Bibliografisk note

ENGLISH SUMMARY

Tell Brak – one of the world’s first cities

The excavations of the city mound Tell Brak in Syria (figs.1 and 2) show that we are dealing with a fully developed city as early as 6000 years ago. The article presents some of the many finds made on the tell which speak of the development of the city (fig.3). The complex organization of a city is reflected in finds of stamp seals and mass-produced pottery (fig.7), and the wealth of the city can be seen in the workshops, where beads of gold and semi-precious stone lie together with unworked obsidian (figs.4 and 6). The degree of organization in the city is probably best expressed by the huge masses of refuse that were transported from the city out to the refuse dumps.
The article also deals with the challenge in prehistory of feeding the city’s fast-growing population in an agriculturally marginal area. Charred grain (figs.5 and 7) and the accompanying weeds give us important knowledge of Tell Brak’s agrarian economy over 1000 years. Barley, emmer wheat and flax were among the most important crops. Despite a period of drought around 3200 BC, the emmer wheat was grown in the fields with plentiful water, and must either have been artificially irrigated or imported from the north. Indications that straw rose in value can be explained by a growing need for buildings in the city, where houses were made of sun-dried mud brick (fig.8).