Revisiting the South: a Typochronological Approach to the Analysis of the Ubaid Pottery based on the New Data from Tell Zurghul (Dhi Qar, Iraq)

Abstract. About three decades after the last prehistoric excavations in southern Mesopotamia, the new excavations in Area B of Tell Zurghul/Nigin have revealed a series of overlapped structures dated to the 5th millennium BCE (Ubaid 4 phase). Based on a typochronological approach, the paper provides an updated overview of the ceramic materials collected in the 2015-2019 campaigns at the site, together with a reanalysis of ceramic materials and contexts from coeval sites in southern Mesopotamia (in particular from Tell al-Muqayyar/Ur). The obtained results partially challenge the previously proposed phase classification (Ubaid 0-5) based on a stylistic approach and are intended as a first step towards the realisation of a ceramic periodisation focused on morphological aspects and strictly anchored to stratigraphy.