Arqueólogos descobrem sociedade humana que precede à invenção da roda

quarta-feira, abril 07, 2010

Archaeologists Uncover Land Before Wheel; Site Untouched for 6,000 Years

ScienceDaily (Apr. 6, 2010) — A team of archaeologists from the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, along with a team of Syrian colleagues, is uncovering new clues about a prehistoric society that formed the foundation of urban life in the Middle East prior to invention of the wheel.

Archaeologists have long surmised that the Ubaid people were among the first in the Middle East to experience division of social groups according to power and wealth. Now, the first excavation of Tell Zeidan in 6,000 years adds confidence to this theory. (Credit: Gil Stein, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago)

The mound of Tell Zeidan in the Euphrates River Valley near Raqqa, Syria, which had not been built upon or excavated for 6,000 years, is revealing a society rich in trade, copper metallurgy and pottery production. Artifacts recently found there are providing more support for the view that Tell Zeidan was among the first societies in the Middle East to develop social classes according to power and wealth.

Tell Zeidan dates from between 6000 and 4000 B.C., and immediately preceded the world's first urban civilizations in the ancient Middle East. It is one of the largest sites of the Ubaid culture in northern Mesopotamia.

Thus far, archaeologists have unearthed evidence of this society's trade in obsidian and production and development of copper processing, as well as the existence of a social elite that used stone seals to mark ownership of goods and culturally significant items.

"The project addresses questions not only of how such societies emerged but how they were sustained and flourished," said John Yellen, program director for archaeology in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences directorate. NSF supports the University of Chicago's research.
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