Habuba Kabira

Last updated
Habuba Kabira
Syria adm location map.svg
Archaeological site icon (red).svg
Shown within Syria
Location Syria
Region Aleppo Governorate
Coordinates 36°09′05″N38°03′43″E / 36.151446°N 38.061950°E / 36.151446; 38.061950
History
PeriodsLate Chalcolithic, Early Bronze, Middle Bronze
Site notes
Excavation dates1969-1975
ArchaeologistsErnst Heinrich, Eva Strommenger, André Finet

Habuba Kabira (also Hubaba Kabire and Habuba Kebira) is an ancient Near East archaeological site on the west bank of the Euphrates River in Aleppo Governorate, Syria, founded during the later part of the Uruk period in the later part of the 4th millennium BC. It was about 1300 kilometers from the southern Mesopotamia city of Uruk, five kilometers north of Tell Halawa, ten kilometers south of Mumbaqat, and eight kilometers upstream from Jebel Aruda. The site was excavated as part of a rescue archaeology effort due to the construction of the Tabqa Dam and is now mostly underwater. [1] The Habuba Kabira complex consists of two sites

Contents

Habuba Kabira North and Tell Kannas showed indications of some earlier use in the form of protoliterate clay tokens dating to the 7th through 4th millennium BC.

History

Habuba Kabira as a whole was in use through the Late Chacolithic period into the Middle Bronze period. Habuba Kabira South and its acropolis Tell Kannas were built in the later part of the 4th millennium BC as part of the Uruk Expansion and abandoned after about 120 years. [3] Occupation at Habuba Kabira North began in the Uruk period and continued in the Middle Bronze age. [4] [5]

There were also several other late Uruk enclaves and outposts in this general area. They include Arslantepe (attested at level VIA), Jebel Aruda (8 kilometers north near Tell es-Sweyhat), Tell Sheikh Hassan, Hacınebi Tepe, and Tepecik (Elazığ Province, attested at level 3). [6] Godin Tepe is a similar site in Iran. [7]

Archaeology

Habuba Kabira Sud before the area was flooded by the Tabqa Dam project Habuba Kabira Sud.jpg
Habuba Kabira Süd before the area was flooded by the Tabqa Dam project

The low site of Hubaba Kubira South covers an area of about 18 hectares with the area encompassed by the city wall being about 10 hectares. The mound of Tell Qanas is adjacent. [6] Hubaba Kubira North is about 230 meters in diameter and rises to about 14 meters above the plain. The east and north slopes of the mound are steep while the west and south have gentle slopes. [5] It was first recorded by during surveys in 1963 and 1964 by Abdel Kader Rihaoui and Maurits N. van Loon. [8]

Uruk-period beveled rim bowl, ca. 3400-3200 BCE, from Habuba Kabira in Syria Glockentopf.jpg
Uruk-period beveled rim bowl, ca. 3400–3200 BCE, from Habuba Kabira in Syria

The Hubaba Kubira was excavated for 9 seasons from 1969 to 1975 by a Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft team led by Ernst Heinrich and Eva Strommenger. Hubaba Kubira South was found to be a planned settlement with a three meter wide mudbrick town wall with regular towers and two gates. The town was laid out around a north-south axis with paved streets and drainage systems. The western portion of the wall was 600 meters long and a small outer wall was added late in the occupation. A walled area in the center held cultic and administrative buildings. South of the town wall there was an irrigated agricultural area. [9] [10] [11] [12] The site had at least three occupation layers, dated to the Late Chacolithic (LC 4-5) and covering about 120 years, corresponding to the Uruk V and IV periods. The first occupation, founded on virgin soil, was about 6 hectares in extent. [13] In the next phases it grew to its final extent which, including extramural habitation north and south of the wall, covered 22 hectares. [3]

Only the southeastern portion of Hubaba Kubira North was excavated as the rest of the mound was covered with a modern cemetery. A Early Bronze IV pottery kiln was found at Habuba Kabira North. Excavation found 20 occupation levels with levels 17-20 being dated to Middle Bronze IIA period. [14] [15] Small finds included clay tokens. [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] Three Uruk V period (c. 3500-3350 BC) clay tablets, called "numerical tablets" or "impressed tablets", were found at the site. [21]

