Agricoltura, alimentazione e paleoambiente della Jazira siriana tra IV e III mill. a.C. Le evidenze da Tell Mozan

Prefazione
Matteo Delle Donne’s research on the archaeobotanical remains from the Urkesh/Mozan excavations carried out under the auspice of IIMAS – The International Institute of Mesopotamian Area Studies is the result of his long interest in our project and his on site analysis of the materials carried out during the excavations. Because his research came during the excavation seasons he was able to familiarize himself first hand with the stratigraphic and architectural contexts from where the samples came. It was particularly helpful for all of us to be able to discuss in person issues relating to the material and its context just as it was being excavated: the collaboration that ensued was exemplary and this book is also the fruit of that collaborative experience.
The results of his research on the Urkesh/Mozan data are of great significance for what they tell us about the local environment in the region and for the care with which he points out the coherence with the data analyzed from nearby sites, located in modern-day northeastern Syria. For instance, he points out, along with others, that northern Mesopotamia is an ideal area for the cultivation of grapes because in antiquity both wild grape vines as well as cultivated grapes existed there. In fact, the data from Mozan/Urkesh indicate that the domestication of the grape in all likelihood occurred in this area because at our site Delle Donne found evidence of an intermediate stage in the long process of development from wild to cultivated grapes. The consumption of grapes as food and the processing of grapes to produce wine is a topic of much current debate. In the third millennium seal impressions dating to the Akkadian period, we have found a large amount of iconographic data showing elites holding up a conical cup, from which they are presumably drinking. From our excavations we have a very large number of these cups and have attempted to determine what these cups contained through residue analysis. Unfortunately these analyses were negative for any type of residue so we can only speculate that the iconography indicates a special type of drink, perhaps including wine.
The results of his research on the plants grown in the fourth and third millennium near the city of Urkesh interestingly reflect the modern situation with which we are very familiar. Delle Donne reconstructs the local environment around the ancient city as open fields with few areas of trees and some water stagnant or running. Until the advent of a large number of dams in southeastern Turkey there was much more water present in the Mozan area than today. The crops grown in the Mozan area today are primarily wheat, some barley and some lentils. There are no fruit trees or grape vines as these are an entirely different type of cultivation activity. The other major crop is cotton which of course was introduced much later.
An extensive English rendering of the main argument will be published in the excavation's website (www.urkesh.org), where the data of Delle Donne's analysis will also be included in the Urkesh Global Record format. For this, too, we are grateful to the author, who has always been keen about integrating his work with that of the project as a whole. The final inclusion of the results of his research in the wider digital framework of the Urkesh record will bring to a successful conclusion our intense and productive scholarly collaboration, which we hope to be able to continue in full force once it becomes possible to resume excavations at Tell Mozan.
Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati - Giorgio Buccellati, Directors, Mozan/Urkesh Archaeological Project