Méthodes d’approche des

premières productions céramiques:

étude de cas dans les Balkans et au Levant

Methoden zur Untersuchung der

ersten Keramikproduktion
Beispiele auf dem Balkan und der Levante
INTERNATIONALE ARCHÄOLOGIE
Arbeitsgemeinschaft, Symposium,
Tagung, Kongress

Band 12

Begründet von
Claus Dobiat und Klaus Leidorf

Herausgegeben von
Claus Dobiat, Peter Ettel
und Friederike Fless
 Méthodes d’approche des
premières productions céramiques:
étude de cas dans les Balkans et au Levant
Table-ronde de la Maison de l’Archéologie
et de l’Ethnologie (Nanterre, France)
28 février 2006

Laurence Astruc, Alain Gaulon et Laure Salanova (dir.)

Verlag Marie Leidorf GmbH . Rahden/Westf.

2009
 104 Seiten mit 67 Abbildungen und 7 Tabellen

Gedruckt mit Mitteln der

Université de Paris I, UMS 844 - Maison
de l’Archéologie et de l’Ethnologie (Nanterre),
«Du village à l’état au Proche-et Moyen-Orient» &
«Protohistoire européenne» - l’UMR 7041 (Nanterre)

Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek

Astruc, Laurence ; Gaulon, Alain ; Salanova, Laure (dir.):

Méthodes d’approche des premières productions céramiques: étude de cas dans
les Balkans et au Levant. Table-ronde de la Maison de l’Archéologie et de
l’Ethnologie (Nanterre, France) 28 février 2006 / dir. Laurence Astruc ... .
Rahden/Westf.: Leidorf, 2009
(Internationale Archäologie : Arbeitsgemeinschaft, Symposium, Tagung,
Kongress ; Bd. 12)
ISBN 978-3-89646-442-2

Gedruckt auf alterungsbeständigem Papier

Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie.

Detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar.

Alle Rechte vorbehalten

© 2009

Verlag Marie Leidorf GmbH

Geschäftsführer: Dr. Bert Wiegel
Stellerloh 65 . D-32369 Rahden/Westf.
Tel: +49/(0)5771/ 9510-74
Fax: +49/(0)5771/ 9510-75
E-Mail: info@vml.de
Internet: http://www.vml.de

ISBN 978-3-89646-442-2
ISSN 1434-6427

Kein Teil des Buches darf in irgendeiner Form (Druck, Fotokopie, CD-ROM, DVD, Internet oder einem anderen Verfahren)
ohne schriftliche Genehmigung des Verlages Marie Leidorf GmbH reproduziert werden
oder unter Verwendung elektronischer Systeme verarbeitet, vervielfältigt oder verbreitet werden.

Umschlagentwurf: Dirk Bevermann und Bert Wiegel, Bad Laer und Rahden/Westf.
Umschlagvignette: Seite 56, Fig. 6 in diesem Band (Beitrag Catherine Perlès)
Satz, Layout und Redaktion: Laure Salanova und Alain Gaulon, Paris
Übersetzungen (deutsch): Marion Lichardus, Saarbrücken
Übersetzungen (englisch): Mike Ilett, Paris

Druck und Produktion: DSC-Heinz J. Bevermann KG, Fleethweg 1, D-49196 Bad Laer
 81

The ‘painted pottery revolution’:

emulation, ceramic innovation and the Early Halaf in northern Syria
Olivier Nieuwenhuyse

Résumé

Autour de 6200-5900 av. JC, en Haute Mésopotamie, une transformation majeure des
assemblages céramiques est observée. Des productions technologiquement investies et
stylistiquement élaborées (Fine Ware) remplacent, dans une période de temps remarquablement
courte, les productions des phases plus anciennes caractérisées essentiellement par des
récipients de fabrication simple et grossière (Coarse Ware). Ce phénomène est discuté, dans
le cadre de cet article, à partir des assemblages de Tell Sabi Abyad (Syrie). Nous proposons
d’avoir recours à la notion d’émulation, pour expliquer ce changement. Cette notion est
particulièrement utile lorsqu’il s’agit d’aborder la catégorie fonctionnelle des vaisselles de
service. L’émulation dont témoignent les styles de céramiques peintes pourrait être liée à un
contexte social de fête communautaire (feasting).

Mots-clés : céramique, Proche-Orient, Néolithique, Sabi Abyad

Abstract

This paper discusses the dramatic changes that transformed ceramic assemblages across
Upper Mesopotamia between ca. 6200-5900 cal BC. Within a remarkably short period of
time, the earlier mostly plain, coarse pottery was replaced with technologically advanced and
stylistically elaborated Fine Ware. This phenomenon is discussed on the basis of the evidence
from Tell Sabi Abyad (Syria). The notion of emulation is suggested as a useful framework for
explaining ceramic change. Emulation is most clearly seen in the functional category of serving
vessels. Feasting may have been the social context that stimulated emulation in painted pottery
styles.

