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Chapter1
Geographicalcontextandarchaeologicalevidence
Deciduousoak-rosaceaewoodland
Oak-rosaceaeparkwoodland
JebelAbdel-Aziz
TellBeydar
TellChagarBazar
TellMelebiya
HASSEKE
TellMozan
Khabur
TellBderi
TellRadShaqrah
TellBrak
TellArbid
QAMISHLI
0
TellBarri
TellHamidiya
Pistachio-almondwoodlandsteppe
TellLeilan
TellMuhammadDiyab
JebelSinjar
TellHamoukar
100km
Tigris
Fig.1.3VegetationintheUpperKhaburregion.(Source:AfterHillman2000)
(Wilkinson2003;Courty1994).Ingeneral,thecli-
mateconditionschanged,withwetanddryphases
occurring.Theearly-tomid-Holocenewasmore
humid,afterwhich1inthelaterpartofthe3rd
millenniumBC—therewasaphaseoflate-Holo-
cenearidification,evidentespeciallyinthefinal
quarterofthemillennium(Hole1997;Wilkinson
2002a;Deckers,Riehl2007a).
Nowadays,theKhaburriverbasinhaspoor
vegetationandhasbeenlargelyconvertedintoan
agriculturalarea.Itsnorthernpartisusedinten-
sivelyforcropfarming,whilethesouthernpart
hasmoresteppes.Changesinthenaturalenviron-
mentmayhavebeencausedbyclimate-related
factorsbutmostofallbyhumaninterference,in-
cludingtheovergrazingoflivestock,forestfelling
andintensiveagriculture.Aftertheintroduction
ofagriculture,itisdifficulttoseparatethecli-
mate-relatedfactorsfromthehumanimpacton
theenvironment(Mooreetal.2000:84).Today,
theKhaburriverbasinisalmostdevoidoftrees.
Onlysomeareas,includingJebelAbdal-Aziz,are
stillcoveredwithwoodlandsteppe(mostlyPista-
cia).Intheearly-andmid-Holocene,Jezirahseems
tobemuchgreenerandmoreforestedthaninthe
lateHolocene,i.e.intheperiodfollowing2000BC
(Wilkinson2003:103).Reconstructionshaveitthat
intheearlyHolocene,partoftheJezirah,including
asignificantportionoftheUpperKhabur,inthose
areaswheretherainfallexceededca.350mmper
annum,mayhavebeencoveredwithdeciduousoak
parkwoodland(Hillman2000)[Fig.1.3].Suchveg-
etationmaybereconstructedforTellArbid,located
inthisregion.Indeciduousoakparkwoodlands,
oakalternateswithgrasslandareasandislessdense
incomparisonwiththedensedeciduousoak-rosa-
ceaewoodlandsofthenorth,intheareawherethe
annualrainfallexceeds400mm.Intheareaslocat-
edfarthersouth,whererainfallis200-350mmper
annum,therewasaterebinth-almondsteppe(pis-
tachio-almondwoodlandsteppe)whichincluded
drought-tolerantpistachiotrees,shrubbyalmonds,
cherries,andhawthorns(Hillman2000:Fig.2.6).
Thebanksofthewatercourseswerecoveredwith
ariverineforestwithcharacteristicspecies,includ-
ingwillow,poplar,tamarisk,ash,reed,alder,plane,
oleasterorelm(Zohary1973).
Comparedtothepresent-daysituation,oak
woodlandgrewmuchfarthersouth(asfarasTell
Brak)intheperiodbetweenthe4thmillennium
BCandMedievaltimes,whichisconfirmedbythe
findsofarchaeobotanicalremainsinarchaeological
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