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Yarim Tepe is an archaeological site of an early farming settlement that goes back to about 6000 BC. It is located in the Sinjar valley some 7km southwest from the town of
Tal Afar Tal Afar ( ar, تَلْعَفَر, Talʿafar, ) is a city in the Nineveh Governorate of northwestern Iraq, located 63 km (39 mi) west of Mosul, 52 km (32 mi) east of SinjarHassuna culture The Hassuna culture is a Neolithic archaeological culture in northern Mesopotamia dating to the early sixth millennium BC. It is named after the type site of Tell Hassuna in Iraq. Other sites where Hassuna material has been found include Tell Sh ...
, and then of the Halaf and Ubaid cultures. The settlement was investigated between 1969 and 1976, and later by the Soviet archaeological expedition under the leadership of Rauf Munchaev and Nikolai Merpert.


Yarim Tepe excavations


Yarim Tepe I

The hill known as Yarim-Tepe I belongs to
Hassuna culture The Hassuna culture is a Neolithic archaeological culture in northern Mesopotamia dating to the early sixth millennium BC. It is named after the type site of Tell Hassuna in Iraq. Other sites where Hassuna material has been found include Tell Sh ...
. The high central, oval-shaped core is 80 meters long and 30 meters wide. Some objects found here are reminiscent of those of
Tureng Tepe Tureng Tepe ( fa, تورنگ تپه, "Hill of the Pheasants"; alternatively spelled in English as Turang Tappe/Tape/Tappa/Tappeh) is a Neolithic and Chalcolithic archaeological site in northeastern Iran, in the Gorgan plain, approximately 17  ...
in Iran. 13 building layers are found here, reflecting the main stages of this culture. The cultural level is 6.5 m deep. There are more than 1500 rectangular furnaces and ceramic ovens used for cooking. The earliest known
kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...
, dating to around 6000 BC, was found here. The village had courtyards and small streets with rectangular mud-brick buildings. There were also public granaries. Burials of children in vessels were found, as well as various stone utensils, such as stone crushers, and hacksaws. The findings also include ceramic vases, female clay figurines, and other items. Metal items were also found, such as a lead bracelet, copper beads, as well as copper ore, which represents some of the oldest metallurgy in Mesopotamia. Bovine bones were also found.


Yarim Tepe II

Yarim Tepe II is a settlement of the Halafian culture, belonging to the fifth millennium BC. It is located 250 m west of Yarim Tepe I, and is partly eroded by the nearby brook Joubara Diariasi. Almost all of the dwellings are small one-room mud brick houses of the tholos plan. The cultural level is 7 m deep, and it consists of ten structural horizons. The bones of both domestic and wild animals were found, among them the bones of sheep, ox, goats, and pigs. Ceramic figured vessels in the shape of elephants and women were found among other pottery. Some ceramic containers have pictures of fish, birds, gazelles and other animals on them. Some pendant seals were also discovered, including a very old copper seal. The burial customs included cremations, and the burials of skulls


Yarim Tepe III

Yarim Tepe III is located right next to Yarim Tepe II. The hill is 10 m high. The pottery is typical for Northern Ubaid and Halaf. It was excavated in 1978-79. At least three Ubaid building levels are found here on top of several Halaf levels. The uppermost levels of the Halaf cultural deposits are analogous to the
Arpachiyah Tell Arpachiyah (outside modern Mosul in Ninawa Governorate Iraq) is a prehistoric archaeological site in Nineveh Province (Iraq). It takes its name from a more recent village located about from Nineveh. The proper name of the mound on which the ...
levels TT-6 to TT-8, and Tepe Gawra levels XVIII-XX. Three stone seal-pendants have also been found.


