The Emergence of Regionalisms in the Late 6th – Early 5th Millennium BCE Ubaid/Black-On-Buff Horizon: Identifying Ceramic ‘Interaction Spheres’ in Greater Mesopotamia

In a period comprised between the late 6th and the first half of the 5th millennium BCE (ca. 5300–4500 cal BCE), the so-called ‘Ubaid/Black-on-Buff’ phenomenon occurred, which interested the entire Greater Mesopotamia. Among the various elements of material culture, the Black-on-Buff painted pottery is the most distinctive and widespread element throughout the whole area. Supra-regional similarities have often overshadowed intra-regional differences between the Black-on-Buff repertoires of various geographical regions. Using a stylistic (morpho-decorative)approach to pottery analysis and emphasising aspects of dissimilarity and/or local similarities between the repertoires of adjacent regions, the paper will highlight the possibility of identifying local characteristic traits within the Black-on-Buff repertoires of Greater Mesopotamian regions. What emerges is a strong ceramic regionalism in the Ubaid/Black-on-Buff horizon, with a predominantly east-west (rather than north-south) trajectory of interaction. Furthermore, the paper points out the possibility that the spread of the Black-on-Buff phenomenon did not follow a single path, but diversified and localised contact routes for each area.