Keywords: Pottery, Near East, Neolithic, Sabi Abyad

Zusammenfassung

Hier werden die dramatischen Ereignisse, welche die Keramik Obermesopotamiens in der
Zeit zwischen 6200 und 5900 v. Chr. veränderten, behandelt. Innerhalb einer bemerkenswert
kurzen Zeitspanne wurde die frühere, meist einfache und grobe Keramik ersetzt durch eine
technologisch und stilistisch verbesserte feine Ware. Dieses Phänomen wird anhand der
Befunde von Tell Sabi Abyad (Syrien) diskutiert. Der Begriff „Emulation“ (Nachahmung)
wird vorgeschlagen als nützlicher Rahmen für die Erklärung des Wechsels bei der Keramik.
Nachahmung kann am deutlichsten gesehen werden in der funktionellen Kategorie der
„Serviergeschirrs“. Festessen dürften der soziale Kontext gewesen sein, der die Nachahmung
von bemalten Keramikstilen ausgelöst hat.

Schlagwörter: Keramik, Vorderer Orient, Neolithikum, Sabi Abyad

82 Nieuwenhuyse: The ‘painted pottery revolution’
Introduction
In northern Syria, the time between 6200 -
5300 cal. BC represents ‘l’ère de la céramique
peinte’ (Huot 1994: 63), more universally known
as the Halaf period (Cruells, this volume). My
paper focusses on the very earliest stage of this
culture. The term ‘revolution’ in the title refers
to the dramatic, rapid increase of the proportion
of painted vessels in the ceramic assemblage.
Curiously enough, for over 800 years after the
initial adoption of fired ceramics in the Near East
(Le Mière, this volume), people had more or
less completely abstained from decorating their
vessels. This is the more remarkable considering
the inherent potential for stylistic expression
of this highly plastic medium. Then, as shown
by the evidence from the key site of Tell Sabi
Abyad, the proportion of decorated ceramics
significantly rose: from less than 20 % at around
6300 BC to over 80 % of all vessels within a
century or two (fig. 1). Alongside this ‘revolution’
came major innovations in ceramic technology,
morphology and decorative style. All together,
these gradually resulted, by around 5900 BC, in
what Near Eastern prehistorians have termed
Halaf pottery (Akkermans 1993, Campbell
1992, Cruells 2001, Cruells & Nieuwenhuyse
2005, Nieuwenhuyse, in press).
In this paper I can only discuss very briefly
some of the recent work on the early stages
of the Halaf period. Moreover, this is ‘work in
Figure 1: the ‘Painted Pottery Revolution’ at Tell Sabi Abyad. Decorated ceramics as a proportion of the total
assemblage. Level 8: Pre-Halaf; levels 7-4: Transitional; levels 3-1 and NE mound: Early Halaf.
progress’: new discoveries occur almost every
fieldwork season, and specialist studies keep
modifying our insights continuously. I shall
begin with a short review of some old and new
approaches to Halaf ceramics, and outline
some major advances made recently. I shall
then introduce the notion of emulation, and
discuss some ceramic innovations that can
usefully be explained with this concept. The
paper concludes with a discussion of the social
context of the Late Neolithic ceramics in northern
Syria. The evidence I draw upon comes mainly
from the site of Tell Sabi Abyad, excavated
systematically since 1986 (Akkermans 1993,
Akkermans et al. 2006). At the close of the
seventh millennium cal. BC this 5ha site was
occupied by semi-pastoralist groups who
build circular domestic buildings and large,
rectangular multi-roomed structures which
we interpret as communal storage facilities
(Akkermans & Verhoeven 1995). An invaluable
range of well-dated ceramics has been obtained
which enable us to monitor changes in pottery
production and consumption in great detail (Le
Mière & Nieuwenhuyse 1996, Nieuwenhuyse in
press).
The Early Halaf: old pots and new fieldwork
Explanations for the origins of Halaf pottery
are as old as this pottery has been known to
the archaeological community. The earliest
proposals were rigidly culture-historical, and
 83

