The Halaf culture is a
prehistoric
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
period which lasted between about 6100 BC and 5100 BC.
The period is a continuous development out of the earlier
Pottery Neolithic
In the Near Eastern archaeology, archaeology of Southwest Asia, the Late Neolithic, also known as the Ceramic Neolithic or Pottery Neolithic, is the final part of the Neolithic period, following on from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and preceding the ...
and is located primarily in the fertile valley of the
Khabur River (Nahr al-Khabur), of south-eastern
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
,
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
, and northern
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 ...
, although Halaf-influenced material is found throughout Greater
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
.
While the period is named after the site of
Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf ( ar, تل حلف) is an archaeological site in the Al Hasakah governorate of northeastern Syria, a few kilometers from the city of Ra's al-'Ayn near the Turkish border. The site, which dates to the 6th millennium BCE, was the firs ...
in north
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
, excavated by
Max von Oppenheim
Baron Max von Oppenheim (15 July 1860, in Cologne – 17 November 1946, in Landshut) was a German lawyer, diplomat, ancient historian, and archaeologist. He was a member of the Oppenheim banking dynasty. Abandoning his career in diplomacy, ...
between 1911 and 1927, the earliest Halaf period material was excavated by
John Garstang
John Garstang (5 May 1876 – 12 September 1956) was a British archaeologist of the Ancient Near East, especially Egypt, Sudan, Anatolia and the southern Levant. He was the younger brother of Professor Walter Garstang, FRS, a marine biol ...
in 1908 at the site of
Sakce Gözü, then in Syria but now part of Turkey. Small amounts of Halaf material were also excavated in 1913 by
Leonard Woolley
Sir Charles Leonard Woolley (17 April 1880 – 20 February 1960) was a British archaeologist best known for his Excavation (archaeology), excavations at Ur in Mesopotamia. He is recognized as one of the first "modern" archaeologists who excavat ...
at Carchemish, on the Turkish/Syrian border. However, the most important site for the Halaf tradition was the site of
Tell Arpachiyah
Tell Arpachiyah (outside modern Mosul in Ninawa Governorate Iraq) is a prehistoric archaeological site in Nineveh Province (Iraq). It takes its name from a more recent village located about from Nineveh. The proper name of the mound on which the ...
, now located in the suburbs of
Mosul
Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second large ...
,
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 ...
.
The Halaf period was succeeded by the
Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period
The Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period or HUT (c. 5500/5400 to 5200/5000 BC) is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. It lies chronologically between the Halaf period and the Ubaid period. It is still a complex and rather poorly understood period. ...
, which comprised the late Halaf (c. 5400–5000 BC), and then by the
Ubaid period
The Ubaid period (c. 6500–3700 BC) is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. The name derives from Tell al-'Ubaid where the earliest large excavation of Ubaid period material was conducted initially in 1919 by Henry Hall and later by Leonard Wool ...
.
Origin
Previously, the Syrian plains were not considered as the homeland of Halaf culture, and the Halafians were seen either as
hill people
Hill people, also referred to as mountain people, is a general term for people who live in the hills and mountains.
This includes all rugged land above and all land (including plateaus) above elevation.
The climate is generally harsh, with s ...
who descended from the nearby mountains of southeastern Anatolia, or herdsmen from northern Iraq.
However, those views changed with the recent archaeology conducted since 1986 by
Peter Akkermans
Peter M. M. G. Akkermans (born Hulsberg, 14 November 1957) is a Dutch archaeologist and Professor of Ancient Near Eastern archaeology at Leiden University. , which have produced new insights and perspectives about the rise of Halaf culture. A formerly unknown transitional culture between the pre-Halaf
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
's era and Halaf's era was uncovered in the
Balikh
The Balikh River ( ar, نهر البليخ) is a perennial river that originates in the spring of Ain al-Arous near Tell Abyad in the Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests ecoregion. It flows due south and joins the Euphra ...
valley, at
Tell Sabi Abyad
Tell Sabi Abyad ( ar, تل صبي أبيض) is an archaeological site in the Balikh River valley in northern Syria. It lies about 2 kilometers south of Tell Hammam et-Turkman.The site consists of four prehistoric mounds that are numbered Tell Sab ...