Metallurgy

Metal was already quite common at Yarim Tepe; as many as 21 examples of worked copper or copper ore were found in the lower levels of the settlement. Even more remarkably, the earliest use of lead is also documented.
"The earliest lead (Pb) finds in the ancient Near East are a 6th millennium BC bangle from Yarim Tepe in northern Iraq and a slightly later conical lead piece from Halaf period
Arpachiyah Tell Arpachiyah (outside modern Mosul in Ninawa Governorate Iraq) is a prehistoric archaeological site in Nineveh Province (Iraq). It takes its name from a more recent village located about from Nineveh. The proper name of the mound on which the ...
, near Mosul. As native lead is extremely rare, such artifacts raise the possibility that lead smelting may have begun even before copper smelting."


Kul Tepe (Iraq)

Kul Tepe (Iraq) Kul Tepe may refer to: *Kültəpə Kültəpə (also rendered as Aşağı Gültəpə, Gültəpə, Kyul'tepe, Kul'tepe, and Kultepe) is a settlement dated from the Neolithic Age, a village and municipality in the Babek District of Nakhchivan, Az ...
is a related site located about 6km due west from Yarim tepe. Two mounds there (Kultepe I, and Kultepe II) have been excavated. The lowest level of Kultepe I contains material of Sotto type (from nearby Tell Sotto), and above it there is archaic Hassuna materials.Charles Keith Maisels
''Early Civilizations of the Old World: The Formative Histories of Egypt, The Levant, Mesopotamia, India and China''.
Routledge, 2003 p128
The lowest level also contains three high quality marble vessels, with parallels at
Tell es-Sawwan Tell es-Sawwan is an important Samarran period archaeological site in Saladin Province, Iraq. It is located north of Baghdad, and south of Samarra. The site is a primarily Ubaid, Hassuna, and Samarra culture occupation with some later Babylon ...
and Umm Dabaghiyah.


See also

*
Tell Maghzaliyah Tell Maghzaliyah (Tell Maghzalia), in Nineveh Governorate, Iraq, is a prehistoric fortified aceramic Mesolithic and Neolithic site located approximately 7.5 km northwest of Yarim Tepe, with which it shows some similarities. It is situated ne ...
*
Tell Arpachiyah Tell Arpachiyah (outside modern Mosul in Ninawa Governorate Iraq) is a prehistoric archaeological site in Nineveh Province ( Iraq). It takes its name from a more recent village located about from Nineveh. The proper name of the mound on whic ...
*
Jarmo Jarmo (Qal'at Jarmo) ( ku, Çermo) is a prehistoric archeological site located in modern Iraq on the foothills of the Zagros Mountains. It lies at an altitude of 800 m above sea-level in a belt of oak and pistachio woodlands in the Adha ...


Notes


Bibliography

*Natalia Petrova, A technological study of Hassuna culture ceramics (Yarim Tepe I settlement). Documenta Praehistorica XXXIX (2012) *Yarim Tepe I. In N. Yoffee, J. J. Clark (eds.), Early stages in the evolution of Mesopotamian civilization. Soviet excavations in Northern Iraq. The University of Arizona Press, Arizona: 73–114 (1972, 1993 reprint) . *Merpert N. Ya. 1993. The archaic phase of the Hassuna culture. In N. Yoffee, J. J. Clark (eds.), Early stages in the evolution of Mesopotamian civilization. Soviet excavations in Northern Iraq. The University of Arizona Press, Arizona: 115–127. *Munchaev R. M., Merpert N. Ya.1981. Earliest Agricultural Settlements of Northern Mesopotamia. Nauka Press. Moscow. (in Russian) *Merpert, Nikolai I., and Rauf M. Munchaev. 1987. “The Earliest Levels at Yarim Tepe I and Yarim Tepe II in Northern Iraq.” Iraq 49:1–37 *Merpert, Nikolai I., and Rauf M. Munchaev. 1973. “Early Agricultural Settlement in the Sinjar Plain, Northern Iraq.” Iraq 35:97–113


External links


CERAMICS - The Neolithic Period through the Bronze Age in Northeastern and North-central Persia
iranicaonline.org {{coord, 36.32045, 42.3675, display=title Archaeological sites in Iraq Halaf culture Hassuna culture Ubaid period Tells (archaeology)