SETTLEMENT PATTERNS AND LAND USE DURING NINEVITE 5 PERIOD “3000-2500 BC” IN THE KHABOUR BASIN

Abstract

The period extended between the end of the fourth millennium BC, i.e. Chalcolithic
Age, and the beginning of the third millennium BC, i.e. Early Bronze Age, was character-
ized by the existence of a transition phase that did not exceed five hundred years. That
period called Ninevite 5 and it lasted from 3000 to 2500 BC. Radical changes had
happened during that period before the shifting to build the big cities and the
establishment of the Akkadian Empire around 2500 BC. After the settlement expansion
across the last stage of the fourth millennium that named LC 5 “Late Chalcolithic 5” terri-
tories that extended from the south of Iraq to the north of the Syrian Jazireh, we notice
that, at the end of the fourth millennium and the beginning of the third one, a recess had
occurred to that expansion and the number of inhabited sites, which were dwelled in
high population density, had drastically decreased to only reach 30%. Except of some
small rural sites in north of Iraq and Khabour Basin in the north-east of Syrian Jazireh,
this period was marked _ although it lasted for a short time _ by several features, at top
of it all, is its unique and distinguished pottery that it had not been found anywhere
before Ninevite 5 and which characterized by its shape, color and decoration. Distinctive
pottery is not the only feature that characterized this period but also work specialization
in Khabour Basin sites where the Upper Khabour Basin specialized in rain-fed agriculture
to grow grains and then transfer them to the Middle Khabour Basin where they used to
be cleaned processed and stored in specific facilities. These stored grains used to be either
shipped to other sites along the Khabour river, like Mari, or be consumed locally by
residents of the sites in Khabour Basin or served as fodder for animals.