often took the form of migrationist or difusionist

models (Mellaart 1975). Subsequent views
came to emphasise social interaction and the
socio-economic role of ceramic vessels. Thus,
one view still popular today holds that the Halaf
period saw the rise of ranked societies, for which
the intricately decorated ‘luxury’ ceramics were
the expression of chiefly status (Redman 1978,
Watson & Leblanc 1973). Others postulated
that the Halaf and other Late Neolithic pottery
styles, such as the Hassuna and the Samarra,
reflected distinct subsistence adaptations. In
this view, both the Hassuna and the subsequent
Halaf styles reflected a rain-fed, mixed agro- Figure 2: intricately painted Early Halaf ceramics.
pastoralist adaptation to the northern plains,
whereas the Samarra reflected a socially more
ceramic technology and an increasingly
complex adaptation to a much dryer south,
complex morphology and decoration. Effectively
where irrigation agriculture was necessary
it gradually evolved into a Fine Ware-dominated
(Bernbeck 1994, Oates 1973).
ceramic assemblage in which vessel shapes
and decorative styles are typically Halaf (fig. 2).
Implicit in many of these approaches were the
notions that a) pottery styles generally took the
Significantly, when viewed from the traditional
shape of bounded, internally homogeneous
culture-historical framework for the Near
entities, which b) somehow reflected existing
Eastern Late Neolithic, during this transition the
social entities, be they ethnic identities, modes
pottery assemblage moved from one cultural
of social organization, or ecological adaptations.
sphere to another, showing influences from,
These implicit assumptions, characteristic, as
respectively, the Proto-Hassuna, Hassuna,
noted, of much early culture-historical work, have
Samarra and Early Halaf ‘cultures’. In terms
in fact persisted into recent, more sophisticated
of ceramics, then, these cultural spheres no
approaches (Akkermans & Schwartz 2003,
longer appear separated by sharp boundaries.
Campbell 1992). In terms of ceramics, these
Rather they seem to represent transient stages
notions imply that Halaf pottery is distinct from
in a continuous trajectory of technological and
its contemporaries, Hassuna and Samarra. The
stylistic innovation. The individual ceramic
distinctiveness of Halaf pottery thus emerges in
wares that constitute the ceramic assemblage,
morphology and in decorative style, and also in
moreover, often show huge regional distributions,
the organisation of pottery production (Bernbeck
which do not appear to follow the established
1994).
boundaries of the traditional culture-historical
entities. Other elements of the cultural ‘package’
These issues have become highly relevant
that cross the boundaries of the existing culture-
with the recent discovery in northern Syria and
historical framework include the introduction of
northern Iraq of a gradual cultural transition,
stamp seals and circular buildings (‘tholoi’) and
which merged various local Pre-Halaf
the development of a mixed agro-pastoralist
cultures into what can be deemed an Early
subsistence. Once thought to be typical for the
Halaf constellation (Akkermans 1993 &1997,
Halaf culture, these features have been shown
Campbell 1992 & 1998). In northern Syria
to start much earlier, in a Pre-Halaf or Proto-
this stage is known simply as the ‘Transitional
Hassuna context (Akkermans & Schwartz 2003,
Period’, or, alternatively, as the ‘Proto-Halaf
Akkermans et al. 2006).
stage’ (Cruells & Nieuwenhuyse 2005). At Tell
Sabi Abyad and other ‘Transitional’ sites, this
In short, Late Neolithic pottery styles in the
stage is characterised by the appearance and
Near East no longer articulate well with the
subsequent rapid spread of well-made, mineral-
established typo-chronological framework.
tempered Fine Ware ceramics (Le Mière &
Rather than making the attempt to mold this
Nieuwenhuyse 1996). Gradually replacing the
worn-out framework into a better fit, a number
older, mostly plant-tempered wares, this new
of scholars have shifted the focus of research
category through time gained an improved
towards a more basic issue, namely: what was
84 Nieuwenhuyse: The ‘painted pottery revolution’

the social, economic and ritual role of plain and investigate ceramic changes in the British
painted pottery in Late Neolithic societies in Neolithic (Bradley 1984, Sherratt 1987, Thomas
nothern Syria? 1991), the adoption of Syrian drinking habits
by Canaanite elites in the Middle Bronze Age
Emulation and ceramic innovation (Bunimovitz & Greenberg 2004), and the spread
of the Greek symposium (Dentzer 1982), to give
A model that may apply to the Transitional just some examples. In the classic formulation
Period ceramics that have emerged from Tell by Daniel Miller (1985), emulation as a way of
Sabi Abyad in northern Syria is that of emulation. looking at ceramic change was applied mainly to
Emulation, when applied to
archaeological contexts,
refers to a competitive
social environment in which
groups and individuals
seek to improve their
relative status by adopting
the material expressions
– material culture, lifestyle,
dining habits, and so on
– of members of higher,
more elevated groups or
individuals (Miller 1982,
1985). If successful, this
emulation may not only
bring these groups social
rewards, but it also leads to a
diminished symbolic status
of the higher echelon’s
former emblems of prestige.
If the higher groups wish
to prevent this, they must
prevent the lower groups
from appropriating their
signs of status, for instance
by restricting the spread
of specialist knowledge
essential to their production,
or by establishing social
sanctions barring their Figure 3: the model of emulation. Horizontal axis: social status. Vertical
consumption by lower axis: changes in material culture through time, showing the introduction
groups (ibid.). Alternatively, of new items of distinction by higher groups and their ‘filtering down’ to
when this is not possible, lower groups.
they must seek new ways
of status expression. The latter option results in vessel shape. It may also be applied, however, to
material items moving down the scale of social aspects of ceramic technology and decoration.
status and, accordingly, a constant search for In discussing these aspects of the Transitional
novelties occurs on behalf of the higher groups Period pottery from this particular perspective, I
(fig. 3). The process may continuously repeat do not claim that emulation should be the only
itself, stimulating progressive innovations in the perspective for looking at these innovations,
realm of material culture. nor that it is necessarily the best. Presently,
however, it offers a useful framework capable
Emulation may explain much material culture of making sense of some of the manifold
change observed routinely by us archaeologists ceramic changes which we observe, and
as part of our profession (Dietler 1990, Renfrew enabling us to explore how they are interrelated.
1986). Scholars have used the concept to

