The Organizational Context of Specialized Craft Production in Early Mesopotamian States

In this essay, we examine the organizational context of craft production by comparing ceramic production at the urban center of Leilan (Syria) with the evidence fro textile and metal production at other, contemporaneous Mesopotamian sites. Archaeological and textual data from the mid-third millennium B.C. state societies of Mesopotamia and North Syria provide a particularly useful case study on the political economy of craft specialization. Several researchers have suggested that specialized ceramic production in Mesopotamian city-states was administered by the elite institutions such as the palace and temples. We suggest that the available evidence does not support this view of Mesopotamian political economy.