Near East Kingdoms

Shakhi Kora (City) (Northern Mesopotamia)

Ancient Mesopotamia (Intro) Canaanite States & Groups Israelites & Israel Mesopotamian States & Groups Rome Syrian States & Groups

In southern Mesopotamia the city states of Sumer formed one of the first great civilisations in human history (see feature link). This Near Eastern civilisation developed out of the end of the Pottery Neolithic across the Fertile Crescent, a period which had seen Neolithic Farmer practices spread far and wide across the Near East and beyond.

As irrigation improved so the more southerly reaches of the Euphrates could at last be occupied by humans and their animals, with permanent settlements arising from the sixth millennium BC. Initially these were pastoralist settlements, but soon farming villages appeared and they gradually grew and improved. At the same time, northern Mesopotamia experienced its own burgeoning development processes, largely starting under the Hassuna culture.

These processes took longer here than they did in the south, in what is now northern Iraq, the western edge of Iran, the south-eastern corner of Turkey, and the eastern wedge of Syria. An urban lifestyle only really appeared in the third millennium BC, thanks in part to such influences being imposed during Sumerian empire-building periods. Archaeology has uncovered a wealth of detail about settlements in this region, but many more sites remain to be examined.

One such site, relatively obscure in terms of Mesopotamian history, is at Shakhi Kora. Its ancient name is unknown as even its abandonment pre-dates the appearance of descriptive writing - it was only occupied approximately between 4000-3100 BC.

Its archaeological tell or settlement mound is in the Kurdish region of modern Iraq, near Kalar. This lies on the right (western) bank of the River Sirwan, a little under two hundred kilometres to the north-east of Baghdad and close to the Iranian border. It also lies well to the east of Ashur and Nineveh, and much closer to the foothills of the Zagros mountains.

Researchers have found dozens of bevelled-rim bowls, a type of pottery which is believed to have been used to distribute food as a form of payment in exchange for labour. This practice points to an early attempt at centralised governance in this region, a process which potentially lay the groundwork for the Mesopotamian city states of the third millennium BC.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City, Gwendolyn Leick (Penguin Books, 2001), from Encyclopaedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition, Cambridge (England), 1910), from Historical Atlas of the Ancient World, 4,000,000 to 500 BC, John Heywood (Barnes & Noble, 2000), from Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East, Michael Road (Facts on File, 2000), from Mesopotamia: Assyrians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Enrico Ascalone (Dictionaries of Civilizations 1, University of California Press, 2007), from History of the Ancient Near East c.3000-323 BC, Marc van der Mieroop (Blackwell Publishing, 2004, 2007), and from External Links: Excavations at Shakhi Kora (Heritage Daily), and Excavations at a 4th millennium BC settlement (Arkeonews), and Ancient Artefacts (Greek Reporter).)

c.4000 BC

The earliest levels of Shakhi Kora are represented by Chalcolithic painted pottery which appears at the end of the Pottery Neolithic period. The earliest use of the site probably dates to the regional Halaf culture, with development into a permanent settlement seemingly occurring around 4000 BC.

Pottery found at the archaeological site of Shakhi Kora in north-eastern Iraq reveal the adoption of the Uruk IV cultural period and then the apparent abandonment of centralised authority in favour of individual farming

The Uruk IV period which lasts between about 3900-3100 BC sees many early cities flourish across Mesopotamia, while at the heart of this frenzy of progress is the city of Uruk, the only real urban centre in Sumer.

Building works there reach a frenzy of succession and experimentation, and other, smaller centres such as Nineveh also progress quickly into full city status. The people of Shakhi Kora embrace Uruk influences in favour of their own local traditions.

c.3100 BC

The Uruk IV influence suddenly fades around 3100 BC (or 3200 BC in some modern sources) for reasons unknown. Local traditions re-emerge in places which had previously taken on board Uruk influences. Elam's advanced city of Susa experiences an influx of immigrants who introduce great changes there.

Shaki Kora fares somewhat differently. Archaeology reveals no signs of war or environmental disaster, but the settlement is still abandoned, seemingly alongside the Uruk IV experiment with urban living. Scholarly theory is that the locals reject the concept of centralised governance and instead returned to independent farming.

No major urban settlements exist in the region for many centuries. Nineveh remains occupied but appears to 'begin again' on a fresh settlement mound. Even the later city of Ashur is formed only as a sanctuary centre around 2900 BC, towards the beginning of the 'Early Dynastic' period in Mesopotamia (2900-2800 BC).