This substantial volume provides a final report on eight seasons of excavations at the small third-millennium BC village site of Tell al-Raqa'i in northern Syria (the editor's preface notes that the project's co-director, Hans Curvers, plans to publish his own interpretations in a separate monograph). Raqa'i was investigated from 1986–1993 as part of a multi-national programme of rescue excavations at a series of sites along both banks of the Khabur River, south of modern Hasseke and not far from the major Bronze Age urban centre of Tell Brak. The research agenda underpinning this project from its inception is that of ‘rural archaeology’, about which the volume's editor has published a significant amount.
Schwartz situates the work at Raqa'i within the context of urban-rural dynamics, pointing out that much research on the development of urbanisation and socio-political complexity in ancient Mesopotamia has hitherto focused on major cities while ignoring the potential contribution of the investigation of rural settlements. Although large-scale archaeological surveys have more effectively negotiated this concern, very few small-scale settlements have received systematic excavation. Schwartz stresses the need to view ancient Mesopotamian societies not so much as urban vs rural, but rather as a continuum of city and countryside, with rural communities integrated in manifold ways—economic, political, cultural—with their local urban centres as well as within broader networks of regional and inter-regional engagement.
The volume adopts the structure of a conventional archaeological report progressing from discussion of the research framework, through the stratigraphy and architecture, ceramics, small finds, burials and chipped stone, metal, botanical and faunal evidence, to a final summary chapter. There is variability in the depth and scope of each chapter, inevitable in a multi-author volume, with the ceramics (102 pages) and small finds (141 pages) receiving the most exhaustive and informative treatments. It is notable that the distinctive incised ‘Ninevite 5’ ceramic vessels are most commonly associated with the proposed temple structure of Level 3, an association matched at nearby Tell Brak where such vessels were also found in significant association with a small shrine or temple of mid third-millennium BC date. The chapters on plant and animal remains are also full of insights into the organisation of the diet and storage economy at Raqa'i and its intersection with the wider world, including nearby sites such as Tell ‘Atij, Tell Brak and Mari.
The most significant of the project's results relates to the exposure of a large area of a mid third-millennium BC village in Levels 4–3, coupled with the tentative identification of the site as a specialised grain storage facility serving regional communities. The major architectural feature of Levels 4–3 is a substantial ‘Round Building’ with walls preserved up to 4m in height, whose function is interpreted as that of a series of massive grain (barley) silos, protected by a thick circular wall. Schwartz and his team excavated the remains of small-scale rectilinear structures radiating from the Round Building and interpreted as residences and a small temple. Amongst the small finds, several clay sealings with cylinder seal impressions, along with a numerical tablet and clay tokens, indicate the presence of an administrative bureaucracy that parallels that attested at major third-millennium BC Mesopotamian urban sites of the north (e.g. Tell Brak, Leilan, Ebla) and of the south (e.g. Abu Salabikh, Ur, Fara), further strengthening the argument of a continuum in urban and rural complexity and activity.
In the chapter entitled ‘Spatial and social organization of Level 3’, Schwartz and Eric Klucas provide an intriguing discussion rooted in the architectural layout of this level. They discern a village structured into ‘neighbourhoods’, demarcated by alleyways, comprising small households and craft production areas, analogous to the urban structure of major Mesopotamian towns, although on a much smaller scale. In the concluding chapter, Schwartz weaves together the threads running through the volume into a cohesive and convincing argument to the effect that small village sites such as Raqa'i can provide uniquely informative insights on issues such as economic and craft specialisation, interactions between settled farmers and mobile steppe pastoralists, and the importance of excavating small sites in order to apprehend fully the development of early social complexity.
The quality of the book's production is sound, with many good line drawings, although the half-tones often lack sufficient contrast and clarity. There is a very useful index and there are ample bibliographies at the end of each chapter. In many respects, the true value of this volume is revealed through its consideration within a matrix of the research and publication on all the other Khabur rescue sites excavated by various teams during the 1980–1990s, including ‘Atij, Umm Qseir, Melebiya and Bderi. Fortin and Aurenche (Reference Fortin and Aurenche1998) made a preliminary attempt at a regional synthesis of these results; in the concluding pages of the present volume, Schwartz provides a masterful updated overview of the points of comparison and contrast amongst the Khabur rescue sites. This new publication provides a stimulating research framework, and adds a huge amount of detail. Schwartz and his team are to be congratulated on shifting the focus of early complexity studies through their systematic work at this small village site located in a region of Syria now cursed by a hostile and ignorant occupation.