Figure 4: Fine Ware as a valuable: pottery
repairs (a: interior; b: exterior).
Ceramic emulation in the Transitional Period
6100-5900 BC
The background against which many of the
observed ceramic innovations should be
interpreted is the ever-increasing proportion of
Fine Ware pottery during the Transitional Period.
After a modest start at the beginning of the
Transitional period (less than 5 % of the ceramic
assemblage) it quickly rose to dominance in the
Early Halaf period (over 80 %) (fig.5). At first,
then, Fine Ware pottery was new. It was also
rare, and it bore ‘exotic’ affiliations. Transitional
Period pottery very similar in technology and
Figure 5: innovations in ceramic technology, morphology and decorative style as strategies for maintaining
‘exclusivity’ against the background of a rapidly rising proportion of Fine Ware in the ceramic assemblage.
style is currently being attested over a huge
swathe of territory, covering much of northern
Syria, south-eastern Turkey, and northern Iraq.
That this pottery was highly valued is suggested
by the occasional presence of pot repairs,
85
which are found virtually exclusively with
Fine Ware, and not with other groups (fig. 4).
What made Fine Ware pottery really new
technologically was not so much the combination
of a fine, mineral temper, an even, regular
wall-thickness and a carefully finished surface
– these elements of the chaîne opératoire it
shared with other pottery groups, some of which
existed already long before the Transitional
Period – but truly innovative was the technique
of firing. Pigment analyses have shown that the
Transitional potters used paints based on iron
oxides (Steinberg & Kamili 1984, Van As et al.
1998). They had done so already during the Pre-
Halaf stage. Now, however, they experimented
with alternating oxygen cycles during the firing,
in order to produce a dark coloured paint (often
10YR 3/2, dark greyish brown, to 5YR 3/1, very
dark grey) over a light background (2.5Y 8/2, pale
yellow) (Nieuwenhuyse et al. 2001). Precisely
how they did so deserves much further study. In
northern Iraq it is about this time that the earliest
two-storey updraught kilns appear (Merpert &
Munchaev 1993). No such kilns have thus far
been identified in northern Syria, but simple
pit firings can be excluded. The Transitional
Period and Early Halaf potters thus preceded
the potters of classical Greece, who much later
‘reinvented’ similar techniques (Noll 1991).
86 Nieuwenhuyse: The ‘painted pottery revolution’

Figure 6: increasing morphological complexity of serving vessels at Tell Sabi Abyad.

The rapid rise of Fine Ware during the
Transitional Period inevitably resulted in a loss
of ‘exclusivity’ of this once rare novelty. Indeed,
during the Early Halaf almost every vessel was
a Fine Ware vessel. Following Hayden (1995),
it may be argued that Fine Ware production
shifted from a ‘prestige’ technology towards a
‘practical’ technology. At least two technological
improvements occurred which may be argued
to have been the means by which potters
attempted to counter this ‘devaluation’: one was
a gradual refinement in the area of clay selection
and preparation, either by the selection of finer
clays, the employment of better preparation
techniques, or both. The earliest Fine Ware often
show small mineral particles - occasionally even
plant particles - in the clay body; but towards
the Early Halaf period, potters shifted towards
the use of a compact clay, in which the only
macroscopically notable inclusions were small
flecks of naturally occuring calcium carbonate
(Le Mière & Nieuwenhuyse 1996). A second
innovation, in the final stages of the Transitional
Period, was the development of a slight paint
gloss, which may have been achieved by
lowering the firing temperatures somewhat or
by adding fluxes to the pigments (Steinberg
and Kamili 1984; Van As and Jacobs 1989).
A deep dark, slightly glossy paint on a whitish
background exemplifies the very best that Early
Halaf potters were able to produce.
The aspect where emulation can be followed
through perhaps most clearly is that of vessel

