Bakr Awa

Bakr Awa is a tell, or archaeological settlement mound, in Iraq. It is located near Halabja in the Shahrizor Plain in Iraqi Kurdistan. The site is high and consists of a central settlement mound (277 meters by 216 meters) surrounded by a lower city measuring .

Archaeology

The site was first investigated in 1927 by Ephraim Speiser as part of a more general study of the area. Speiser proposed identifying the site as Atlila, which was subsequently renamed to Dur-Assur.
Subsequent excavations took place in 1960 and 1961 by archaeologists from the Iraqi Directorate-General of Antiquities. Three small cuneiform tablets were found. The excavators mentioned that they expanded a trench dug by George Martin Lees 40 years before. In 2009 the site was surveyed. New excavations were started in 2010, with subsequent seasons taking place in 2011, 2013, and 2014. The survey and the 2010-2014 excavations were undertaken by a team from the University of Heidelberg.

History

This region is thought to have been part of the kingdom of the Lullubi.

Early Bronze

The oldest excavated layers date to the third millennium BC and are contemporary with the Jemdet Nasr and Early Dynastic periods. A small temple dates to the Akkadian period.

Middle Bronze

Large houses and tombs were recovered from the second millennium BC occupation layers.

Late Bronze

Occupation continued into the Late Bronze Age. Material culture from these layers showed links with the Hurrian and Kassite cultures.

Iron Age

Iron Age occupation at Bakr Awa dates to the Neo-Assyrian period and the Achaemenid Empire. A Sassanian occupation at Bakr Awa is likely, but hasn't been proven beyond doubt. Islamic period occupation ranges from the Abbasid period into the Ottoman period. The site continues to be occupied today.

Economy

In the Early Dynastic period, the economy was nomadic and based on sheep and goat (74.1%), mainly killed for meat. There were also remains of cattle and more rarely equids.

In the Akkadian period, the economy shifted from nomadic to more sedentary and pastoral, introducing new elements as pig and poultry breeding as well as wild animal hunting.

Recent changes

The mound and its surrounding areas were lastly excavated in 2014. A recent visit to the site revealed innumerable pits; the telltale "pockmarks" at a looted site which algorithms can recognize and flag as suspicious.

File:19. The archeological site of Bakr Awa, an ancient mound near Halabja, Shahrizor Plain, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. November 4, 2022. The tell and its surrounding area were lastly excavated in 2014.jpg, November 4, 2022. A trench from past excavations. The trench is surrounded by numerous looters' pits
File:154. The archeological site of Bakr Awa, an ancient mound near Halabja, Shahrizor Plain, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. November 4, 2022. The tell and its surrounding area were lastly excavated in 2014. An area before the tell.jpg, November 4, 2022, Bakr Awa mound. An area before the tell pockmarked with looters' pits
File:106. The archeological site of Bakr Awa, an ancient mound near Halabja, Shahrizor Plain, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. November 4, 2022. The tell and its surrounding area were lastly excavated in 2014. An area before the tell.jpg, November 4, 2022. An area before the tell shows numerous pits.
File:40. The archeological site of Bakr Awa, an ancient mound near Halabja, Shahrizor Plain, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. November 4, 2022. The tell and its surrounding area were lastly excavated in 2014. On the surface of the tell.jpg, November 4, 2022. The top surface of the tell
File:76. The archeological site of Bakr Awa, an ancient mound near Halabja, Shahrizor Plain, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. November 4, 2022. The tell and its surrounding area were lastly excavated in 2014. An area before the tell.jpg, November 4, 2022. An area before the tell

Gallery

File:September 18, 2014. Excavations at the ancient mound of Bakr Awa, Shahrizor Plain, Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.jpg, September 18, 2014. Excavations at Bakr Awa
File:A fragment of a clay tablet with a cuneiform inscription, unearthed September 2014 at Bakr Awa, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.jpg, A fragment of a clay tablet with a cuneiform inscription, unearthed in September 2014 at Bakr Awa
File:A 1st-millennium BCE grave at Bakr Awa, Shahrizor Plain,Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.jpg, A 1st-millennium BCE, probably Neo-Assyrian, grave at Bakr Awa
File:September 18, 2014. Fragments of pottery unearthed at Bakr Awa, Shahrizor Plain, Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.jpg, Fragments of pottery unearthed at Bakr Awa
File:110. The archeological site of Bakr Awa, an ancient mound near Halabja, Shahrizor Plain, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. November 4, 2022. The tell and its surrounding area were lastly excavated in 2014. An area before the tell.jpg, November 4, 2022. An area before the tell shows the remains of the 2010-2014 excavations

See also

* Cities of the ancient Near East

References

Further reading

*

External links

Cuneiform tablets from Bakr Awa - University of Tubingen

{{Authority control

Sulaymaniyah Governorate
Archaeological sites in Iraq
Tells (archaeology)
Ancient Assyrian cities