Architecture and social complexity in the Late Ubaid Period: A study of the built environment of Degirmentepe in East Anatolia (Turkey)

The studies conducted so far shows that the Ubaid material culture spread to each comer of Mesopotamia and beyond by the second half of the fifth millennium BC. More importantly, the societies of these times were in the process of progressive social, economic, and political changes the outcome of which was the first state in the Late Uruk. Egalitarian values were shifting and the societies, either individually or inter-communally, were modified toward increasingly unequal socio-economical and socio-political relationships. It appears that the Ubaid chiefdoms existed, but the components of these chiefdoms are still not well understood due to lack of investigation. So far, Stein (1994) suggested a feasible explanation for South Mesopotamia by bringing the idea of 'staple finance economy' to the fore. However, the other regions bearing Ubaid components are difficult to integrate into this scheme, not because the material cultures of these areas can not fit into his model, but because the existing research is too limited to consider using his model.; In this study, I investigate the exceptionally well-preserved architecture of the Ubaid site Degˇirmentepe in East Anatolia, which presents the opportunity to delve into the nature of Ubaid social organization in the Anatolian highlands. Founded on the architectural study, a functional analysis of the material culture is undertaken to shed light on the ways in which the community was organized. In addition, this analysis assists in considering the identity of the inhabitants as well as the possible reasons that the community spread to Anatolia. Analyses at the end of this study suggest a model for this expansion: a process of hybridization for the inhabitants of Degˇirmentepe. Both the newcomers, who are the inhabitants of the site, and the local Anatolian communities interacted closely and exchanged values either consciously or subconsciously. I propose that the end product of the process was the emergence of an identical Late Chalcolitic cultural sphere in the coming centuries, which was not Mesopotamian but adopted some of the Mesopotamian values strongly. I conclude that the case of Degˇirmentepe indicates a society that did not place emphasis on status, but probably belonged to a chiefdom with at least one tier hierarchy.