Ubaid

  General Description   The name of ’Ubaid polity’ derives from the archaeological site - Tell al-Ubaid located about six km west of Ur along the Euphrates River in Southern Iraq. This socio-cultural entity is characterized by homogeneous material culture, mainly pottery (’black-on-buff pottery’). However the Ubaid is defined and perceived in various ways, e.gas archaeological culture, chronological period, cultural phenomenon, pottery style, ’oikumene’ or interaction sphere. Among other elements of material culture typical for the Ubaid, the researchers mention usually the usage of flanged disc (’labrets’), clay nails and bent clay mullers, ’ophidian’ figurines, stone mace-heads, tripartite architecture, niches-and-butressed public building as well as communal cemeteries with standardized grave goods. This period is often perceived as a first stage of development through complex urban society and the processes such as gradually urbanization of the settlement, social stratification as well as appearance of simple specialized manufacturing (especially agricultural, pottery making, weaving and wool production). ^[1] . Nowadays most of the researchers accepted the hypothesis regarding existence of elite class from at least the Late Ubaid period. It is embedded on five main arguments: usage of seals (called sometimes ’administrative tools’), erection of public buildings such as temples, two-tiered settlement pattern, mass production of some type of vessels (e. g. crude bowls), and production of high class of painted pottery used as a luxury goods. They believed that the system of increasing power of some group was intentionally masked by elite, therefore the presence of prestige objects or luxury goods is rather infrequent. There is presumed that the Ubaid depended rather on staple finance instead of wealth finance. Hence, there are very little traces of use of prestige goods or luxury items. ^[2] , ^[3] , ^[4] , ^[5] , ^[6] However there are also some rare voices opting for egalitarian system of the Ubaid society, e. g. Akkermans, Forest, Hole. ^[7] , ^[8] , ^[9]

[1]: Yamazaki 2010, 326

[2]: Kennedy 2012, 130

[3]: Özbal 2010b, 43-44

[4]: Stein 1994

[5]: Frangipane 2007, 151-176

[6]: Stein 1994, 41

[7]: Akkermans 1989, 339-367

[8]: Hole 1983, 315-334

[9]: Oates et al. 2007, 585-600.