Description

This research aims at reconstructing the aquatic environments and long-distance trade patterns in North Syria during the 3rd millennium BCE, based on the study of mollusk remains from archaeological sites in the Khabur region, currently housed in the Smithsonian. Extant archaeological and palaeoclimatic evidence attributes the development of social and political systems of the 3rd millennium BCE in Syria to humid climatic conditions. Their collapse is considered to have occurred largely as a consequence of globally-effective arid conditions. Archaeological mollusk remains in the region provides an excellent opportunity to investigate both the exchange networks of these systems and the local palaeoenvironmental conditions. The research utilizes the taxonomic, morphological, sclerochronological, and biogeochemical properties of modern and archaeological freshwater clams to establish chronological variability and continuity in seasonal patterns of pluvial regimes and palaeotemperatures. It also uses the taxonomy of imported marine mollusks in the archaeological assemblages to trace the direction and development of long-distance trade connections. This work allows inferences about the temperature, seasonality, and productivity of the water sources that were essential for the subsistence and development of the third millennium BCE societies in North Syria. It also offers a direct and simple method to map the greater contact area of these complex urban cultures.