Tell Qanas, the citadel area of Habuba Kubira South, was excavated beginning in 1967 by a Belgian team led by André Finet. It was occupied from roughly 3700 BC to 3100 BC. Several large buildings were found including the tripartite plan North Temple and South Temple interior niches and basins and a large administrative building with attached magazine containing numerous storage jars. Many jar stoppers sealed with cylinder seals were found. [22] [23] [24] [25] About 58 protoliterate clay tokens were found at the site. [26]

As at Jebel Aruda and similar middle and late Uruk period sites, despite extensive excavation no Uruk period burials were found. One intrusive Early Bronze 1 tomb was found. [27]

See also

Related Research Articles

Uruk, known today as Warka, was an ancient city in the Near East, located east of the current bed of the Euphrates River, on an ancient, now-dried channel of the river. The site lies 93 kilometers northwest of ancient Ur, 108 kilometers southeast of ancient Nippur, and 24 kilometers southeast of ancient Larsa. It is 30 km (19 mi) east of modern Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shu-turul</span> King of the Akkadian Empire

Shu-turul was the last king of the Akkadian Empire, ruling for 15 years according to the Sumerian king list. It indicates that he succeeded his father Dudu. A few artifacts, seal impressions etc. attest that he held sway over a greatly reduced Akkadian territory that included Kish, Tutub, Nippur, and Eshnunna. The Diyala river also bore the name "Shu-durul" at the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Didyma</span> Archaeological site in the Aegean Region

Didyma was an ancient Greek sanctuary on the coast of Ionia in the domain of the famous city of Miletus. Apollo was the main deity of the sanctuary of Didyma, also called Didymaion. But it was home to both of the temples dedicated to the twins Apollo and Artemis. Other deities were also honoured within the sanctuary. The Didymaion was well renowned in antiquity because of its famed oracle. This oracle of Apollo was situated within what was, and is, one of the world's greatest temples to Apollo. The remains of this Hellenistic temple belong to the best preserved temples of classical antiquity. Besides this temple other buildings existed within the sanctuary which have been rediscovered recently; a Greek theatre and the foundations of the above-mentioned Hellenistic temple of Artemis, to name but two.

Shuruppak, modern Tell Fara, was an ancient Sumerian city situated about 55 kilometres (35 mi) south of Nippur and 30 kilometers north of ancient Uruk on the banks of the Euphrates in Iraq's Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate. Shuruppak was dedicated to Ninlil, also called Sud, the goddess of grain and the air.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uruk period</span> Archaeological culture

The Uruk period existed from the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, after the Ubaid period and before the Jemdet Nasr period. Named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this period saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia and the Sumerian civilization. The late Uruk period saw the gradual emergence of the cuneiform script and corresponds to the Early Bronze Age; it has also been described as the "Protoliterate period".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodor Wiegand</span> German archaeologist (1864–1936)

Theodor Wiegand was a German archaeologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">German Archaeological Institute</span> Archaeological research institute

The German Archaeological Institute is a research institute in the field of archaeology. The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.

Kisurra was an ancient Sumerian tell situated on the west bank of the Euphrates, 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) north of Shuruppak and due east of Kish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Grünwedel</span> German explorer and author (1856–1935)

Albert Grünwedel was a German Indologist, Tibetologist, archaeologist, and explorer of Central Asia. He was one of the first scholars to study the Lepcha language.

Tell Chuera is an ancient Near Eastern tell site in Raqqa Governorate, northern Syria. It lies between the Balikh and Khabur rivers.

Tuttul was an ancient Near East city. Tuttul is identified with the archaeological site of Tell Bi'a in Raqqa Governorate, Syria. Tell Bi'a is located near the modern city of Raqqa and at the confluence of the rivers Balikh and Euphrates.

The Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft, abbreviated DOG, is a German voluntary association based in Berlin dedicated to the study of the Near East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beveled rim bowl</span> Mass produced clay bowls

Beveled rim bowls are small, undecorated, mass-produced clay bowls most common in the 4th millennium BC during the Late Chalcolithic period. They constitute roughly three quarters of all ceramics found in Uruk culture sites, are therefore a unique and reliable indicator of the presence of the Uruk culture in ancient Mesopotamia.

