3a.htm
1: G. Buccellati, November 2002

Setting

     What is the larger setting within which the history of ancient Urkesh unfolded?
     Obviously, the development of the city did not take place in a vacuum, and to properly assess it, we must consider the framework that made it possible.

     Here, we will present the accepted picture that can be put together from the ongoing research at the many sites in the region, and the conclusions that may be considered as firmly established.

     In the section on INTERPRETATION we will offer a view into the more interpetive lines of inquiry, that may be more tentative and even controversial, but are in the forefront of our search for meaning from the data – from Urkesh as well as from its environs.

The image above, chosen as the logo of this section, combines the two major dimensions of space and time:
a geographical frame conditioned the sequence of periods.
Here, we present the basic constructs that are currently operative in our field of scholarship,
with regard first to geography and chronology,
the two categories that establish the basic framework of regional peculiarities
and of the sequential ordering of facts.
From these, one can infer environmental conditioning across space
and derivational influences across time.