Bakr Awa is a
tell, or archaeological settlement mound, in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
. It is located near
Halabja
Halabja ( ku, هەڵەبجە, Helebce, ) is a city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the capital of Halabja Governorate, located about northeast of Baghdad and from the Iranian border.
The city lies at the base of what is often referred to ...
in the
Shahrizor Plain in
Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also incl ...
. 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
Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the land, terrestrial Two-dimensional space#In geometry, two-dimensional or Three-dimensional space#In Euclidean geometry, three-dimensional positions of ...
. 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
}
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
.
History
This region is thought to have been part of the kingdom of the
Lullubi
Lullubi, Lulubi ( akk, 𒇻𒇻𒉈: ''Lu-lu-bi'', akk, 𒇻𒇻𒉈𒆠: ''Lu-lu-biki'' "Country of the Lullubi"), more commonly known as Lullu, were a group of tribes during the 3rd millennium BC, from a region known as ''Lulubum'', now the Sha ...
.
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
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
. Material culture from these layers showed links with the
Hurrian
The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern ...
and
Kassite
The Kassites () were people of the ancient Near East, who controlled Babylonia after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire c. 1531 BC and until c. 1155 BC (short chronology).
They gained control of Babylonia after the Hittite sack of Babylon ...
cultures.
Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
occupation at Bakr Awa dates to the
Neo-Assyrian period
The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew t ...
and the
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest em ...
. A
Sassanian
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
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 Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. 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.
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
The earliest cities in history were in the ancient Near East, an area covering roughly that of the modern Middle East: its history began in the 4th millennium BC and ended, depending on the interpretation of the term, either with the conquest by ...
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