A01: First Signs of Urban Civilization

While conducting archaeological excavations of the Neolithic sites in Anatolia and Mesopotamia (e.g. at Hasankeyf Höyük, Jarmo), archeological, archaeobotanical, archaeozoological, and environmental science research will be carried out relating to phenomena perceived as initial indications of urbanism (e.g., public buildings, mortuary rituals, long-distance trade and densely populated settlements) which had occurred prior to urbanization in West Asia.

Research Group 01:
Subsistence Economy and Social Structures in Prehistoric West Asia

As symbolically expressed by the terminology, “Neolithic Revolution”, the beginning of farming, has been generally considered to have prepared a social, economic foundation—a pathway leading to the formation of cities and states—and its significance was highly regarded. On the contrary, the Neolithic society itself has been seen as a relatively simple farming communities. However, due to developments in recent investigations such as at Göbekli Tepe, large public buildings and ritual centers were discovered to have existed at the beginning of the Neolithic. Furthermore, much of the recently uncovered archaeological evidence from this period has demonstrated developments in advanced craftsmanship, complex mortuary rituals, symbolism, and long-distance trade. These situations and the existence of large-scale settlements with a large population, otherwise known as mega sites, indicate these phenomena had occurred at the beginning of the Neolithic prior to the emergence of urbanized societies. This research project analyzes archeological materials on these “urban social aspects” of the Neolithic period and compares these situations with full-scale urban societies which emerged afterward to highlight their similarities and differences. Issues on sedentism are also considered, and the background of these issues is investigated in order to clarify how the complex society had developed.

Research Organization

Project Leader

Yutaka Miyake　Archaeology: Neolithic; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba

Co-investigators

Tsuneki Akira　Archaeology: Chalcolithic; University of Tsukuba

Kenichiro Hisada　Geology, Bunkyo University

Hitomi Hongo　Archaeozoology; School of Advanced Sciences, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies

Kenichi Tanno　Archaeobotany; Faculty of Letters, Ryukoku University

Arimura Makoto　Archaeology: craft production; School of Letters, Tokai University

Osamu Maeda　Archaeology: goods exchange; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba

Masao Semmoto　Archaeology: pottery productiona and distribution; The Ancient Orient Museum

Yu Itahashi　Archaeometry: stable isotope analysis of human bones; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba

Kazuya Shimogama　Archaeology; Chiba Institute of Technology

Links to other research groups

• X00
• A01
• A02
• B01
• C01