Tell Barri (ancient Kahat) is a
tell, or archaeological settlement mound, in north-eastern
Syria in the
Al-Hasakah Governorate
Al-Hasakah Governorate ( ar, محافظة الحسكة, Muḥāfaẓat al-Ḥasakah, ku, Parêzgeha Hesekê}, syc, ܗܘܦܪܟܝܐ ܕܚܣܟܗ, Huparkiyo d'Ḥasake, also known as syc, ܓܙܪܬܐ, Gozarto) is one of the fourteen governorates (pro ...
. Its ancient name was Kahat as proven by a threshold found on the south-western slope of the mound. Tell Barri is situated along the
Wadi Jaghjagh, a tributary of the
Khabur River. It lies 22 kilometers away from the site
Tell Arbid
Tell Arbid is an ancient Near East archaeological site in the Khabur River Basin region of Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria. It is located 45 km south of Tell Mozan, the site of ancient Urkesh.
History
The history and identity of Tell Arbi ...
and 8 kilometers north of the ancient city of Nagar (
Tell Brak
Tell Brak (Nagar, Nawar) was an ancient city in Syria; its remains constitute a tell located in the Upper Khabur region, near the modern village of Tell Brak, 50 kilometers north-east of Al-Hasaka city, Al-Hasakah Governorate. The city' ...
).
History
The earliest layers discovered at Tell Barri date to the
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 fir ...
period. Barri was in the
fertile crescent
The Fertile Crescent ( ar, الهلال الخصيب) is a crescent-shaped region in the Middle East, spanning modern-day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Jordan, together with the northern region of Kuwait, southeastern region of ...
and could benefit from winter rains as well as the river water. This developed the early agriculture of the area. The site of Tell Barri was inhabited since the
fourth millennium BC
The 4th millennium BC spanned the years 4000 BC to 3001 BC. Some of the major changes in human culture during this time included the beginning of the Bronze Age and the invention of writing, which played a major role in starting recorded history. ...
. By the middle of the
third millennium BC
The 3rd millennium BC spanned the years 3000 through 2001 BC. This period of time corresponds to the Early to Middle Bronze Age, characterized by the early empires in the Ancient Near East. In Ancient Egypt, the Early Dynastic Period is followe ...
Barri came under
Akkadian cultural influence. The large urban centre at
Tell Brak
Tell Brak (Nagar, Nawar) was an ancient city in Syria; its remains constitute a tell located in the Upper Khabur region, near the modern village of Tell Brak, 50 kilometers north-east of Al-Hasaka city, Al-Hasakah Governorate. The city' ...
was nearby.
Ancient city of Kahat
By the eighteenth century BC the city now known as Kahat is attested from the palace archives of
Mari. Kahat seems to have been ruled by semi-independent kings. The town then came under the rule of the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia, whose capital,
Shubat-Enlil
Tell Leilan is an archaeological site situated near the Wadi Jarrah in the Khabur River basin in Al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria. The site has been occupied since the 5th millennium BC. During the late third millennium, the site was ...
, was northeast of Kahat. When the empire collapsed, the harem of its king
Shamshi-Adad I
Shamshi-Adad ( akk, Šamši-Adad; Amorite: ''Shamshi-Addu''), ruled 1808–1776 BC, was an Amorite warlord and conqueror who had conquered lands across much of Syria, Anatolia, and Upper Mesopotamia.Some of the Mari letters addressed to Shamsi-Ad ...
sought refuge at Kahat. Several centuries later, the town emerged as a religious centre when 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 ...
kingdom of
Mitanni
Mitanni (; Hittite cuneiform ; ''Mittani'' '), c. 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat (''Hanikalbat'', ''Khanigalbat'', cuneiform ') in Assyrian records, or ''Naharin'' in ...
established itself in the region by the fifteenth century BC. The temple to the Storm god
Teshub
Teshub (also written Teshup, Teššup, or Tešup; cuneiform ; hieroglyphic Luwian , read as ''Tarhunzas'';Annick Payne (2014), ''Hieroglyphic Luwian: An Introduction with Original Texts'', 3rd revised edition, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, p. ...
in Kahat is specifically mentioned in the Shattiwaza treaty of the fourteenth century BC. Shortly afterwards the town fell into the hands of the
Middle Assyrian Empire. A large palace was built dated to the time of Assyrian ruler
Adad-Nirari I (c. 1305 to 1274 BC). In the
Neo-Assyrian Empire
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 ...
period a palace was built by the Assyrian king
Tukulti-Ninurta II Tukulti-Ninurta II was King of Assyria from 890 BC to 884 BC. He was the second king of the Neo Assyrian Empire.
