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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Jebel Aruda
Jebel Aruda (also Djebel Aruda or Jebel 'Aruda or Sheikh 'Arud or Gebel Aruda or Gabal Aruda), is an ancient Near East archaeological site on the west bank of the Euphrates river in Raqqa Governorate, Syria. It was excavated as part of a program of rescue excavation project for sites to be submerged by the creation of Lake Assad by the Tabqa Dam. The site was occupied in the Late Chalcolithic, during the late 4th millennium BC, specifically in the Uruk V period. It is on the opposite side of the lake from the Halafian site of Shams ed-Din Tannira and is within sight of the Uruk V site Habuba Kabira (8 kilometers downstream) and thought to have been linked to it. The archaeological sites of Tell es-Sweyhat and Tell Hadidi are also nearby.

Archaeology

The site, which lies 60 meters above the west bank of the Euphrates River, was founded on virgin soil, and covers an area of about 3 hectares. There is a 9.5 meter high 80 meter by 70 meter temple terrace with a stone foundation. An area of about 1 hectare has been excavated. Excavators defined three areas, a temple precinct, northern houses, and southern houses. Three charcoal samples, associated with a fragment of a miniature limestone clay wheel, gave calibrated radiocarbon dates of 3335–3103 BC, 3333–3101BC, and 3315–2916BC.

Uruk V period numerical tablet found at Susa

In 1909 Gertrude Bell observed the tell on a journey down the East bank of the Euphrates river but was prevented from crossing over to explore it by high winds. After having been visited by Maurits Van Loon in 1964 as part of the rescue survey the site of Jebel Aruda was excavated, as part of the Tabqa Dam rescue effort, between 1972 and 1982 by a Dutch team from the University of Leiden led by G. Van Driel. Finds from this excavation are held in the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities though are property of the government of Syria. Finds include eight copper axes (alternatively described as ingots). In a storeroom several kilograms of unprocessed lapis lazuli and a variety of precious stones were excavated. After a forty-year delay the excavation final report was finally released in 2023.

In the southern houses area of the mound there are "T-Form" manor houses, suggested as prototypes for the later Mesopotamian E-GAL temples. Houses in the northern areas were more of a residential nature (Similar to those found at the nearby Uruk V site of [[Habuba Kabira|Habuba Kabira South]]) but included areas with industrial functions. Kilns were found in the courtyard of NC-NF compounds associated with ashy deposits containing a large number of bevel rim bowls and flower pots. The northern houses area was destroyed by fire. A few of the ceramic objects had been coated with bitumen. Clay sealing were found at the site.

Uruk period beveled rim bowl from nearby Hubaba Kubira

On the in the elevated temple precinct were two 40 square meter tripartite structures with the typical Uruk period niched facades, one named the Red Temple and another named the Grey Temple, assumed to have religious and possibly administrative functions. The Red Temple had a triple entrance leading across three vestibules into the cult room at the center. The Grey Temple had two entrances leading to a central area with a closed sacristy. The temple precinct is surrounded by a niched wall. There were two building phases with the Red Temple built in the first phase and the Grey Temple added in the second. Occupation ended in a nonviolent manner being emptied, leveled, and filled in with large mudbricks. This resulted in very few finds, amounting to a small number of flower pots and seal impressions.

Thirteen Uruk V period "numerical tablets" (possibly a precursor to Proto-cuneiform and Proto-Elamite), sometimes called "impressed tablets", were found at the site in the southern houses area, some sealed. Four of the tablets were found in a large T-shaped room near the temple precinct. Eleven Neolithic clay tokens were also excavated.

History

Jebel Aruda is a single period site, occupied in three phases in the Uruk V period (c. 3500-3350 BC) of the late 4th millennium BC.

Tell Sheikh Hassan

Tell Sheikh Hassan (also Tall Sheikh Hassan and Tall Šaih Hasan) was a walled ancient Near East settlement across the Euphrates from Jebel Aruda. Originally on the left bank of the Euphrates river, it is now an island as a result of flooding from the Tabqa Dam. Its original height of 14 meters and area of 5 hectares has been reduced to half a hectare. The site was occupied during the Neolithic and Uruk periods and again in the Iron age and through to the Islamic period.