(the Mound of the White Boy).
Currently, eleven occupational layers have been unearthed in Sabi Abyad. Levels from 11 to 7 are considered ''pre-Halaf''; from 6 to 4, transitional; and from 3 to 1, ''early Halaf''. No hiatus in occupation is observed except between levels 11 and 10.
The new archaeology demonstrated that Halaf culture was not sudden and was not the result of foreign people, but rather a continuous process of indigenous cultural changes in northern Syria that spread to the other regions.
Culture
Architecture
Halaf pottery
Halaf pottery has been found in other parts of northern Mesopotamia, such as at
Nineveh
Nineveh (; akk, ; Biblical Hebrew: '; ar, نَيْنَوَىٰ '; syr, ܢܝܼܢܘܹܐ, Nīnwē) was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul in northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern ban ...
and
Tepe Gawra
Tepe Gawra (Kurdish for "Great Mound") is an ancient Mesopotamian settlement 15 miles NNE of Mosul in northwest Iraq that was occupied between 5000 and 1500 BC. It is roughly a mile from the site of Nineveh and 2 miles E of the site of Khorsa ...
,
Chagar Bazar
Chagar Bazar (Šagir Bazar, Arabic: تل شاغربازار) is a tell, or settlement mound, in northern Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria. It is a short distance from the major ancient city of Nagar (Tell Brak). The site was occupied from the Halaf ...
,
Tell Amarna and at many sites in
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
(Turkey) suggesting that it was widely used in the region.
File:Bowl fragment MET DP368821.jpg, Fragment of a bowl; 5600–5000 BC; cermaic; 8.2 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
(New York City)
Image:Halafpottery.jpg, Halafian ware
File:Syrian - "Tel Halaf" Fertility Figurine - Walters 482741 - Three Quarter.jpg, Fertility figurine (maybe a goddess?); 5000–4000 BC; terracotta with traces of pigment; 8.1 × 5 × 5.4 cm; by Halaf culture; Walters Art Museum
The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...
(Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, US)
Stamp seals
The Halaf culture saw the earliest known appearance of
stamp seal
__NOTOC__
The stamp seal is a carved object, usually stone, first made in the 4th millennium BC, and probably earlier. They were used to impress their picture or inscription into soft, prepared clay.
Seal devices have seldom survived through ti ...
s in the Near East.
They featured essentially geometric patterns.
File:Loop-handled rectangular seal MET ss93 17 109.jpg, Loop-handled rectangular seal, Halaf culture.
Loop-handled circular seal MET ss1985 192 20.jpg, Loop-handled circular seal.
File:Stamp seal and modern impression- geometric pattern MET DP104233.jpg, Stamp seal and modern impression – geometric pattern. Halaf culture
Halaf's end (Northern Ubaid)
Halaf culture ended by 5000 BC after entering the so-called
Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period
The Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period or HUT (c. 5500/5400 to 5200/5000 BC) is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. It lies chronologically between the Halaf period and the Ubaid period. It is still a complex and rather poorly understood period. ...
. Many Halafian settlements were abandoned, and the remaining ones showed
Ubaidian characters.
The new period is named Northern Ubaid to distinguish it from the proper Ubaid in southern Mesopotamia,
and two explanations were presented for the transformation. The first maintains an invasion and a replacement of the Halafians by the Ubaidians; however, there is no hiatus between the Halaf and northern Ubaid which exclude the invasion theory.
The most plausible theory is a Halafian adoption of the Ubaid culture,
which is supported by most scholars, including
Oates,
Breniquet, and Akkermans.
See also
*
Samarra culture
The Samarra culture is a Late Neolithic archaeological culture of northern Mesopotamia, roughly dated to between 5500 and 4800 BCE. It partially overlaps with Hassuna and early Ubaid. Samarran material culture was first recognized during excava ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
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External links
Halaf cultureThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
Halaf Bowl from Arpachiyah - British Museum
{{Syria topics
Archaeological cultures of West Asia
Neolithic cultures of Asia
Archaeological cultures in Iraq
Archaeological cultures in Syria
Archaeological cultures in Turkey
Prehistoric Syria