Tell Abada is a tell, or archaeological settlement mound, in

Diyala Governorate Diyala Governorate ( ) or Diyala Province is a Governorates of Iraq, governorate in northeastern Iraq. Provincial Government *Governor: Muthanna al-Tamimi *Deputy Governor: Mohammed Jassim al-Jubouri Council Geography Diyala Governorate ...

(

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

). Abada was excavated as part of the archaeological salvage operation to excavate sites that would be flooded by the reservoir of the

Hamrin Dam The Hemrin Dam is a dam on the Diyala River 100 km northeast of Baghdad, Iraq Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With ...

. Excavations revealed occupation levels dating to the Ubaid 1-3 periods. The site is important because it was one of the few where an Ubaid period settlement could be excavated in its entirety.

The site and its environment

The site lies in the foothills of the

Zagros Mountains The Zagros Mountains are a mountain range in Iran, northern Iraq, and southeastern Turkey. The mountain range has a total length of . The Zagros range begins in northwestern Iran and roughly follows Iran's western border while covering much of s ...

in the Hamrin region, east of the Diyala River and southeast of Sadiyah. It measures 190 by 150 m and rises 3.5 m above the surrounding plain. Another nearby

Ubaid period The Ubaid period (c. 5500–3700 BC) is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. The name derives from Tell al-'Ubaid where the earliest large excavation of Ubaid period material was conducted initially in 1919 by Henry Hall, Leonard Woolley in 19 ...

site is

Tell Rashid Tell Rashid is a tell, or archaeological settlement mound, in Diyala Governorate, Iraq. The site lies in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains, some south of Tell Abada, another Ubaid period site. It measures 54 by 30 m and extends 2.5 m above t ...

, which is located north of Tell Abada.

History of research

Tell Abada was excavated for a single season from December 1977 until July 1978 under the direction of Sabah Abboud Jasim. The excavation was part of a large archaeological salvage operation to excavate sites in danger of being flooded by the

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

of the

Hemrin Dam The Hemrin Dam is a dam on the Diyala River 100 km northeast of Baghdad, Iraq Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With ...

, which was being constructed at the time. Some 80% of the site has been excavated and virgin soil (undisturbed by human activity) was reached in two locations. The fact that Tell Abada was excavated almost in its entirety makes it an important site in the study of the Ubaid period. About ninety Proto-Literate clay tokens were found at the site, mainly in Building A (Levels I and II). Some of the tokens were in groups. As an example, in Building A Level I sixteen tokens were found in an "unpainted, carinated bowl of Hajji Muhammad type". The group consisted of "8 spheres, 4 cones, 2 discs, 1 rod, 1 plain 'tablet'".

Occupation history

Three different 5th millennium BC occupation levels were recognised, dating to a transitional phase between the

Samarra Samarra (, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The modern city of Samarra was founded in 836 by the Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tasim as a new administrative capital and mi ...

and Ubaid periods (level III), after a gap late Ubaid 2 (level II), and early Ubaid 3 (level I). The architectural remains of level III consisted of two houses with multiple rectangular rooms, with gypsum plastered walls. These buildings have been interpreted as a

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

production location based on the presence of large storage jars, red ochre and three nearby

kilns 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 into ...

. The kilns were located in an open area and were of different types and shapes. In one case, it has been suggested that it could have been used both for firing pottery as well as food production. Large quantities of painted Samarra and Ubaid 1 were recovered with a wide array of different decorative geometric motifs, including ceramics with both Samarra and Ubaid 1 characteristics. There seems to have been a clear break in the occupation history between levels III and II. Level II consisted of 11 buildings which were separated by streets and narrow lanes. The buildings share a distinct design with a tripartite plan with rooms arranged around a T-shaped courtyard. The walls were constructed of

mudbricks Mudbrick or mud-brick, also known as unfired brick, is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of mud (containing loam, clay, sand and water) mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE. From ...

. One of the largest buildings (building A), in the center of the site, had exterior walls decorated with

buttresses A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act a ...

, indicating that it may have had a special function. A large number of infant burials were found there. Designs on the painted pottery included geometric motifs as wells as more naturalistic depictions. Pottery decorated with incisions and impressions was also common. Other finds included animal and human clay

figurines A figurine A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many med ...

, stone tools such as

querns A quern-stone is a stone tool for hand-grinding a wide variety of materials, especially for various types of grains. They are used in pairs. The lower stationary stone of early examples is called a ''saddle quern'', while the upper mobile st ...

mortars Mortar may refer to: * Mortar (weapon), an indirect-fire infantry weapon * Mortar (masonry), a material used to fill the gaps between blocks and bind them together * Mortar and pestle, a tool pair used to crush or grind * Mortar, Bihar, a village i ...

, mace heads, and bone tools such as needles and spatulas. A certain degree of continuation existed between the architecture of level II and level I. Painted pottery was common and often wheel-thrown, and decorations shared characteristics with those observed on both Northern and Southern Ubaid sites. Decoration was both geometric as well as naturalistic.

Burials

A large number of child burials (127) have been recovered from the upper 2 levels of the site. Most of these children were below the age of 2. The bodies were placed in a shallow bowl covered with a second bowl, which in turn was buried below the floors of the houses. Almost half of the burials came from building A, reinforcing the apparent importance of this building that is also evident from its wall decorations and size. The excavators have searched the environment of the site for evidence of a burial site for adults, but did not find any.

The site and its environment

History of research

Occupation history

Burials

See also

References

Further reading