Larger site, better life? Site dimensions and the path to socio-economic complexity in Upper Mesopotamia across the Halaf and Ubaid periods

Thanks to a number of survey projects and site excavations, Upper Mesopotamia has become in recent years a key case study for the investigation of the appearance of complex societies. The recovery of a considerable wealth of data has permitted identification of processes independent of those found in South Mesopotamia – long considered locus of the origin of urbanization in the Near East – that resulted in the “convergent” emergence of full socioeconomic complexity. At the same time, ongoing research is continually identifying more and more local traits in these dynamics, which suggest that different paths were followed in different regions. This study attempts to present an overview of the available data and, by means of a cross-comparison of different settlement patterns and site features, it aims to provide a preliminary outline of the differing phenomena characterising different regions during the Halaf-Ubaid periods. In particular, it focusses on the importance of site size as a reliable indicator (or not) for identifying the emergence of complexity.