Tell Halula is a large,

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 ...

, neolithic tell, about in size, located around east of

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and northwest of Manbij in the Raqqa Governorate of Syria.

Excavation

The tell was first excavated in 1991 by the Spanish Archaeological Mission, directed by Miquel Molist, Professor of Prehistory at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Archaeological trenches have covered an area of approximately .

Construction

The large mound is located on the

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslands, ...

of nearby mountains at an altitude of above sea level and was found to be approximately deep. It is situated between Wadi Fars and Wadi Abu Gal Gal on the right bank and

fluvial In geography and geology, fluvial processes are associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them. When the stream or rivers are associated with glaciers, ice sheets, or ice caps, the term glaciofluvial or fluviog ...

plain of the

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...

. It is one of the largest neolithic sites yet found, described as a ''megasite'', including the remains of twenty one rectangular houses of three to five rooms, nine with associated burials of at least one hundred and seven incomplete skeletons. Burials were made under the floors of the houses, which were typically covered with a limestone plaster.

Culture

Occupation of the site was detected from the middle of Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) at around 7750 BC into the neolithic around 6780 BC and has provided insight into the transitions during this period, especially the emergence of agriculture during the

neolithic revolution The Neolithic Revolution, or the (First) Agricultural Revolution, was the wide-scale transition of many human cultures during the Neolithic period from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, making an incre ...

. Forty levels of occupation have been detected with levels one to twenty dating to the middle PPNB; twenty-one to thirty-four dating to the late PPNB; and two later levels, thirty-six and thirty-seven, showing evidence of the Halaf culture. Various arrowheads were found which were largely classed as

Byblos point Byblos ( ; gr, Βύβλος), also known as Jbeil or Jubayl ( ar, جُبَيْل, Jubayl, locally ; phn, 𐤂𐤁𐤋, , probably ), is a city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. It is believed to have been first occupied between 880 ...

s. Several showed signs of lime plaster around the

tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...

s, which has been suggested to have been the method of fixing to the

arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...

's shaft. Excavations revealed paintings of female figures on the floor of one of the buildings, which are suggested to be the oldest paintings of people in the Middle East.

Ceramics

The ceramic sequence in Halula begins early in the 7th millennium BC. The introduction of Halaf culture painted Fine Ware is documented for the ‘Halula Phase IV’ period; this took place at the end of 7th millennium. Prior to that, there was the ‘Pre-Halaf’ period covering a very long initial stage of pottery production; the excavators break down this long period as Halula Phases I to III.

Agriculture and animal domestication

222 flint sickle blades were found, including the remains of a complete sickle found in one of the houses made of four blade elements fixed with

bitumen Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

, shaped in a curved edge approximately 30 cm in length. Archaeozoological analyses of bovine tooth enamel show the development of herding and management practices of cattle. D. Helmer suggested that domestication of goats also occurred at this site during the middle PPNB, in a transition from hunting gazelles. Farming of sheep and cattle took place in late middle PPNB stages with a decrease in size of cow noted as a sign of domestication. The prevalence of wild animals also reduced over this period. Analysis of naked emmer wheat and spikelet bases has shown this crop to have been domesticated during the middle of PPNB period at this site. The bottom levels of the tell revealed no evidence of wild crops, which suggests that the first people to occupy the site brought with them fully domesticated forms of wheat, barley and

flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...

, which had been domesticated elsewhere.

Ancient DNA

Eva Fernández Domínguez extracted samples of mitochondrial DNA from human bones from Tell Halula as part of the studies for her PhD thesis accepted at the University of Barcelona in 2005. The methodology used was later superseded, so a first publication of the results in 2008 was corrected in a subsequent publication in 2014. In the latter publication the mtDNA haplogroups were given as U, R0, K, HV, H, N and L3.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Syria Ministry of Tourism - JERF EL-AHMAR, TELL HALULA AND THE NORTH SYRIAN ORIGINS OF THE NEOLITHIC by Ms Mandy Mottram

University of Colgne Radio-carbon context database entry for Tell Halula

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20100919095807/http://sappo.uab.cat/ Seminari d'Arqueologia Prehistòrica del Pròxim Orient (SAPPO) An Internet portal of Prehistoric Archaeology of the Near East
Home Page of Misión Arqueológica Espanola el Tell Halula. Valle del medio Eufrates (Syria)
1991 archaeological discoveries Neolithic settlements Neolithic sites in Syria Archaeology of the Near East Archaeological sites in Aleppo Governorate Halaf culture Pre-Pottery Neolithic B