Excavations at Tell Zeidan in the Euphrates river valley of Syria investigate the roots of the world's earliest known urban civilizations 6000 years ago in "Greater Mesopotamia" (modern Iraq, Syria, and southeast Turkey). The first cities all have their roots in earlier "temple towns" that first arose in the Ubaid period ca. 5500-4000 BC. Understanding the Ubaid culture is thus crucial for any investigation of how complex societies first developed. Unfortunately, most Ubaid temple towns remain extremely difficult to investigate, because the archaeological levels of this period lie buried beneath deep deposits of alluvial silts from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, or beneath millennia of later occupations. However, excavations at Zeidan give a unique opportunity to investigate political and economic organization in the Ubaid period, because this town was not deeply buried by river silts, and its prehistoric levels are immediately accessible beneath the present ground surface.
The Ubaid period saw the development of the first complex societies in southern Mesopotamia, with the earliest evidence for towns with temples, economic differentiation, irrigation, and centralized leadership. Ca. 5000 BC, Ubaid influence expanded out of southern Mesopotamia to form a widespread style extending over 1500 km from Syria to the Persian Gulf. However, we still know frustratingly little about 3 key aspects of Ubaid society: a) how did political leadership and social stratification actually function in these polities; b) did Ubaid styles spread through colonization, trade, or the influence of some ideology; and c) what processes linked the diverse local groups across this area within the broader Ubaid horizon?
Until now, our information on the Ubaid in Syria has derived entirely from the excavation of small village sites. However, broad horizontal excavation at Zeidan can provide the first representative view of community organization at a large Ubaid regional center. 2008 test excavations found a continuous stratigraphic sequence from 6000-4000 BC, allowing the project to trace the ways that Ubaid culture spread into this region, and how it functioned as a complex society. The absence of post 5th millennium occupations permits broad horizontal exposures of the Ubaid period town at Zeidan. No other known site in upper Mesopotamia can provide this type of data.
Excavations at Zeidan have significant broader impact for scholarship, international collaboration, and cultural heritage protection. The project will contribute to both archaeological theory and to our empirical knowledge by providing the first opportunity to expose broad areas of an Ubaid regional center. This will permit researchers to document how complex societies first developed and functioned.
The project also has major impacts on international research collaboration. As a jointly directed program with the Syrian Antiquities Department, the project will improve interaction with Middle Eastern archaeologists by training local university students and by publishing its results in both English and Arabic. Finally, the project will educate the local community to value and protect its rich cultural heritage. Project staff will develop site tours, public lectures and written guides in Arabic for free distribution at the Raqqa provincial museum and local schools.
