Tell Chuera

Tell Chuera
Harbe
Tell Chuera is located in Syria
Tell Chuera
Location within Syria
36°38′44.88″N 39°29′53.88″E / 36.6458000°N 39.4983000°E / 36.6458000; 39.4983000
Typesettlement
LocationRaqqa Governorate, Syria
RegionNorthern Mesopotamia
Site notes
Excavation dates1958–1960s 1973–1977 1982–2011
ArchaeologistsA. Moortgat, U. Moortgat-Correns, W. Orthmann, J.-W. Meyer

Tell Chuera (also Tell Ḫuera and Tall Ḥuwaira and Tall Chuera and Tell Khuēra) is an ancient Near Eastern tell site in Raqqa Governorate, northern Syria about 6 kilometers south of the Syria/Turkey border. It lies between the Balikh and Khabur rivers. Originally occupied during the 5th millennium BC, Tell Chuera became a major site in the 3rd millennium during the Early Dynastic period and was then abandoned until a small Mitanni and Middle Assyrian settlement sprung up in the mid-2nd millennium BC.

History

Map of area in Middle Assyrian times

A small occupation in the 5th millennium BC Halaf period is known only from the presence of surface shards.

Early Bronze

The main upper town settlement began late in the 4th millenium BC (Tell Chuera IA c. 3100 BC) and covered around 50 hectares. That level was fortified with a wall. In Tell Chuera IB, c. 2700 BC (Early Bronze Age II) a second fortication was added much increasing the settlement area with the inner wall slowly then being absorbed into construction. The final 3rd millennium BC level (Tell Chuera ID c. 2450) was a planned settlement. The settlement had a central axis which ran through the city with major public buildings, a sacred district in the south-east section of the town, a central square with adjoining temple, and a palace in the north-western section. It reached its peak around 2350 BC and was then abandoned for reasons as yet unknown.

In the Early Bronze IVB, the site was active during the Ur III period (c. 2112–2004 BC).

Late Bronze

A small settlement was built on the location by the Mittani during the middle 2nd millennium BC followed by the Assyrians. Equid bones from that period have been identified as horses. During Middle Assyrian times it was known as Harbe. It has been proposed that in earlier times its name was Abarsal.

Archaeology

The site of Tell Chuera is roughly one kilometer in diameter and 18 meters high. It is of a type referred to as a Kranzhügel or "cup-and-saucer" tell in archaeology, similar to Tell Beydar and Mari. The site was first described by Max von Oppenheim in 1913. Excavations were begun in 1958 by a team from the Free University of Berlin led by Anton Moortgat. These efforts continued until the late 1960s. Mittani period structures (Knicksachstempel and Mittani-Bau) were uncovered. With a new co-leader, Ursula Moortgat-Correns, digs occurred in 1973, 1974 and 1976. At the top of the mound three buildings of undressed stone were found (Steinbau I, II, and III) and in the center a mudbrick temple building (Kleiner Antentempe - Smaller Antentemple) all raised on a platform. In Steinbau I, which had 6 building phases, decorated bronze vessels and bent copper pins with ball heads and flattened perforated shanks (similar to those in the royal cemetery at Ur) from the Early Dynastic period were found. Some clay sealings, sealed with typical ED cylinder seals, were also recovered. The temple had a processional way "lined with rough, megalithic stone stelai" between 2 and 3 meters in height. In an adjacent area were found a number of alabaster statue fragments of votive statues representing males with long wigs, square-cut beards and garments with fleecy fringes, the tallest being 35 centimeters.

After a 5 year hiatus caused by the death of Anton Moortgat in 1977 work resumed in 1982 and continued until 2011. Two teams worked at the site, one under the direction of Winfried Orthmann of the University of Halle and the other under Ursula Moortgat-Correns, until 1998. Excavation then was taken up by a team from the Goethe University Frankfurt, under the direction of Professor Jan-Waalke Meyer from 1998 to 2005.