Tall Munbāqa or Mumbaqat, the site of the Late Bronze Age city of Ekalte, is a 5,000-year-old town complex in northern Syria now lying in ruins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodor von Lüpke</span> German architectural historian

Theodor Friedrich Heinrich von Lüpke was a German architectural historian known for his work in the field of photogrammetry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal palace of Werla</span>

The Royal Palace of Werla is located near Werlaburgdorf in Lower Saxony. The grounds of the royal palace cover about 20 hectares rising atop Kreuzberg hill, a 17 m high natural plateau overlooking the Oker river. In the Early Middle Ages the palace was an important place in the Holy Roman Empire, serving as an important base for the Ottonians in the 10th century in particular. Although it subsequently lost its political significance to the newly established Imperial Palace of Goslar at Rammelsberg, it developed into an independent settlement with a busy industrial quarter. In the 14th century it fell into ruin and was completely unknown until its rediscovery in the 18th century. The core fortress in particular was thoroughly excavated in the 20th century. Excavations carried out since 2007 have brought new understanding to the hitherto largely unexplored outworks. Since 2010 the palace complex with foundation and enceinte, as well as earthworks, has been partially reconstructed and is now open to the public as the Archäologie- und Landschaftspark Kaiserpfalz Werla.

Alfred Brueckner was a German classical archaeologist. He was a specialist in Greek funerary art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sirkeli Höyük</span>

Sirkeli Höyük is one of the largest tells of Cilicia with an area of approximately 80 ha. It is 40 kilometers east of the city of Adana, northwest of the village Sirkeli in the district of Ceyhan, at the breakthrough of the Ceyhan through the Misis Mountains.

Julius Johann Heinrich Jordan was a German archaeologist active in Mesopotamia before and after the First World War.

Jebel Aruda, is an ancient Near East archaeological site on the west bank of the Euphrates river in Raqqa Governorate, Syria. It was excavated as part of a program of rescue excavation project for sites to be submerged by the creation of Lake Assad by the Tabqa Dam. The site was occupied in the Late Chalcolithic, during the late 4th millennium BC, specifically in the Uruk V period. It is on the opposite side of the lake from the Halafian site of Shams ed-Din Tannira and is within sight of the Uruk V site Habuba Kabira and thought to have been linked to it. The archaeological sites of Tell es-Sweyhat and Tell Hadidi are also nearby.

