An Image of Complexity: The Burnt Village at Late Neolithic Sabi Abyad, Syria

The site of Tell Sabi Abyad in the upper Balikh valley of northern Syria is the focal point of a regionally oriented research project investigating the socioeconomic organization of later Neolithic society in the region. Recent excavations at Tell Sabi Abyad have brought to light a well-preserved settlement dating from the late sixth millennium B. C. and heavily affected by a violent fire, the so-called Burnt Village. The village consists of rectangular, multiroomed houses built of pisé along very regular lines and surrounded by smaller circular structures. Thousands of finds were recovered in situ from the burned houses, including ceramic and stone vessels, flint and obsidian implements, ground stone tools, human and animal figurines, labrets, axes, and personal ornaments. Most exciting, however, are the hundreds of clay sealings with stamp-seal impressions and the small tokens, which point to a very early but well-developed system of recording and administration. The Burnt Village was part of extensive networks of long-and short-distance exchange, and its inhabitants maintained relationships with groups of people in distant areas, such as the coastal regions of the Levant, the piedmont of southeastern Turkey, and the plains of Mesopotamia. External resources were mobilized and exploited in a regular manner and to a considerable extent, i.e., beyond the level of incidental transactions.