A number of Middle Assyrian period cuneiform tablets and fragments dated to the reign of Tukulti-Ninurta I (c. 1244-1208), some with envelopes, were found.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Schwartz, Glenn M., "The Ninevite V Period and Current Research", Paléorient, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 53–70, 1985
  2. ↑ Pruss, Alexander, and Tobias Helms, "The Workers’ Strike of 1963 at the German Excavation of Tell Chuera: An Example of the Persistence of Colonial Practices in Near Eastern Archaeology?", Syria. Archéologie, art et histoire 101, pp. 223-232, 2024
  3. ↑ Meyer, Jan-Waalke, "The round cities: Foundation and development. A view from Tell Chuera", Pascal Butterlin, Jean-Claude Margueron, Béatrice Muller et Michel Al-Maqdissi (sous la direction de), Mari, ni Est ni Ouest, pp. 13-25, 2014
  4. ↑ Vila, Emmanuelle, "Les vestiges de chevaux à Tell Chuera. Premières datations", Kulturlandschaft Syrien. Zentrum und Peripherie. Festschrift für Jan-Waalke Meyer, hrsg. v. Jörg Becker, Ralph Hempelmann, Ellen Rehm (Alter Orient und Altes Testament 371), pp. 607-622, 2010
  5. ↑ Pfeifer, Guido, "Stefan Jakob, Die mittelassyrischen Texte aus Tell Chuēra in Nordost-Syrien mit einem Beitrag von Daniela I. Janisch-Jakob", Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte. Romanistische Abteilung, vol. 131, no. 1, pp. 552-553, 2014
  6. ↑ Archi, Alfonso. "The Wars of Ebla at the Time of Minister Ibrium" Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. 48, no. 2, 2021, pp. 189-220
  7. ↑ Anton Moortgat, "Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die Grabung 1958", Köln und Opladen, 1960
  8. ↑ Anton Moortgat, "Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die zweite Grabungskampagne 1959", Wiesbaden, 1960
  9. ↑ Anton Moortgat, "Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die dritte Grabungskampagne 1960", Köln und Opladen, 1962
  10. ↑ Anton Moortgat, "Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Bericht über die vierte Grabungskampagne 1963", Köln und Opladen, 1965
  11. ↑ Anton Moortgat, "Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die fünfte Grabungskampagne 1964", Köln und Opladen, 1967
  12. ↑ Anton Moortgat and Ursula Moortgat-Correns, "Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die sechste Grabungskampagne 1973", Gebrüder Mann Verlag, 1975
  13. ↑ Anton Moortgat and Ursula Moortgat-Correns, "Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die siebte Grabungskampagne 1974", Gebrüder Mann Verlag, 1976
  14. ↑ Anton Moortgat & Ursula Moortgat-Correns, "Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die achte Grabungskampagne 1976", Mann, 1978 ISBN 3-7861-1198-7
  15. ↑ Weiss, Harvey, "Archaeology in Syria", American journal of archaeology 98.1, pp. 101-158, 1994
  16. ↑ Mallowan, M. E. L., "Tell Chuēra in Nordost-Syrien", Iraq, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 89–95, 1966
  17. ↑ Winfried Orthmann et al., "Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die neunte und zehnte Grabungskampagne 1982 und 1983", Mann, 1998 ISBN 3-7861-1451-X
  18. ↑ Ursula Moortgat-Correns, "Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die elfte Grabungskampagne 1985", Berlin, 1988
  19. ↑ Winfried Orthmann et al., "Ausgrabungen in Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien I Vorbericht uber die Grabungskampagnen 1986 bis 1992", Saarbrucker Druckerei und Verlag – SDV, 1995 ISBN 3-925036-92-X
  20. ↑ Jan-Waalke Meyer, "Ausgrabungen in Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien Band 2: II: Vorbericht zu den Grabungskampagnen 1998 bis 2005", Harrassowitz Verlag, 2010 ISBN 978-3-447-06182-7
  21. ↑ Stefan Jakob, "Die mittelassyrischen Texte aus Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien", Harrassowitz Verlag, 2009 ISBN 3-447-05724-6

Further reading