Figure 7: various stages in the development of the cream bowl in the Balikh valley, northern Syria.

shape. With respect to the prehistory of the
Near East, it has become generally accepted
that the various Late Neolithic cultures each
had a distinct range of morphological types
associated with them. Perhaps the key symbol
of the Halaf culture is a vessel shape: a sharply
carinated, collared bowl generally known as
the ‘cream bowl’ (fig. 7). At Tell Sabi Abyad and
other Transitional Period sites, we can now
see how this ‘typical’ Halaf shape developed
out of earlier, simpler shapes. Morphological
innovation may be seen as another, alternative
strategy for maintaining a degree of exclusivity
for (part of) the Fine Ware pottery, by elaborating
on vessel shape. The pattern can be most clearly
observed in the category of open vessels used
for serving food and drink (fig. 6). Thus, serving
vessels prior to the Transitional Period largely
consist of simple, convex-sided shapes. Initially,
during the earliest stages of the Transitional
Period, this did not change much; but following
the rising proportion of Fine Ware, potters
innovated. At first, by more often producing
S-shaped bowls and carinated bowls with
straight walls and, subsequently, by introducing
carinated, concave-walled bowls. Eventually,
they went further, by adding a low collar. From
the later stages of the Transitional onwards
until the very end of the Halaf period, potters
kept playing around with the same basic theme,
constantly introducing new varieties (fig. 7).
It is, of course, tempting to search for a
technological determinant for this rise in
morphological complexity, for instance some
newly invented shaping method that made the
production of cream bowls possible. Basically,
however, the Early Halaf potters employed
shaping methods similar to those their
predecessors had deployed generations earlier.
They took moulds for shaping the base, and built
up the vessel wall with coils (Nieuwenhuyse et
Figure 8: changes in ideal design structure of painted Fine Ware pottery during the Transitional and Early
Halaf periods at Tell Sabi Abyad.
87
al. 2001, Van As & Jacobs 1989). Similarly, the
gradual improvements in tempering observed
during the Transitional Period alone are
insufficient to explain the appearance of more
complex shapes, although this certainly will have
been a stimulating factor. Although the ceramics
from the Pre-Halaf era were, indeed, generally
made of much coarser, plant-tempered fabrics,
Pre-Halaf potters knew quite well how to make
small, thin-walled and carefully finished serving
vessels. Prior to the advent of Fine Ware, they
were able to by-pass technological constraints
by using fine chaff or dung instead of coarse
straw as a temper (Le Mière & Nieuwenhuyse
1996). The creation of more conspicuously
carinated shapes at the end of the Transitional
Period, then, was symbolic. It differentiated
small, delicate serving vessels from the bulk, in
order to preserve their exclusivity.
In addition to technological innovations and
increasing morphological complexity, there
were a number of significant, conspicuous
developments in the area of pottery decoration.
As noted above, pottery decoration is often
seen as key for distinguishing between Late
Neolithic culture-historical entities in the
traditional framework for the Near East, with
each culture potentially displaying a unique
set of design motifs and corresponding design
structures. However, here as well we may
place an increased stylistic complexity within a
continuous trajectory.
We have already observed during the
Transitional Period a gradual increase in the
proportion of decorated vessels (fig. 1). Partly
this was caused by the introduction and rise of
Fine Ware, pottery that was mostly decorated.
But behind this statistic was a major shift in
decorative technique, since the older, Pre-Halaf
decorative techniques of slipping, impressing,
88 Nieuwenhuyse: The ‘painted pottery revolution’
incising and appliqué decoration gradually
disappeared, to be replaced by the single
technique of painting. The development of
expertise to control oxidation-reduction cycles
during the firing meant that this usually was a
dark paint. The reason for the preference of
painting over alternative techniques remains
unclear: one important factor may have been
the prestige attached to the new technology
of dark-on-light painted vessels; another may
have been the superior versatility of painting for
creating increasingly intricate designs.
Interestingly, as with the increasing proportion
of decorated vessels and the development
of more complex shapes, the ´take over´ of
painting did not occur right at the start of the
Transitional Period. The increase in design
structure complexity, discussed below, followed
a similar pattern: there was a slight ´time lag´
before these changes began taking place. This
may be explained by relating these aspects
of ceramic change to the increasing amounts
of Fine Ware pottery available. During the
earliest stages of the Transitional Period,
stylistic complexity appears to have been less
relevant, as it probably was the use of standard
Fine Ware as such which conferred status and
prestige. Thus, the proportion of decorated
ceramics as a whole remained the same
initially, and design structures were kept close
to those that characterized the Pre-Halaf era.
During later stages of the Transitional Period,
however, when Fine Ware became commonly
available, increasing design complexity became
the strategy par excellence employed by Late
Neolithic potters to distinguish a category of ‘fine’,
elaborately decorated serving vessels from the
bulk. Indeed, ever more time and energy were
invested in painting ceramic vessels from the
later stages of the Transitional Period onwards.
How did the potters achieve stylistic complexity?
At Tell Sabi Abyad, potters initially choose to
subdivide the vessel surface into increasing
numbers of increasingly smaller decoration
zones (fig. 8), also adding horizontal lines
between decoration zones. This ‘multi-linear’
strategy reached its apogee at the end of the
Transitional Period when further partitioning of
the vessel surface became too difficult. Changing
tactics, potters returned to simpler design
structures during the Early Halaf, but now they
filled these with much more complicated design
motifs. Somewhat later, during the Early-Middle
Halaf, the horizontal lines became exaggerated
to the point where they almost entirely filled
the surface, leaving only narrow bands for the
design motifs. This stage yielded some of the
finest examples of Halaf Fine Ware ever made.
Discussion: Early Halaf pottery in context
What was the social context into which these
innovations occured? Scholars express
divergent views on the nature of Late Neolithic
social organization. Some argue that established
hierarchies (‘chiefdoms’) came into existence
with the advent of the Halaf (Watson & Leblanc
1973, Redman 1978); others argue for a more
egalitarian society (Akkermans 1993). The
evidence suggests an intermediate position:
in northern Syria, at least, there is currently
little evidence to argue for the existence of
institutionalized, hereditary inequalities in
status or wealth in the Late Neolithic; yet
there are good indications for the sort of short-
lived inequalities that were within the reach of
successful, ambitious individuals or groups.
Figure 9: iconographic evidence for feasting: dancing
people painted on an Early Halaf Fine Ware jar from
Tell Sabi Abyad.
For instance, as far as we are informed on
village layout, building units are often uneven
in size and complexity, and they differ in the
amount of storage facilities associated with them
(Verhoeven 1999). The expression of private
property became more formally marked just
prior to the Transitional Period, as seen in the
spread of stamp seals to restrict unauthorized
access to goods. Seals are generally accepted
to represent individualized use, and hence
they offered an unprecedented potential for the
manipulation of property and wealth. At Tell Sabi