In 1909 Gertrude Bell observed the tell on a journey down the East bank of the Euphrates river. The site was examined in 1963 by Abdul Kader Rihaoui and in 1964 by Maurits. N. van Loon. Tell Sheikh Hassan was excavated between 1972 and 1994 as part of the Tabqa Dam rescue archaeology project. A French team led by A. Bounni (1972 to 1974), J. Cauvin (1976), and D. Stordeur (1993) focused on the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (9th and 10th millennium BC) areas. A German team in 1981 led by W. Orthmann and from 1984 to 1990 and from 1992 to 1994 led by J. Boesse of the University of Saarbruecken focused on the Late-Terminal Ubaid period, Uruk period (4th millennium BC) and Iron Age (1st millenium BC) areas. Smelting crucibles were found among the 17 Middle Uruk levels. Beveled rim bowls were also found. Bullae and tokens, and cylinder seals were in use as was bitumen. This is one of the earliest known uses of cylinder seals. Also in the Uruk period levels a left bent axis single shrine temple was found. In the Iron age levels a Bit-hilani palace was uncovered. Five ostracon, inscribed in Aramaic and dated to the 5th century BC, were found in the rubble of an Iron Age building.

See also

References

  1. ^ Algaze, Guillermo, "Early Mesopotamian Urbanism: How?", Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization: The Evolution of an Urban Landscape, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 64-92, 2008
  2. ^ J. A. Bakker–J. KruK–A. E. Lanting–S. Milisauskas, "The earliest evidence of wheeled vehicles in Europe and the Near East", Antiquity 73, pp. 778–790, 1999
  3. ^ Bell, Gertrude, "Tell Ahmar to Buseirah", Amurath to Amurath: A Journey Along the Banks of the Euphrates, Piscataway, NJ, USA: Gorgias Press, pp. 35-76, 2004
  4. ^ van Loon, Maurits N., "The Tabqa Reservoir Survey 1964", Damascus: Direction Générale des Antiquités et des Musées, 1967
  5. ^ Van Driel G., "The Uruk Settlement on Jebel Aruda: A Preliminary Report", in Margueron J.-C. (éd.), Le Moyen Euphrate. Zone de contacts et d’échanges. Actes du colloque de Strasbourg, 10-12 mars 1977, Leiden : E.J. Brill (Travaux du Centre de recherches sur le Proche-Orient 5), pp. 73-93, 1980
  6. ^ Van Driel G. and Van Driel-Murray C., "Jebel Aruda 1977-1978", Akkadica 12, pp. 2-28, 1979
  7. ^ Van Driel G. and Van Driel-Murray C., "Jebel Aruda, the 1982 season excavation, interim report", Akkadica 33, pp. 1-26, 1983
  8. ^ Roualt, O., and M. G. Massetti-Roualt, "L’Euphrate e il tempo: Le Civilta del medio Euphrate e della Gezira siriana", Milan: Electa, 1993
  9. ^ Govert van Driel and Carol van Driel-Murray, "Jebel Aruda: An Uruk period temple and settlement in Syria (Volume I) Excavation and Material Culture", Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities 28a, Sidestone Press, 2023 ISBN 9789464261714
  10. ^ Govert van Driel and Carol van Driel-Murray, "Jebel Aruda: An Uruk period temple and settlement in Syria (Volume II) Plates of Room Contents", Papers on Archaeology of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities 28b, Sidestone Press, 2023 ISBN 9789464261745
  11. ^ [1] Erarslan, Alev, "“The Reception Room” in the Tripartite Plan and Its Effects on the Mesopotamian Domestic Architecture in the Historical Times", Colloquium Anatolicum. No. 10. Türk Eskiçağ Bilimleri Enstitüsü, pp. 129-146, 2011
  12. ^ Millard, Alan Ralph, "The bevelled-rim bowls: their purpose and significance", Iraq 50, pp. 49-57, 1988
  13. ^ Fuensanta, Jesús Gil, "Un E-GAL à Djebel Aruda?", Orient Express 14, pp. 5–7, 1995
  14. ^ Fuensanta, Jesús Gil and Salazar, Juan Manuel Gonzalez, "A Few Thoughts about Late Chalcolithic Architecture and the Uruk Expansion in the Middle Euphrates Area", Time and History in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 56th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Barcelona, July 26th-30th, 2010, edited by Lluis Feliu, J. Llop, A. Millet Albà and Joaquin Sanmartín, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 657-664, 2013
  15. ^ Dooijes, R., Burghout, F., Düring, M.H. and Nieuwenhuyse, "Restorations on the Late Uruk pottery of Jebel Aruda – old and new", Leiden Journal of Pottery Studies 23, pp. 9-16, 2007
  16. ^ A. van As, "Some technological aspects of Late Uruk pottery from Jebel Aruda, Syria", Leiden Journal of Pottery Studies 23, pp. 41–59, 2007
  17. ^ Mezzasalma, Alessandra, "Administrative practices in the Syrian Jezirah: sealings from Jebel Aruda", Pathways through Arslantepe. Essays in Honour of Marcella Frangipane, hrsg. v. Balossi Restelli, Francesca, pp. 347-360, 2020
  18. ^ G. van DrielL, "Een reconstructie van de tempels op de Jebel Aruda", Phœnix 37, pp. 21–31, 1991
