tell Fara, Tell Khafajah, Nippur, Tell Uqair, Tell el-Muqayyar, and Eanna district, Bit Resh (Kullaba), and Irigal
Preceded byUruk Period
Followed byEarly Dynastic Period

The Jemdet Nasr Period is an archaeological culture in southern Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). It is generally dated from 3100 to 2900 BC. It is named after the type site Tell Jemdet Nasr, where the assemblage typical for this period was first recognized. Its geographical distribution is limited to south-central Iraq. The culture of the proto-historical Jemdet Nasr period is a local development out of the preceding Uruk period and continues into the Early Dynastic I period.

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Map of Iraq showing important sites that were occupied during the Jemdet Nasr period (clickable map)

History of research

In the early 1900s,

Assyriologist Stephen Herbert Langdon, then director of the excavations at Tell al-Uhaymir. The Arabs told Langdon the finds came from Jemdet Nasr, a site some 26 kilometres (16 mi) northeast of Tell al-Uhaymir. Langdon was sufficiently impressed, visited the site and started excavations in 1926. He uncovered a large mudbrick
building containing more of the distinctive pottery and a collection of 150 to 180 clay tablets bearing the proto-cuneiform script.

The importance of these finds was realized immediately and the Jemdet Nasr Period (named after the eponymous type site) was officially defined at a conference in Baghdad in 1930, where at the same time both the Uruk and Ubaid periods had been defined.

archaeological sites across much of south-central Iraq, including Abu Salabikh, Shuruppak, Khafajah, Nippur, Tell Uqair, Ur, and Uruk.[2]

Dating and periodization

Older scientific literature often used 3200–3000 BC as the beginning and end dates of the Jemdet Nasr Period. The period is nowadays dated from 3100 to 2900 BC based on

Proto-Elamite Period of Iran, and shares with these two periods characteristics such as an emerging bureaucracy and hierarchy.[7]

Defining characteristics

A carved cylindrical object and a small plaque of clay showing a repetitive geometric design
Jemdet Nasr Period cylinder seal from glazed steatite and modern seal impression (found in Tell Khafajah, Iraq.)
The Blau Monuments combine proto-cuneiform characters and illustrations, 3100-2700 BC. British Museum.

The hallmark of the Jemdet Nasr Period is its distinctive painted monochrome and polychrome pottery. Designs are both geometric and figurative; the latter displaying trees and animals such as birds, fish, goats, scorpions, and snakes. Nevertheless, this painted pottery makes up only a small percentage of the total assemblage and at various sites it has been found in archaeological contexts suggesting that it was associated with high-status individuals or activities. At the site of Jemdet Nasr, the painted pottery was found exclusively in the settlement's large central building, which is thought to have played a role in the administration of many economic activities. Painted Jemdet Nasr Period pots were found in similar contexts at Tell Fara and Tell Gubba, both in the Hamrin Mountains.[8]

Apart from the distinctive pottery, the period is known as one of the formative stages in the development of the

pictographs, but by the time of the Jemdet Nasr Period it was already adopting simpler and more abstract designs. It is also during this period that the script acquired its iconic wedge-shaped appearance.[9]

While the language in which these tablets were written cannot be identified with certainty, it is thought to have been

hymns and king lists, which become very popular later in Mesopotamian history, are absent. Two different counting systems were in use: a sexagesimal system for animals and humans, for example, and a bisexagesimal system for things like grain, cheese, and fresh fish.[11] Contemporary archives have been found at Tell Uqair, Tell Khafajah, and Uruk.[12]

Society in the Jemdet Nasr Period

The centralized buildings, administrative cuneiform tablets and cylinder seals from sites like Jemdet Nasr suggest that settlements of this period were very organized, with a central administration regulating all aspects of the economy, from crafts to agriculture to the rationing of foodstuffs.

