422 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN" INSTITUTION, 1933 



cultures. And no site is more likely to shed light on the subject than 

 the mound whose biograph we are now engaged in following. The 

 clear stratification of Gawra and the accessibility of its lower 

 levels should help to settle the problem of the origin of the earliest 

 Mesopotamians once and for all. 



One cultural innovation of paramount significance helps to break 

 up the early phase under consideration. In the lowest layers of 

 Gawra there is no trace of the use of copper ; the people were mani- 

 festly in the Neolithic stage. The metal makes its first appearance 

 towards the end of the painted pottery occupation, thus ushering 

 in the Chalcolithic era, during which stone was still the mainstay 

 while copper, in its hammered form, was being gradually popular- 

 ized. Many centuries were to pass before it ceased to be a luxury. 



The stone work, whether in implements or in ornaments, is uni- 

 formly high in quality. The seal cutter and the maker of amulets 

 have to satisfy steadily growing demands for their products. Only 

 stamp seals are in use, pierced for suspension and adorned with in- 

 cised animal designs. Terra cotta figurines of nude goddesses help 

 to emphasize the cult of the powers of fertility. Beads are manu- 

 factured in great quantities. 



MIDDLE GAWRA 



This period is in some respects the finest that the site witnessed in 

 more than three millennia of its history. The peak is reached with 

 Gawra VIII, which may be dated safely to the middle of the fourth 

 millennium B.C. We are now at the height of the Chalcolithic era, 

 still some centuries removed from Early Bronze which is introduced 

 in this instance by Gawra VI. Subsequent epochs may have com- 

 manded greater wealth as reflected in the abundance and variety of 

 material objects. But Gawra VIII enjoyed something that was far 

 more precious; its builders display faultless taste and an unerring 

 sense of balance. The glory of this age is not its pottery, nor its 

 jewelry or sculpture; it is in the consummate mastery of architec- 

 tural design that these prehistoric artists really prove supreme. 



Gawra VIII is properly an acropolis, the history of which can be 

 traced through three structural stages. The successive alterations, 

 extensive enough to alter the plan of each substratum, reflect accu- 

 rately the changing social and economic conditions of the period. 

 The fathers of this occupation built the township around four 

 temples; each of them shows variations in design, but the whole is 

 in harmony with a preconceived plan of the site. Spacious ap- 

 proaches enable the structures to stand out prominently as individual 

 units, surrounded by gardens and courtyards. 



The next generation fails to maintain the same high artistic stand- 

 ards. The fame of the shrines must have spread abroad and the 



