Chagar Bazar
تل شاغربازار
Chagar Bazar is located in Syria
Chagar Bazar
Shown within Syria
LocationAl-Hasakah Governorate, Syria
Coordinates36°52′33″N 40°53′53″E / 36.875971°N 40.897942°E / 36.875971; 40.897942
Typesettlement
History
Foundedca. 6,000 BC
Abandonedca. 2,000 BC
PeriodsNeolithic
Cultureschagar culture
Site notes
Excavation dates1935—1937
1999—2002
ArchaeologistsMax Mallowan
University of Liège
Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums, Augusta McMahon
OwnershipPublic
Public accessYes

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 period (c. 6100 to 5100 BC) until the middle of the 2nd millennium BC.

Archaeology

A pottery sherd. The fragment is painted with a design of wading birds. There is brown paint on creamy clay. From Chagar Bazar, Syria. Halaf period, 6000-5000 BCE. Excavated by Sir Mallowan in 1935

The site contains two mounds, a higher but smaller one to the south and a lower larger northern one. Occupation was Halaf at the northern end then at the southern end in the Late Chalcolithic period followed by full occupation in the 3rd millennium BC. The 2nd millennium BC occupation was restricted to the northern (5 hectare) mound. Chagar Bazar was excavated for three seasons by the British archaeologist Max Mallowan, with his wife Agatha Christie, from 1935 to 1937.[1][2][3] Many of the artefacts discovered were brought to the British Museum. Besides pottery, a large number of Old Babylonian period clay tablets written in cuneiform script were discovered.[4][5][6] Work was resumed at the site in 1999 by an expedition from the British School of Archaeology in Iraq in cooperation with University of Liège archaeologists and the Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums.[7][8][9] During these excavations, which ended in 2002, 214 cuneiform tablets were recovered.

Chagar Bazar and its environment

Chagar Bazar position in the Khabur River basin

Chagar Bazar is located in Al-Hasakah Governorate, approximately 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of Al-Hasakah, on the Wadi Dara, a tributary to the Khabur River. The ancient site measures approximately 12 hectares (30 acres).

Occupation history

Chagar Bazar was already settled in the Neolithic. Excavations revealed pottery belonging to the Halaf and Ubaid cultures. [10] By the Early Bronze Age, in the third millennium BC, Chagar Bazar had turned into a small town with the size of 12 hectares / 30 acres. The site appears to have been abandoned by the end of the third millennium BC. It was resettled and was known as Asnakkum at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age. The town was part of the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia under Shamshi-Adad I and his son Yasmah-Adad.[11] Hurrians also occupied the city and fine examples of the Khabur ware pottery dating to this period have been discovered by the excavators.

Notes

  1. ^ M.E.L. Mallowan, Excavations at Chagar Bazar and an Archaeological Survey of the Habur Region of North Syria 1934-5, Iraq, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1–85, 1936
  2. ^ M.E.L. Mallowan, Excavations at Tall Chagar Bazar and an Archaeological Survey of the Habur Region, Second Campaign 1936, Iraq, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 91–177, 1937
  3. ^ M.E.L. Mallowan, Excavations at Brak and Chagar Bazar, Iraq, no. 9, pp. 1–259, 1947
  4. ^ Philippe Talon, "Old Babylonian Texts From Chagar Bazar", FAGD/ASGD, 1997, ISBN 90-90-10838-6
  5. ^ Loretz, O., "Texte aus Chagar Bazar und Tell Brak, Teil 1", Alter Orient und Altes Testament 3. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Butzon & Bercker, 1969
  6. ^ Snell, D., "The Old Babylonian Cuneiform Texts from Chagar Bazar in the Aleppo Museum", Annales archéologiques arabes syriennes 33:2, pp.217!241, 1983
  7. ^ Augusta McMahon, Onhan Tunca, and Abdul-Massih Bagdo, New Excavations at Chagar Bazar 1999–2000, Iraq, vol. 63, pp. 201–222, 2001
  8. ^ A.M. McMahon, C. Colantoni and M.J. Semple, British excavations at Chagar Bazar, 2001–2002, Iraq, vol. 67, no. 2, pp. 1–16, 2003
  9. ^ McMahon, A., C. Colantoni, J. Frane, and A. Soltysiak, Once There Was A Place: Settlement Archaeology at Chagar Bazar 1999-2002, London, British Institute for the Study of Iraq, 2009 ISBN 978-0903472272
  10. ^ W. Cruells and OP Nieuwenhuyse, The Proto-Halaf period in Syria. New sites New data., Paléorient, vol. 30, no. 1, p. 47–68, 2004
  11. ^ Cyrus Herzl Gordon; Gary Rendsburg; Nathan H. Winter (2002). Eblaitica: Essays on the Ebla Archives and Eblaite Language, Volume 4. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-57506-060-6.

See also

References

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