The economy seems to have been primarily concerned with subsistence based on agriculture and sheep-and-goat pastoralism and small-scale trade. Very few precious stones or exotic trade goods have been found at sites of this period. However, the homogeneity of the pottery across the southern Mesopotamian plain suggests intensive contacts and trade between settlements. This is strengthened by the find of a sealing at Jemdet Nasr that lists a number of cities that can be identified, including Ur, Uruk, and Larsa.[13]

Artifacts

  • Painted ceramic vessel from the Jemdet Nasr period, found at Khafajah. Museum of the Oriental Institute, Chicago.
    Painted ceramic vessel from the Jemdet Nasr period, found at
    Oriental Institute, Chicago
    .
  • Cup with nude heroes. Jemdet Nasr to Pre-Dynastic period, 3000-2600 BC.
    Cup with nude heroes. Jemdet Nasr to Pre-Dynastic period, 3000-2600 BC.
  • Reverse of the same cup with Nude Hero, Bulls and Lions, Tell Agrab, Jamdat Nasr to Early Dynastic period, 3000-2600 BC.
    Reverse of the same cup with Nude Hero, Bulls and Lions, Tell Agrab, Jamdat Nasr to Early Dynastic period, 3000-2600 BC.
  • A carved, white statue of a bull missing its legs and with a head showing details of ears, mouth, nose, and eyes
    Jemdet Nasr Period bull statue from limestone (found in Uruk, Iraq.)
  • Djemdet Nasr stone bowl, once inlaid with mother-of-pearl, red paste, and bitumen.
    Djemdet Nasr stone bowl, once inlaid with mother-of-pearl, red paste, and bitumen.
  • Cylinder seals, Djemdet Nasr 3.
    Cylinder seals
    , Djemdet Nasr 3.
  • Late uruk/ Jeldet Nasr period cylinder seal (3350-2900 BC).
    Late uruk/ Jeldet Nasr period cylinder seal (3350-2900 BC).
  • Late uruk/ Jeldet Nasr period cylinder seal (3350-2900 BC).
    Late uruk/ Jeldet Nasr period cylinder seal (3350-2900 BC).
  • Late uruk/ Jeldet Nasr period cylinder seal (3350-2900 BC).
    Late uruk/ Jeldet Nasr period cylinder seal (3350-2900 BC).
  • Late uruk/ Jeldet Nasr period cylinder seal (3350-2900 BC).
    Late uruk/ Jeldet Nasr period cylinder seal (3350-2900 BC).
  • Jemdet Nasr-style Mesopotamian cylinder seal, from Grave 7304 Cemetery 7000 at Naqada, Egypt, Naqada II period. This is an example of early Egypt-Mesopotamia relations.[14]
    Egypt-Mesopotamia relations.[14]
  • Administrative tablet, Jamdat Nasr period 3100–2900 BC, probably from the city of Uruk.
    Administrative tablet, Jamdat Nasr period 3100–2900 BC, probably from the city of Uruk.
  • A Pottery jar from Jemdet Nasr period (3100-2900)B.C
    A Pottery jar from Jemdet Nasr period (3100-2900)B.C

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jemdet Nasr period.

References

  1. ^ Matthews 2002, pp. 1–7
  2. ^ Matthews 2002, p. 20
  3. ^ Pollock 1992, p. 299
  4. ^ Pollock 1999, p. 2
  5. ^ Postgate 1992, p. 22
  6. ^ van de Mieroop 2007, p. 19
  7. ^ Matthews 2002, p. 37
  8. ^ Matthews 2002, pp. 20–21
  9. ^ Woods 2010, pp. 36–37
  10. ^ Woods 2010, pp. 44–45
  11. ^ Woods 2010, p. 39
  12. ^ Woods 2010, p. 35
  13. ^ Matthews 2002, pp. 33–37
  14. S2CID 161166931
    .

Bibliography

Further reading

32°43′01″N 44°46′44″E / 32.71694°N 44.77889°E / 32.71694; 44.77889

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