  19. ^ [2] Tony J. Wilkinson, "Tell es-Sweyhat, Volume 1. On the Margin of the Euphrates: Settlement and Land Use at Tell es-Sweyhat and in the Upper Lake Assad Area, Syria", Oriental Institute Publications 124, Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 2004 ISBN 1-885923-29-5
  20. ^ Van Driel, Govert, "Tablets from Jebel Aruda", Zikir Šumim. Brill, pp. 12-25, 1982
  21. ^ Overmann, Karenleigh A., "Numerical Notations And Writing", The Material Origin of Numbers: Insights from the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Piscataway, NJ, USA: Gorgias Press, pp. 179-206, 2019
  22. ^ Nissen, HansJörg; Damerow, Peter; Englund, Robert K., "Archaic Bookkeeping: Early Writing and Techniques of Economic Administration in the Ancient Near East", Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993
  23. ^ Overmann, Karenleigh A., "The Neolithic Clay Tokens", in The Material Origin of Numbers: Insights from the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Piscataway, NJ, USA: Gorgias Press, pp. 157–178, 2019
  24. ^ Bartl, Karin, "Tell Sheikh Hassan: Funde Aus Römisch-Parthischer, Spätrömisch-Frühbyzantinischer Und Islamischer Zeit", Archiv Für Orientforschung, vol. 46/47, pp. 447–89, 1999
  25. ^ Trentin, Maria Giuseppina, "Some thoughts on pottery production along the Euphrates, and South of the Taurus Mountains, during the Habuba and Tell Sheikh Hassan Horizons", Rivista di archeologia, vol. 000, no. 023, pp. 27, 1999
  26. ^ Bachmann, Friederike, "Neuassyrische Wandmalereien aus Tell Sheikh Hassan", Zwischen Ausgrabung und Ausstellung. Beiträge zur Archäologie Vorderasiens. Festschrift für Lutz Martin, hrsg. v. Cholidis, Nadja, Katzy, Elisabeth, Kulemann-Ossen, Sabina (marru 9), pp. 219-230, 2020
  27. ^ Bernd Müller-Neuhof, "Die frühneolithischen und urukzeitlichen Silex- und Obsidianindustrien aus Tell Sheikh Hassan", Gladbeck/Berlin: PeWeVerlag/Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 2015
  28. ^ De Jong, L. Kaneda, A., "Uncovering Tell Sheikh Hasan, Balikh valley; architecture and pottery from the 2005 season", Annales archaeologiques Arabes Syriennes 47-48, pp. 179-190, 2004-5
  29. ^ Bell, Gertrude, "Tell Ahmar to Buseirah", Amurath to Amurath: A Journey Along the Banks of the Euphrates, Piscataway, NJ, USA: Gorgias Press, pp. 35-76, 2004
  30. ^ J. Cauvin, "Tall Murëbit und Tall Seh Hassan", AfO 26, 160, 1978/79
  31. ^ D. Stordeur, "Reprise des fouilles préhistoriques à Tell Cheikh Hassan: Une campagne de reconnaissance", AASyr. 43, pp. 59-64, 1999
  32. ^ B. Müller-Neuhof, "An EPPNB human sculpture from Tell Sheikh Hassan", Neo-Lithics 2/06, pp. 32–38, 2006
  33. ^ J. Boese, "Excavations at Tell Sheikh Hassan. Preliminary Report on the 1987 Campaign in the Euphrates Valley", Annales Archeologiques Arabes Syriennes, 36/37, pp. 67-101, 1986/1987
  34. ^ J. Boese, "Excavations at Tell Sheikh Hassan. Preliminary Report on the 1988 Campaign in the Euphrates Valley", AASyr, 37/38, 158-189, 1987/1988
  35. ^ J. Boese, "Tall Sheikh Hassan 1984-1986", AfO 36/37, pp. 323-332, 1989/90
  36. ^ J. Boese, "Ausgrabungen in Tell Sheikh Hassan 1992", Chronique Archéologique en Syrie 1, pp. 40-42, 1992
  37. ^ Boese, J., "Ausgrabungen in Tell Sheikh Hassan I. Vorläufige Berichte über die Ausgrabungskam-pagnen 1984–1990 und 1992–1994", Saarbrücker: Saarbrücker Druckerei und Verlag, 1995 ISBN 9783925036781
  38. ^ Bachmann, F., "Das keramische Inventar eines urukzeitlichen Gebaudes in Tell Sheikh Hassan / Syrien", Subartu 4(1), pp. 89-129, 1997
  39. ^ Algaze, Guillermo, "Early Mesopotamian Urbanism: How?", Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization: The Evolution of an Urban Landscape, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 64-92, 2008
  40. ^ Connan, Jacques, and Thomas Van de Velde, "An overview of bitumen trade in the Near East from the Neolithic (c. 8000 BC) to the early Islamic period", Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 21.1, pp. 1-19, 2010
  41. ^ Sauer, Kristina. "From counting to writing: the innovative potential of bookkeeping in Uruk Period Mesopotamia." Appropriating Innovations. Entangled Knowledge in Eurasia, 5000-150 BCE, pp. 12-29, 2017
  42. ^ Bietak, Manfred, "Two ancient Near Eastern temples with bent axis in the Eastern Nile Delta", Ägypten und Levante/Egypt and the Levant 13, pp. 13-38, 2003
  43. ^ [3]Takata, Gaku, "Problems in the Chronology of the Iron IIA in Palestine and Research on Bīt Ḫilāni", Orient 40, pp. 91-104, 2005
  44. ^ Schwemer, Daniel, "Vier Aramäische Ostraka Aus Tall Šaiḫ Ḥasan", Orientalia, vol. 68, no. 1, pp. 114–21, 1999

