Bevel-rim bowls (BRBs) – the coarse, thick-walled, ceramic artefact that became the type-fossil of the Late Uruk – first appear in southern Mesopotamia in the early fourth millennium (Table 1), and by the mid-fourth millennium cluster in their thousands throughout Mesopotamia and the surrounding regions, declining to extinction in most areas by 3000 BC. Their function and cultural implications have frequently been debated, but interpretation has often been clouded by tenuous analogical links and circular arguments. In order to gain a better understanding of the function and significance of BRBs, and so of their possible role in the Uruk system of central control, distribution and bureaucracy in the late Uruk period, in 2007/8 I manufactured a total of 28 replica BRBs (Fig. 1) and employed them in various experiments to test some of the functional theories advanced over the years by commentators, including the making of bread, yoghurt, cheese and salt. My practical experiments provided useful new insights into the likely manufacturing process and mode of use of the BRB, but more importantly they reinforced a novel and – if correct – critical theory about the end-use and cultural importance of the BRB’s contents.

The semantic context of the cultural patterns of the past is beyond our perception. This fact, regardless of time and space, thus, makes any type of social organizations that existed in the past complex and transitive. Bearing in mind this fact, this study aimed to analyze the Late Chalcolithic period (ca. 4500-3000 BC) in an extensive area of north Mesopotamia with archaeological traces of an increasing socio-cultural, socio-economic, and socio-political complexity through the Annales School of History paradigm, which divides time into geographical time, social time, and individual time. Within this division, geographical time (longue durée) refers to the role of environment and geography on the nature and development of the northern communities at the regional level. Social time (conjoncture) provides a perceptible rhythm of indigenous cultural phenomena in north Mesopotamia (ca. 4500-3700 BC) prior to the Uruk culture of southern Mesopotamian origin, and a certain degree of social mobility, history of communities and their ideologies (mentalité) after the Uruk expansion (ca 3700-3000 BC). The Uruk phenomenon in north Mesopotamia can be perceived in social time. At another level, individual time (évènement), which takes historical events as the reference, coincides with the establishment of the Uruk colonies at Tell Sheikh Hassan, Habuba Kabira Süd, and Jebel Aruda in the Middle Euphrates Basin. In comparison with the earlier assessments, this analysis shows that an interpretation of continuity and change in total history (histoire totale) of the Late Chalcolithic period of north Mesopotamia is possible with the Annales paradigm. It also shows that north Mesopotamia, in the long term, hosted a number of cultural patterns; thus, provides culturally accumulated continuity, while different cultural influences and interactions, in several cases, played a key role in cultural changes. The interpretation of this thesis based on archaeological excavations, surveys carried out in north Mesopotamia, as well as previous views on the Late Chalcolithic period.

During 2007 archaeological survey of Little Zab River in Sardasht district in northwest Iran, six typical Uruk (Uruk-related) sites were brought to light. One of the important ones is Tepe Badamyar Rabat, with typical Bevelled Rim Bowls pottery that is considered as the first evidence of Uruk materials in northwest Iran. In addition to Rabat, the Uruk materials found in Tepe Baghi, Tepe Waliv, Tepe Molla Yousef, Tepe Lavin and Tepe Goman provide an opportunity for studying the one millennium gap between Hasanlu VIIIA (Pisdeli) and VIIC (Kura-Araxes) in the southern parts of Lake Urmia, which is seen as a key unknown period in the archaeology of NW Iran. The Uruk evidence found in the mentioned sites mainly belongs to the Middle and Late Uruk periods (3600/3500–3100 BC).

We compare the Mesopotamian Uruk bevel rim bowl with the Egyptian Old Kingdom bread mold in terms of their ubiquity and physical attributes to suggest a common function.

The new data from the sites of Girdi Qala and Logardan (Iraqi Kurdistan) are starting to change the picture of Uruk culture expansion. In the Central Zagros Piedmont, it began as early as the second half of the local Late Chalcolithic 2 (LC2), contemporary with South Mesopotamian Early Uruk. The Uruk presence is documented not only by a large ceramic assemblage, characterized by a broad range of shapes and techniques, but also by numerous production facilities which show that Uruk pottery was made on-site by resident craftsmen. These discoveries lead us to revise traditional conceptions of the Uruk expansion, based on the simple dichotomy between local populations and Uruk colonists. We can now assess the actual forms of intercultural exchange that were taking place over an unexpectedly long period of time. Résumé : Les nouvelles données provenant des sites de Girdi Qala et Logardan (Kurdistan d'Irak) commencent à offrir une image renouvelée de l'expansion de la culture d'Uruk, qui débute, dans le piémont mésopotamien du Zagros central, dès la seconde moitié du Chalcolithique récent 2 local (LC2), contemporain de l'Uruk ancien du Sud mésopotamien. La présence urukienne est documentée non seulement par un vaste assemblage céramique, caractérisé par une grande diversité de formes et de techniques, mais aussi par de nombreuses installations de production, démontrant que la poterie Uruk était fabriquée sur place, par des artisans installés à demeure. Ces découvertes amènent à nuancer les conceptions traditionnelles de l'expansion urukienne, fondées sur une dichotomie élémentaire entre populations locales et colons urukiens, si l'on veut apprécier les modalités précises d'échanges interculturels s'inscrivant dans une durée insoupçonnée.