Pre History - the archaeology of the ancient Near East · PreHistoryPodcast

Episode 26: Samarra

·32 min·2 clips

Samara farmers may have used Tigris floodwaters to grow water-hungry linseed in dry Mesopotamia.

1. Pre History - the archaeology of the ancient Near East examines Episode 26: Samarra and the Samara culture of Neolithic Mesopotamia. 2. Jane Gastra hosts the episode and connects Samara evidence with earlier discussions of the Hasuna and Halaf cultures. 3. The episode asks how the Samara culture developed in southern Mesopotamia and contributed to later changes in settlement, farming, and administration. 4. The Samara culture probably developed from the southern Proto-Hasuna culture around 6400–6200 BCE. 5. River silt from the Tigris and Euphrates buried Neolithic settlements under later deposits, limiting archaeological access. 6. Research on southern Mesopotamian Neolithic sites was disrupted after the first Gulf War began in 1989. 7. Painted Samara pottery was first identified at Samara in 1911 and recognized as Neolithic through Tel Hasuna excavations in the 1940s. 8. Tel es-Sawan, about 100 kilometers north of modern Baghdad, preserved five main levels largely dating to the Samara culture. 9. Sawan Level 3 contained closely packed T-shaped tripartite houses built from long cigar-shaped mud bricks. 10. A thick wall and ditch surrounded the Level 3 village, although its purpose may have involved defense, livestock, or another local need. 11. Graves beneath Sawan’s earliest houses contained carved alabaster vessels and figurines not found elsewhere in southern Mesopotamia. 12. Children’s graves included imported carnelian beads, jewelry, stone vessels, ground stone axes, and occasional copper objects. 13. Obsidian formed only about three percent of Samara stone tools, and many obsidian blades were retouched for reuse. 14. Samara settlements extended east toward the Zagros foothills and north along the Tigris and Zab rivers. 15. Chogha Mami in the Zagros foothills preserved late Samara tripartite houses with separate courtyards. 16. Burned linseed from Sawan is significant because flax requires substantially more water than barley or wheat. 17. Possible floodwater management at Sawan may represent an early form of irrigation before later canal networks. 18. Samara fine pottery used geometric designs and images including goats, scorpions, kingfishers, and women with long wavy hair. 19. The episode uses a chronological archaeological lecture format with comparative explanations of pottery, houses, graves, tools, and farming evidence. 20. This episode suits listeners interested in Mesopotamian archaeology, Neolithic technology, and early irrigation. 21. Listeners seeking modern history, personal storytelling, or contemporary politics might skip it.

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