Further reading

  • [4] Becker, Jörg, Alwo von Wickede, and Friederike Bachmann, "A unique Halafian ceramic object from Shams ed-Din Tannira, Syria", Paléorient. Revue pluridisciplinaire de préhistoire et de protohistoire de l’Asie du Sud-Ouest et de l’Asie centrale 45–1, pp. 19–31, 2019
  • Forest J.D., "L'habitat urukien du Djebel Aruda, approche fonctionnelle et arrière-plans symboliques", in Castel C, Al Maqdissi M. et Villeneuve F. (éd.), Les maisons dans la Syrie antique du IIIe millénaire aux débuts de l'Islam, Actes du Colloque International, Damas, 27-30 juin 1992, Beyrouth: IFAPO, pp. 217–233, 1997
  • Hanbury-Tenison, Jack, "The 1982 Flaked Stone Assemblage at Jebel Aruda, Syria", Akkadica 33, pp. 27–33, 1983
  • J. Kalsbeek, "La ceramique de series du Djebel Aruda", Akkadica 20, pp. 1–11, 1980
  • Sievertsen, Uwe, "Private space, public space and connected architectural developments throughout the early periods of Mesopotamian history", Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 307–329, 2002
  • Surenhagen, D., "Die Uruk-Periode im syrischen Euphratttal", in W. Orthmann, P. Matthiae & M. al-Maqdissi (eds.), Archeology e et Histoire en Syrie I. La Syrie de I’epoque neolithique a Lage du fer, Wiesbaden, pp. 61–74, 2013
  • [5] Trentin, Maria Giuseppina, "North-Western Uruk period pottery assemblages", Ph'D thesis, University of London, University College London (United Kingdom), 1991
  • Vallet R., "L’urbanisme colonial urukien, l’exemple de Djébel Aruda", in Lebeau M. (ed.), About Subartu. Studies devoted to Upper Mesopotamia. Vol. 1: Landscape, Archaeology, Settlement, Turnhout: Brepols (Subartu 4,1), pp. 53–87, 1998
  • van der Leeuw, Sander Ernst, "Sondages à Ta’as, Hadidi et Jebel ‘Aruda", in Antiquités de l’Euphrate: Exposition des découvertes de la campagne internationale de sauvegarde des antiquités de l’Euphrate, edited by Adnan Bounni, Damascus: Direction Générale des Antiquités et des Musées, pp. 76–82, 1974
  • Vallet, R., "Habuba Kabire ou la naissance de l’urbanisme", Paléorient 22, pp. 45–76, 1996
  • van Driel, G., "Jebel Aruda: Variations on a late Uruk domestic theme", Postgate, J. N. (ed.). Artefacts of Complexity: Tracking the Uruk in the Near East, British School of Archaeology in Iraq, Warminster, pp. 191–205, 2002
  • G. van Driel, "De Uruk-Nederzetting op de Jebel Aruda", Phoenix 23, pp. 42–64, 1977
  • G. van Driel, "Gabal 'Aruda", Archiv für Orientforschung 28, pp. 245–246, 1981/82
  • G. van Driel, "Gabal 'Aruda 1982", Archiv für Orientforschung 31, pp. 134 –137, 1984
  • G. van Driel, "Gebel Aruda", in L’Eufrate e il tempo: Le civiltà del medio Eufrate e della Gezira siriana, edited by Olivier Rouault and Maria Grazia Masetti-Rouault Milano: Electa, pp. 139–142, 1993
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