Khanijdal East: a small Ubaid site in northern Iraq

Abstract

A recent review of the state of Ubaid archaeology has urged that more Ubaid sites be excavated and published, and that patterns of Ubaid settlement should be analyzed at a regional scale (Henrickson and Thuesen 1989: pp. 457-8). The primary objective of this paper is therefore rather straightforward: to provide some basic data on artifacts in context from a small excavated Ubaid 3-4 site located within the zone of rain-fed cultivation, and to place these within a regional frame of analysis. The information described, being from both excavation and survey, provides a valuable opportunity to place excavated data within a regional context and to compare this with equivalent data from southern Mesopotamia. It may also provide some insights into the spread of the Ubaid from the south into Upper Mesopotamia.The site of Khanijdal East was recorded as part of the North Jazira Survey conducted between 1986 and 1990 in the north-west of Iraq immediately north of the Jebel Sinjar. This report amplifies, and in places updates, a summary statement previously made, and rather than repeating already published statements (Wilkinson and Tucker 1995; Ball, Tucker and Wilkinson 1989), we will limit the regional discussion to the addition of supplementary data derived from the primary survey record of the north Jazira project. This additional information should add some fuel to debate on the existence (or otherwise) of regional site hierarchies for the period. Although the data provided from this low-order settlement are, like the settlement itself, rather modest, we feel that publication is justified because, at present, students of this period in Upper Mesopotamia are restricted to a rather small range of sites, such as Gawra, Leilan, Telul al-Thalathat, Tell Hammam et-Turkman, Arpachiyah, Tell Kashkashok and Yarim Tepe, together with a few more that are not yet fully published.