Objects of visual representation and local cultural idioms

Abstract

In this paper, I reconsider the meaning of decorated objects like painted pottery and seal impressions with geometric and image-bearing motifs in prehistoric contexts. In northern Mesopotamia, the 6th millennium b.c., known more broadly as the Halaf Period, is a time when pottery with intricate painted motifs and stamp seals of a remarkably uniform style comprised a notable component of the cultural assemblage across a wide expanse. Following Alfred Gell, and using the site of Tell Kurdu, a peripheral Halaf Period 6th millennium b.c. site located in the Amuq Valley of Hatay, I highlight the ways in which such wares were used, and I strive to view them within their context-dependent settings. The region, on the fringes of this cultural entity provides a unique opportunity to identify a local Amuq identity and the nuances of hybridity that come with the appropriation of new elements of material culture, including Halaf Period painted pottery.