5,000-year-old relics in Iraq reveal early experimentation with labour management

Archaeologists in Iraq have uncovered 5,000-year-old artifacts at the Shakhi Kora site in the Kurdistan region, offering insights into how ancient Mesopotamian societies organized labour and resources.

The findings, recently published in the journal Antiquity, suggest that these early communities experimented with centralized governance during the Uruk period. The discovery of clay bowls, believed to have been used to distribute food like meat stews in exchange for labour, highlights the emergence of hierarchical systems.

According to lead researcher Dr. Claudia Glatz from the University of Glasgow, these beveled-rim bowls were likely integral to managing and feeding workers, indicating a structured, centralized authority.

Dr. Glatz, who has been overseeing excavations at Shakhi Kora since 2019, noted that institutional structures at the site, such as buildings with pillars and advanced drainage systems, reflected influences from southern Mesopotamian design. Residue analysis of the bowls confirmed traces of meat, suggesting that animal husbandry played a key role in sustaining the settlement.

By the late fourth millennium B.C., the site was abandoned without signs of violence or environmental disaster. Researchers propose that the local population rejected the hierarchical system, reverting to subsistence farming and a more decentralized way of life. Dr. Glatz emphasized that this departure from centralized governance offers a rare look into societal resistance to authority in ancient times.

Dr. Susan Pollock of the Free University of Berlin, commenting on the findings, noted the region's lack of urbanization compared to other Mesopotamian areas, suggesting a preference for smaller, decentralized communities. Similarly, Dr. Glenn Schwartz of Johns Hopkins University described the new evidence about the beveled-rim bowls as a breakthrough, shedding light on their role in early governance and resource management.