View source for Place:Tell Abu Hafur

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'''Tell Abu Hafur''' is an archaeological site in [[Place:Syria|Syria]], in the [[Place:Khabur (Euphrates)|Khabur River]] basin, in the area of the Khabur Triangle in [[Place:Upper Mesopotamia|Upper Mesopotamia]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Tell Abu Hafur|url=https://pcma.uw.edu.pl/en/2019/01/21/tell-abu-hafur-2/|access-date=2020-08-03|website=pcma.uw.edu.pl}}</ref>

== Archaeological research ==
The site was excavated in 1988–1990 as part of the Western Hassake Dam Project, an international salvage project organized by the Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums. The research was conducted under the auspices of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw and directed by Maria Krogulska (1988) and Piotr Bieliński (1989–1990). In the framework of the same project, the team also studied the site of [[Place:Tell Djassa|Tell Djassa]], located about 2.5 km away.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Bieliński|first=Piotr|date=1990|title=Polish excavations in Northeast Syria 1988–1989.|url=https://pcma.uw.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/pam/PAM_1989_I/477.pdf|journal=Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean|volume=1}}</ref>

Tell Abu Hafur consists of two tells: the main one is 200 m long and 16 m high, the other (Tell Abu Hafur East) 130 m long and 5 m high.<ref name=":1" /> Nine archaeological layers were distinguished on the main tell. The youngest phase, dating to the Early Dynastic period, yielded the richest finds – the remains of four mud-brick houses located along a street paved with stones as well as seven graves.<ref name=":0" /> The smaller tell functioned in later times, as attested by the remains of fortifications from the Mitanni period (2nd millennium BC) and structures dated to the [[History:Neo-Assyrian Empire|Neo-Assyrian period]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bieliński|first=Piotr|date=1991|title=The third season of excavations in Northeastern Syria, 1990.|url=https://pcma.uw.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/pam/PAM_1990_II/471.pdf|journal=Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean|volume=2}}</ref> Pottery finds indicate that the settlement continued in the Hellenistic, [[History:Parthian Empire|Parthian]]-Roman, and early Islamic periods.<ref name=":0" />

An interesting find was a [[Chemistry:Terracotta|terracotta]] figurine, a so-called eye idol, typical of the [[History:Uruk period|Uruk culture]]. Such idols have been found in different parts of the Near East: Mesopotamia, Syria, [[Place:Elam|Elam]], the largest number at Tell Brak.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bielińska|first=Dorota|date=2016|title=A spectacle idol from Tell Abu Hafur (North Syria) and its possible function.|url=http://www.etudesettravaux.iksiopan.pl/index.php/en/archive-issues/133-etudes-et-travaux-xxix-2016/365-a-spectacle-idol-from-tell-abu-hafur-north-syria-and-its-possible-function-2|journal=Études et Travaux|volume=29}}</ref>
== Footnotes ==

<references />

== Further reading ==

* Polish National Commission for UNESCO Review. 2017/18 bulletin (Polish Archaeology for the Safeguarding  of World Heritage)
* Bieliński, P. (1991). [https://pcma.uw.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/pam/PAM_1990_II/471.pdf The third season of excavations in Northeastern Syria,1990.] Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean, 2
* Reiche, A. (2001). Polish archaeological research in Northeastern Syria. Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie, 42

== External links ==

* [https://pcma.uw.edu.pl/en/2019/01/21/tell-abu-hafur-2/ Rescue excavations at Tell Abu Hafur]

[[Category:Mesopotamia]]

{{Sourceattribution|Tell Abu Hafur|1}}