Abyad, where several hundreds of stamped clay
sealings were found, no singular authority at
the village level can be pointed out, and control
over property probably rested with multiple
individuals exhibiting authority at the level of the
household (Akkermans & Duistermaat 1997).
There were of course new sources of wealth
arising from the gradual development of a
semi-pastoralist society. Current investigations
suggest that from around 6200 BC onwards, just
prior to the Transitional Period, northern Syrian
communities began to move into the steppes for
parts of the year, tending flocks of sheep and
goat, and exploiting their ovicaprids for wool
(Akkermans & Verhoeven 1995, Cavallo 2000,
Verhoeven 1999). As attested in anthropological
studies of herding societies, in addition to their
nutritional value animals represent ‘capital on
the hoof’ that can be manipulated as a great
source of wealth (Russel 1998). The rise of
pastoralism almost certainly was associated
with changes in diet. The use of dairy products is
often seen as a prerequisite for the emergence
of a pastoralist way of life (Cavallo 2000). A
programme of residue trace analyses presently
being conducted has attested the residue of milk
on pottery sherds from Tell Sabi Abyad (Sherratt,
pers. comm., August 2005). Alongside the new
Fine Ware, the Coarse Ware pottery showed
some new shapes that may have been used in
dairy processing.
Interestingly, the earliest evidence for the
production of wine dates from the later Neolithic,
coming from a residue from a Late Neolithic
painted Fine Ware jar from Haji Firuz Tepe,
north-western Iran (McGovern et al. 1996). It
is likely that people drank beer (Katz & Voigt
1986). Could it be that the rise of painted Fine
Wares in northern Syria was associated with
the introduction of new alcoholic beverages? At
Tell Sabi Abyad we are currently starting a wine-
residue analysis in order to explore this interesting
possibility. Certainly, when the ceramics from
the Transitional Period are subjected to a broad
functional model, the proportion of vessels
suitable for serving and consuming food and,
in particular, drink seems to become more
important. In this group we can follow the
gradual development of the so-called cream
bowl. Many of the innovations discussed above
began in this functional category, spreading
subsequently to other functional categories.
The introduction of Fine Ware pottery itself is a
89
good example of this: the earliest vessels in this
new technology were small, delicate, serving
vessels; only in later stages of the Transitional
Period did potters apply this technology to
other functional categories as well, resulting in
a functionally more diverse Fine Ware. Pottery
repairs were almost exclusively restricted to the
category of serving and consumption vessels.
In short, decorated Fine Ware vessels became
an important prop for the habitual communal
eating and drinking. Significantly, scenes of
feasting groups (fig. 9) begin to appear on the
painted Fine Ware vessels (Garfinkel 1998).
In an increasingly mobile society, feasts may
have constituted the social context in which
competitive emulation was played out, quite
probably stimulating the ceramic innovations
that we, as archaeologists, have come to
observe during the Transitional Period.
Bibliography
AKKERMANS, P.M.M.G. 1993. Villages in
the Steppe. Later Neolithic Settlement and
Subsistence in the Balikh Valley, Northern Syria.
Michigan: Ann Arbor (International Monographs
in Prehistory).
AKKERMANS, P.M.M.G. 1997. Old and New
Perspectives on the Origins of the Halaf Culture,
in: O. Rouault & M. Wäfler (eds.) La Djéziré et
l’Euphrate syriens de la Protohistoire à la fin du
second millénaire av.J.-C.: 55-68: Paris: ERC.
AKKERMANS, P.M.M.G. & DUISTERMAAT, K.
1997. Of storage and nomads. The sealings of
Late Neolithic Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria. Paléorient
22/2 : 17-44.
AKKERMANS, P.M.M.G., CAPPERS, R., CAVALLO,
C., NIEUWENHUYSE, O.P., NILHAMN, B. & OTTE,
I.N. 2006. Investigating the Early Pottery Neolithic
of northern Syria: new evidence from Tell Sabi
Abyad’. American Journal of Archaeology 11/1:
123-156.
AKKERMANS, P.M.M.G. & SCHWART, G. 2003.
The Archaeology of Syria: From Complex
Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies
(ca.16,000-300 BC). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
