G1
Expeditions to early farming villages in Upper Mesopotamia and beyond

Research into Neolithic villages of western Asia has been one of the major field projects conducted at the University Museum. Starting with excavations in the 1950s at Telul-eth Thalathat, Iraq, and Tall-i Bakun, Iran, the expedition team has investigated numerous early farming settlements in Iraq, Iran, and Syria. Most recently, comparable Neolithic settlements in the southern Caucasus in Azerbaijan have also been subjects of field work.

These sites, although distributed in a large geographic region, represent the late Neolithic rather than the early Neolithic period, which may appear more attractive for investigating the beginning of the food production economy at the early Holocene period. However, the late Neolithic period has also distinct significance in Neolithisation research. In fact, Neolithisation was a long-term process, involving several developmental stages over millennia. One feature characterizing the late Neolithic era is a geographic expansion of the distribution of early farming settlements. Substantial farming settlements appeared in the Mesopotamian plains from the 8th millennium BC, and new settlements were established beyond western Asia from the late 7th millennium BC. Original data collected through intensive fieldwork in different regions allow the University Museum to serve a unique institution and investigate the mechanism of development and expansion of early farming settlements. (Yoshihiro Nishiaki) 

References

松谷敏雄（1997）「西アジアにおける学術調査」『精神のエクスペディション』西秋良宏編：102–110、東京大学出版会。

Nishiaki, Y. & Matsutani, T. (eds.) (2001) Tell Kosak Shamal, Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Nishiaki, Y. & Matsutani, T. (eds.) (2003) Tell Kosak Shamal, Vol. 2. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Nishiaki, Y. et al. (eds.) (2013) Neolithic Archaeology in the Khabur Valley, Upper Mesopotamia and Beyond. Berlin: ex oriente.

Nishiaki, Y. et al. (2015) Chronological contexts of the earliest Pottery Neolithic in the Southern Caucasus. American Journal of Archaeology 119(3): 279–294.