References

  1. ↑ Freedman, David Noel, and John M. Lundquist. "Archeological Reports from the Tabqa Dam Project: Euphrates Valley, Syria." The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, vol. 44, 1977, pp. iii–182
  2. ↑ Dornemann, Rudolph H., "Salvage Excavations at Tell Hadidi in the Euphrates River Valley", The Biblical Archaeologist, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 49–59, 1985
  3. 1 2 Fuensanta, Jesús Gil and Salazar, Juan Manuel Gonzalez, "A Few Thoughts about Late Chalcolithic Architecture and the Uruk Expansion in the Middle Euphrates Area", Time and History in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 56th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Barcelona, July 26th-30th, 2010, edited by Lluis Feliu, J. Llop, A. Millet Albà and Joaquin Sanmartín, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 657-664, 2013
  4. ↑ Lisa Cooper, "The demise and regeneration of Bronze Age urban centers in the Euphrates Valley of Syria," in After Collapse: The Regeneration of Complex Societies, ed by Glenn M. Schwartz and John J. Nicholas, pp. 18-37, 2006
  5. 1 2 Heusch, Jan-Chnstoph, "Tall Habuba Kabira im 3. und 2. Jahrtausend: Die Entwicklung der Baustmktor", in Le Moyen Ewhrate: Zone de contacts et d'échanges, edited by J. Margueron., Strasbourg: E.J. Brill, pp. 159-78, 1980
  6. 1 2 Algaze, Guillermo, et al., "The Uruk expansion: Cross-cultural exchange in early Mesopotamian civilization [with comments and reply]", Current Anthropology 30.5, pp. 571-608, 1989
  7. ↑ Giorgi Leon Kavtaradze, "On the Importance of the Caucasian Chronology for the Foundation of the Common Near Eastern – East European Chronological System", , , 2012
  8. ↑ van Loon, Maurits N., "The Tabqa Reservoir Survey 1964", Damascus: Direction Générale des Antiquités et des Musées, 1967
  9. ↑ Heinrich, E. et al., "Bericht iiber die von der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft mit Stiftung Volkswagenwerk im Euphrattal bei Aleppo begonnenen archaologischen Untersuchungen.", Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 101, pp. 27-49, 1969
  10. ↑ Eva Strommenger, Habuba Kabira: Eine Stadt vor 5000 Jahren : Ausgrabungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft am Euphrat in Habuba Kabira, Syrien (Sendschrift der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft), von Zabern, 1980, ISBN   3-8053-0449-8
  11. ↑ Strommenger E., "Habuba Kabira Sud", Annales Archéologiques Syriennes 25, pp. 155-164, 1975
  12. ↑ Strommenger E., "Ausgrabungen der DOG in Habuba Kabira", Annual of the American School of Oriental Research 44, pp. 63-78, 1977
  13. ↑ Algaze, Guillermo, "Early Mesopotamian Urbanism: How?", in Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization: The Evolution of an Urban Landscape, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 64-92, 2008
  14. ↑ Heinrich, Emst, E. Strommenger, D.R. Frank, W. Ludwig, D.Sürenhagen, E. Toppenwein, H. Schrnid, J-C Heusch, K. Kohlmeyer, D. Machule, M. Wafler, T. Rhode, "Vierter vorlaufiger Berischt die von der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft in Habuba Kabira und in Mumbaqat . Mitteilun~ender Deutschen Orient-Geslfeschafl 106, pp. 5-52, 1974
  15. ↑ Schwartz, Glenn M., et al., "Excavation and Survey in the Jabbul Plain, Western Syria: The Umm El-Marra Project 1996-1997", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 104, no. 3, pp. 419–62, 2000
  16. ↑ Friberg, Jöran. "Preliterate counting and accounting in the Middle East: A constructively critical review of Schmandt-Besserat's Before Writing" Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, vol. 89, no. 5-6, pp. 477–489, 1994
  17. ↑ Heinrich, E. et al., "Zweiter vorlaufiger Bericht tiber die von der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft mit Mitteln der Stiftung Volkswagenwerk in Habuba Kabira und in Mumbaqat unternommenen archaologischen Untersuchungen (Herbstkampagne 1969)", Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 102, pp. 27-78., 1970
  18. ↑ Heinrich, E. et al., "Dritter vorlaufiger Bericht iiber die von der Deutschen Orien-Gesellschaft mit der Stiftung Volkswagenwerk in Habuba Kabira und in Mumbaqat unternommenen archaologischen Untersuchungen (Herbstkampagne 1970).", Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 103, pp. 5-58, 1971
  19. ↑ Heinrich, E. et al., "Vierter vorlaufiger Bericht iiber die von der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft mit Mitteln der Stiftung Volkswagenwerk in Habuba Kabira (Habuba Kabira, Herbstkampagnen 1971 und 1972 sowie Testgrabung Frtihjahr 1973) und in Mumbaqat (Tall Munbaqa, Herbstkampagne 1971) unternommenen archaologischen Untersuchungen.", Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 105, pp. 5-52, 1973
  20. ↑ Heinrich, E. et al., "Vierter vorlaufiger Bericht tiber die von der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft mit Mitteln der Stiftung Volkswagen werk in Habuba Kabira (Habuba Kabira, Herbstkampagnen 1971 und 1972 sowie Testgrabung Friihjahr 1973) und in Mumbaqat (Tall Munbaqa, Herbstkampagne 1971) unternommenen archaologischen Untersuchungen (Fortsetsung)" Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesell- schaft 106, pp. 53-97, 1974
  21. ↑ Schmandt-Besserat, Denise, "Before Writing: From Counting to Cuneiform", Volume 1, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1992 ISBN   9780292707832
  22. ↑ Finet, A., "Les Fouilles du Secteur Ouest au Tell Kannâs", Archiv fur Orientforschung 24, pp. 171–175, 1973
  23. ↑ Finet A., "Les Temples Sumériens du Tell Kannâs", Syria 52, pp. 157-174, 1975
  24. ↑ Finet, A., "Bilan Provisoire des Fouilles Belges du Tell Kannâs", The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research 44, pp. 79–96, 1977
  25. ↑ Finet, A., "Lorsque la royauté descendit du ciel..." Les fouilles belges du Tell Kannâs sur l'Euphrate en Syrie", Morlanwelz: Musée royal de Mariemont, 1982
  26. ↑ Elma, Kadiriya, "A Typological Study of the Calculi Collection of the Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels", Terra Incognita 8, pp. 67-86, 2016
  27. ↑ Fuensanta, Jesús Gil and Crivelli, Eduardo, "Where are the Uruk Necropoles? Regional Innovation or Change in Tradition for Northern Mesopotamia", Tradition and Innovation in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 57th Rencontre Assyriologique International at Rome, 4-8 July 2011, edited by Alfonso Archi, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 81-90, 2015

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.