AKKERMANS, P.M.M.G. & VERHOEVEN, M. 1995.
An Image of Complexity: the Burnt Village at Late
Neolithic Sabi Abyad, Syria. American Journal of
Archaeology 99/1: 5-32.
90 Nieuwenhuyse: The ‘painted pottery revolution’
BERNBECK, R. 1994. Die Auflosung der
häuslichen Produktionsweise. Berlin: Dietrich
Reimer Verlag.
BRADLEY, R. 1984. The Social Foundations of
Prehistoric Britain. London: Longman.
BUNIMOVITZ, S. & GREENBERG, R. 2004.
Revealed in their cups: Syrian drinking customs in
Intermediate Bronze Age Canaan. Bulletin of the
American School of Oriental Research 334: 19-31.
CAMPBELL, S. 1992. Culture, Chronology
and Change in the Later Neolithic of North
Mesopotamia. Edinburgh: Ph.D. thesis University
of Edinburgh.
CAMPBELL, S. 1998. Problems of Definition: the
Origins of the Halaf in North Iraq, in: M. Lebeau
(ed.) About Subartu. Studies devoted to Upper
Mesopotamia: 39-52. Turnhout: Brepols (Subartu
IV).
CAVALLO, C. 2000. Animals in the Steppe. A
zooarchaeological analysis of Later Neolithic
Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria. Oxford: BAR Int. S 891.
CRUELLS, W. 2001. Nuevas aportaciones a
la cultura Halaf en Siria, in: J.L. Montero,
J. Vidal & F. Maso (eds.) Actas del I Congreso
de Arqueología e Historia Antigua del Oriente
Próximo: 135-157. Barcelona: Monografies
Eridu 1.
CRUELLS, W. & NIEUWENHUYSE, O.P. 2005. The
Proto-Halaf period in Syria. New sites, new data.
Paléorient 30/1: 47-68.
DENTZER, J.M. 1982. Le motif du banquet couché
dans le Proche-Orient et dans le monde grec du
VIIe au VIe siècle avant J.-C. Paris: Boccard.
DIETLER, M. 1990. Driven by drink: the role of
drinking in the political economy and the case of
early Iron Age France. Journal of Anthropological
Archaeology 9: 352-406.
GARFINKEL, Y. 1998. Dancing and the beginning
of art scenes in the early village communities of
the Near East and Southeast Europe. Cambridge
Archaeological Journal 8/2: 207-237.
HAYDEN, B. 1995. The emergence of prestige
technologies and pottery, in: W.K. Barnett &
J.W. Hoopes (eds.) The Emergence of Pottery.
Technology and Innovation in Ancient Societies:
257-266. Washington: Smithsonian Institution
Press.
HUOT, J.L. 1994. Les premiers villageois de
Mésopotamie : du village à la ville. Paris : Armand
Collin.
KATZ, S.H. & VOIGT, M.M. 1986. Bread and beer.
The early use of cereals in the human diet.
Expedition 28: 23-34.
LE MIèRE, M. & NIEUWENHUYSE, O.P. 1996. The
Prehistoric Pottery, in: P.M.M.G. Akkermans (ed.),
Tell Sabi Abyad. The Late Neolithic Settlement:
119-284. Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch
Archeologisch Instituut.
McGOVERN, P.E., GLUSKER, D.L., EXNER, L.J.
& VOIGT, M.M. 1996. Neolithic resinated wine.
Nature 381: 480-481.
MELLAART, J. 1975. The Neolithic of the Near
East. London: Thames and Hudson.
MERPERT, N.Y. & MUNCHAEV, R.M. 1993. Yarim
Tepe I, in: N. Yoffee & J.J. Clark (eds.) Early
Stages in the Evolution of Mesopotamian
Civilization. Soviet Excavations in Northern Iraq:
73-114. Tuscon: University of Arizona Press.
MILLER, D. 1982. Structures and strategies:
an aspect of the relationship between social
hierarchy and cultural change, in: I. Hodder
(ed.) Symbolic and Structural Archaeology: 89-
98. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
MILLER, D. 1985. Artefacts as Categories. A
Study of Ceramic Variability in Central India.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
NIEUWENHUYSE, O.P. 2007. Plain and Painted
Pottery. The Rise of Late Neolithic Ceramic Styles
on the Syrian and Northern Mesopotamian Plains.
Turnhout: Brepols (Papers on Archaeology of the
Leiden Museum of Antiquities 3).
NIEUWENHUYSE, O.P., JACOBS, L., VAN AS, A.,
BROEKMANS, T. & ADRIAENS, M. 2001. Making
Samarra Fine Ware - technological observations
on the ceramics from Tell Baghouz (Syria).
Paléorient 27/1: 147-165.
NOLL, W. 1991. Alte Keramike und ihre Pigmente.
Studien zu Material und Technologie. Stuttgart:
Schweizerbart.
OATES, J. 1973. The background and development
of early farming communities in Mesopotamia
and the Zagros. Proceedings of the Prehistoric
Society 39: 147-181.
REDMAN, C.L. 1978. The Rise of Civilization.
From Early Farmers to Urban Society in the
Ancient Near East. San Francisco: Freeman
and co.
RENFREW, C. 1986. Varna and the emergence
of wealth in prehistoric Europe, in: A. Appadurai
(ed.) The Social Life of Things: 141-168.
 91

