Settlement in the Diyala and Southern Mesopotamia: A Reassessment of Robert McCormick Adams' Sasanian and Early Islamic Ceramic 'Type Fossils'

Abstract

Robert McCormick Adams', considered to be a pioneer in Near Eastern archaeology, has been extremely influential in his surveys and hypotheses concerning the settlement, population and agricultural patterns of Mesopotamia.
It is the aim of this discussion to examine his views concerning the Sasanian and Early Islamic periods by means of reassessing his correspondingly dated ceramic 'type fossils' (outlined in Adams' publication Land Behind Baghdad (1965)). More recent excavations in the area have suggested that some of these 'type fossils' should be dated later than originally considered. Therefore Adams' 'type fossils' and conclusions concerning the Mesopotamian region are in need of reviewing.

What follows is a reassessment and examination of Adams' surveys and excavations in the Diyala (Land Behind Baghdad (1965)) and at the site of Tell Abu Sarifa (1970). By reassessing his dating for the 'type fossils' it has been possible to reclassify some of his archaeological phases. In applying the new dating to Adams' survey data from Land Behind Baghdad, it has also been feasible to critically review how the settlement and economy changed in the Sasanian and Early Islamic periods in the Diyala and Southern Mesopotamia.

In this work, it has been concluded that some of Adams' 'type fossils' do need re-dating, the effects of which being that the dating of the site of Tell Abu Sarifa probably needs to shift by 100-150 years. In the application of this new dating to the settlement data collected by Adams in his surveys of the Diyala Plain, it is suggested that there was a massive boom in settlement in Early Islamic times. This therefore has implications for our current understanding of the history and development of that period, calling for a re-evaluation of how it is viewed.