Under the direction of Dr. Carol Kramer MS Louise Senior will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will study ceramic materials excavated from the site of Tell Leilan which is located in Northern Syria. Tell Leilan was occupied from approximately 5000 - 1750 B.C. and has been excavated by a Yale University archaeological team for a number of years. The importance of the site is now clear because it documents the rise of complex state level society. Over the course of the 3rd millenium BC Tell Leilan was transformed from a rural town to the center of an urbanized state. MS. Senior wishes to learn how production of ceramics changed over this time period. In particular she wishes to know whether, in effect, mass production techniques were adapted and less time and care were devoted to producing individual objects. To accomplish this she will study potsherds from a number of perspectives. She will reconstruct the method by which they were made and the amount of care devoted to clay preparation. Through neutron activation analysis it will be possible to determine where clays were collected and whether standardization emerged. Through reconstruction of firing temperatures MS Senior will learn how much fuel was expended per pot. Anthropologists wish to understand how economic organization changed as complex societies emerged in regions such as the Near East. From the study of buildings such as temple mounds and identification of status objects much has been learned about the development of religious and political organization. However it is more difficult to gain insight into changes in production and economic organization. Since ceramics was one of the main classes of objects produced at Tell Leilan (and many other archaeological sites as well) and since they preserve well in the archaeological record they afford an excellent data base to examine such an issue. MS Senior is not interested in ceramics per se but rather what they reveal about more basic processes. Since the site covers the change from more simple to more complex society comparison of earlier and later assemblages will provide insight into change over time. This research is important for several reasons. It will increase our understanding of how complex societies emerged and were organized. It will help to develop an analytic technique which will be useful in many archaeological situations. It will also assist in the training of an extremely promising young scientist.