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

RUSSELL, N. 1998. Cattle as wealth in Neolithic
Europe: where´s the beef?, in: D. Bailey (ed.)
The Archaeology of value. Essays on Prestige
and the Processes of Valuation: 42-54. Oxford:
BAR Int. S 730.
SHERRATT, A. 1987. Cups that cheered: the
introduction of alcohol to prehistoric Europe, in:
W. Waldren & R. Kennard (eds.) Bell Beakers
of the Western Mediterranean: the Oxford
International Conference 1986: 81-106. Oxford:
BAR Int. S 331.
STEINBERG, A. & KAMILI, D.C. 1984. Paint and
Paste Studies of Selected Halaf Sherds from
Mesopotamia, in: P.M. Rice (ed.) Pots and Potters.
Current Approaches in Ceramic Archaeology.
Los Angeles: University of California (Monograph
XXIV).
THOMAS, J. 1991. Rethinking the Neolithic.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
VAN AS, A. & JACOBS, L. 1989. Technological
aspects of the prehistoric pottery, in: P.M.M.G.
Akkermans (ed.) Excavations at Tell Sabi Abyad.
Prehistoric Investigations in the Balikh valley
of northern Syria: 215-232. Oxford: BAR Int. S
468.
VAN AS, A., JACOBS, L. & NIEUWENHUYSE, O.P.
1998. The Transitional Fine Ware Pottery of Tell
Sabi Abyad, Syria. A Pilot Study. Newsletter of
the Department of Pottery Technology 14/15
(Leiden: Leiden University Press): 25-47.
VERHOEVEN, M. 1999. An Ethnographical
Ethnography of a Late Neolithic Community.
Space, Place and Social Relations at Tell Sabi
Abyad, Syria. Istanbul: Nederlands Historisch
Archeologisch Instituut.
WATSON P.J. & LEBLANC, S.A. 1973. Excavation
and Analysis of Halafian Materials from
Southeastern Turkey; the Halaf period
reexamined. Paper presented at the 72nd
annual meeting of the American Anthropological
Association, New Orleans 1973.

O. Nieuwenhuyse
Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University,
POB 9515, 2300 RA,
NL - Leiden
onieuw@xs4all.nl