Tell Maghzaliyah (Tell Maghzalia), in

Nineveh Governorate Nineveh Governorate (; , ) is a governorate in northern Iraq. It has an area of and an estimated population of 2,453,000 people as of 2003. Its largest city and provincial capital is Mosul, which lies across the Tigris river from the ruins of a ...

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 ...

, is a prehistoric fortified aceramic

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...

and

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

site located approximately 7.5 km northwest of Yarim Tepe, with which it shows some similarities. It is situated near the Abra River, a tributary of the Habur River, which eventually drains into the

Euphrates River The Euphrates ( ; see below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originating in Turkey, the Euphrates flows through S ...

. Tell Maghzaliyah shows the development of pre- Hassuna culture. There are also numerous connections to the

Jarmo Jarmo ( or , also ''Qal'at Jarmo'') is a prehistoric archeological site located in modern Iraqi Kurdistan 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 ...

culture going back to 7000 BCE.

Archaeology

The site is approximately 4500 square meters in area, and the depth of deposit is approximately 8 meters. It was excavated during 12 seasons between 1969 and 1980 on the Sinjar Plain, by a Soviet team from the Institute of Archaeology, Academy of Sciences led by R. M. Munchaev and N. Ya. Merpert with N.O. Bader. The original village housed approximately 150 people. It was more suited to hunting and gathering, than to long-standing agriculture. Archeological evidence includes

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

flakes and

debitage In archaeology, debitage is all the material produced during the process of lithic reduction – the production of stone tools and weapons by knapping stone. This Assemblage (archaeology), assemblage may include the different kinds of lithic fla ...

, along with evidence of semi-permanent settlement, including houses and utilitarian structures. Permanent settlement remains indicate pisé walls and stone

foundations Foundation(s) or The Foundation(s) may refer to: Common uses * Foundation (cosmetics), a skin-coloured makeup cream applied to the face * Foundation (engineering), the element of a structure which connects it to the ground, and transfers loads f ...

. The clay used for construction was apparently imported from other locations, as the primary natural stratigraphy is

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

loam. In its final phase the site was circled by a wall with massive stone facing. The excavators estimated a total of 15 building levels at the site, each with an average thickness of 50–60 cm. The assemblage suggests a tightly packed settlement, occupied continuously over its existence.

Early metallurgy

A hammered ‘awl’ (or a chisel) made from

native copper Native copper is an uncombined form of copper that occurs as a natural mineral. Copper is one of the few metallic elements to occur in native form, although it most commonly occurs in oxidized states and mixed with other elements. Native coppe ...

(i.e. not smelted) was found on the floor of one of the houses. Other early sites with metal are also Ali Kosh in lowland Iran, and Tol-e Nurabad and

Tepe Sialk Tepe Sialk () is a large ancient archeological site (a ''tepe'', "hill, tell") in a suburb of the city of Kashan, Isfahan Province, in central Iran, close to Fin Garden. The culture that inhabited this area has been linked to the Zayandeh Rive ...

in the Iranian

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 ...

. Also in the Iranian Zagros, near

Marvdasht Marvdasht () is a city in the Central District (Marvdasht County), Central District of Marvdasht County, Fars province, Fars province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Etymology Some historians hold that Marv ...

, are located the sites of Tall-i Mushki, and Tall-i Jari showing evidence of early metallurgy utilizing native copper. All these settlements date to the late 7th/early 6th millennia BC.

Archaeology

Early metallurgy

See also

References

Further reading