History
His father was Adad-nirari II, the first king of the Neo-Assyrian period. Tukulti-Ninurta consolidated the gains made by his f ...
(891-884 BC) in Kahat. The town lived on after the end of the Assyrian empire in the seventh century BC as a part of
Achaemenid Assyria
Athura ( peo, 𐎠𐎰𐎢𐎼𐎠 ''Aθurā''), also called Assyria, was a geographical area within the Achaemenid Empire in Upper Mesopotamia from 539 to 330 BC as a military protectorate state. Although sometimes regarded as a satrapy, Ach ...
.
Babylonians
Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. 1 ...
,
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
ns,
Seleucids
The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the M ...
,
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
,
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
, and
Parthians left their trace. The site was inhabited into the
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
period.
Archaeology
![Tell Barri 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Tell_Barri_2.jpg)
The height of the town mound is 32 meters (105 feet), and its base covers 37 hectares (90 acres). There is also a 7 hectare lower town.
In 1980 excavations were begun by a team of Italian archaeologists from the
University of Florence
The University of Florence (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled.
History
The first universi ...
, led by Paolo Emilio Pecorella and Mirjo Salvini. From 2006 until 2010, the dig was conducted by a team from
University of Naples Federico II
The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...
led by Raffaella Pierobon-Benoit.
The town was walled in the second millennium BC, with an
acropolis at its centre. Tombs were found at the site. Many ceramics were discovered, which have helped the archaeologists to determine the different strata of occupation of the mound. Artifacts from Tell Barri, including
cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sh ...
tablets, have been taken to the museum of
Aleppo.
Significant discoveries include a sacred complex in Area G (third millennium BC), the remains of the royal palace of Tukulti-Ninurta II (Neo-Assyrian period), and the Great Circuit Wall that surrounds the tell and dates to the Parthian period. Scant traces of Roman occupation have been found in many areas of the site. Recently, Islamic occupation (houses' quarter) has been attested on the northern slope of the mound.
The site has suffered significant looting during the Syrian Civil War.
[Casana J, Laugier EJ (2017) Satellite imagery-based monitoring of archaeological site damage in the Syrian civil war. PLoS ONE 12(11): e0188589. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188589]
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 ...
*
Short chronology timeline
The chronology of the ancient Near East is a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Historical inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers: "in the year X of king Y". Com ...
Notes
References
*Benoit, Raffaella Pierobon, "Tell Barri/Kahat 2000-2010: The Contribution of the Excavations to the History of the Jezireh.", Archaeological Explorations in Syria 2000-2011: Proceedings of ISCACH-Beirut 2015, 2018
* Pecorella, Paolo Emilio, and Mirjo Salvani, "Tell Barri-Kaḫat", Syria, vol. 62, no. 1/2, 1985, pp. 128–30, 1985
* Paolo Emilio Pecorella, Tell Barri/Kahat: la campagna del 2000: relazione preliminare, Firenze University Press, 2003,
* Paolo Emilio Pecorella and Raffaella Pierobon Benoit, Tell Barri/Kahat: la campagna del 2001: relazione preliminare, Firenze University Press, 2004,
* Paolo Emilio Pecorella and Raffaella Pierobon Benoit, Tell Barri/Kahat: la campagna del 2002: relazione preliminare, Firenze, 2005,
* Paolo Emilio Pecorella and Raffaella Pierobon Benoit, Tell Barri/Kahat: la campagna del 2003: relazione preliminare, Firenze University Press, 2008,
* Paolo Emilio Pecorella and Raffaella Pierobon Benoit, Tell Barri - Kahat: la campagna del 2004, Firenze University Press, 2008,
* A. Sołtysiak, "Short Fieldwork Report: Tell Barri (Syria), seasons 1980–2006", Bioarchaeology of the Near East, vol. 2, pp 67–71, 2008
* Sołtysiak, A., and R. Koliński, "Tell Barri (Syria), seasons 2008–2010 Arkadiusz Sołtysiak.", Bioarchaeology of the Near East 4, pp. 48-50, 2010
* Sołtysiak, Arkadiusz, and Holger Schutkowski, "Continuity and change in subsistence at Tell Barri, NE Syria.", Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 2, pp. 176-185, 2015
External links
Tell Barri dig web site (italian)Shelby White - Leon Levy grant to publish Late Bronze age data
{{Authority control
Neolithic sites in Syria
Hurrian cities
Former populated places in Syria
Archaeological sites in al-Hasakah Governorate
Bronze Age sites in Syria
Barri
In Norse mythology, Barri is the place where Freyr and Gerðr are to consummate their union, as stated in the '' Skírnismál'':
:Barri the grove is named,
:which we both know,
:the grove of tranquil paths.
:Nine nights hence,
:there to Niörd ...
Ancient Assyrian cities