Tell Chuera

Tell Chuera (also Tell Ḫuera and Tall Ḥuwaira and Tall Chuera and Tell Khuera) is an ancient Near Eastern tell site in Raqqa Governorate, northern Syria. It lies between the Balikh and Khabur rivers.

Tell Chuera

Harbe
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Shown within Syria
Location	Raqqa Governorate, Syria
Region	Northern Mesopotamia
Coordinates	36°38′44.88″N 39°29′53.88″E
Type	tell
Site notes
Excavation dates	1958–1960s 1973–1977 1982-present
Archaeologists	A. Moortgat, U. Moortgat-Correns, W. Orthmann, J.-W. Meyer

Site details

The site of Tell Chuera is roughly 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) in diameter and 18 metres (59 ft) high.

History

Map of area in Middle Assyrian times

Tell Chuera was settled in the Early Bronze (3rd millennium BC), and again in the Late Bronze (Late 2nd millennium BC).^[1]

Early Bronze

Originally occupied during the 4th millennium, Tell Chuera became a major site in the 3rd millennium during the Early Dynastic period.^[2] It reached its peak around 2350 BC and was then abandoned for reasons as yet unknown.

In the Early Bronze IVB, the site was active during the Ur III period (c. 2112-2004 BC).

Late Bronze

A small settlement was built on the location by the Mittani during the middle 2nd millennium BC followed by the Assyrians. Equid bones from that period have been identified as horses.^[3] During Middle Assyrian times it was known as Harbe.^[4] It has been proposed that in earlier times its name was Abarsal^[5]

Excavation history

The site was first described by Max von Oppenheim in 1913. Excavations were begun in 1958 by a team from the Free University of Berlin led by Anton Moortgat. These efforts continued until the late 1960s. Mittani period structures (Knicksachstempel and Mittani-Bau) were uncovered.^{[6][7][8][9][10]} With a new co-leader, Ursula Moortgat-Correns, digs occurred in 1973, 1974 and 1976.^[11][12][13] At the top of the mound three buildings of undressed stone were found (Steinbau I, II, and III) and in the center a mudbrick temple building (Kleiner Antentempe - Smaller Antentemple). In Steinbau I, which had 6 building phases, decorated bronze vessels and bent copper pins with ball heads and flattened perforated shanks (similar to those in the royal cemetery at Ur) from the Early Dynastic period were found. Some clay sealings, sealed with typical ED cylinder seals, were also recovered. The temple had a processional way "lined with rough, megalithic stone stelai" between 2 and 3 meters in height. In an adjacent area were found a number of alabaster statue fragments of votive statues representing males with long wigs, square-cut beards and garments with fleecy fringes, the tallest being 35 centimeters.^[14]

After a 5 year hiatus caused by the death of Anton Moortgat in 1977 work resumed in 1982. Two teams worked at the site, one under the direction of Winfried Orthmann of the University of Halle and the other under Ursula Moortgat-Correns, until 1998.^[15][16][17] Excavation then was taken up by a team from the Goethe University Frankfurt, under the direction of Professor Jan-Waalke Meyer from 1998 to 2005.^[18]

See also

• Cities of the ancient Near East
• Tell Beydar
• Tell Brak
• Tell Khoshi

References

1. Meyer 2021
2. Schwartz, Glenn M., "The Ninevite V Period and Current Research", Paléorient, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 53–70, 1985
3. Vila, Emmanuelle, "Les vestiges de chevaux à Tell Chuera. Premières datations", Kulturlandschaft Syrien. Zentrum und Peripherie. Festschrift für Jan-Waalke Meyer, hrsg. v. Jörg Becker, Ralph Hempelmann, Ellen Rehm (Alter Orient und Altes Testament 371), pp. 607-622, 2010
4. Pfeifer, Guido, "Stefan Jakob, Die mittelassyrischen Texte aus Tell Chuēra in Nordost-Syrien mit einem Beitrag von Daniela I. Janisch-Jakob", Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte. Romanistische Abteilung, vol. 131, no. 1, pp. 552-553, 2014
5. Archi, Alfonso. "The Wars of Ebla at the Time of Minister Ibrium" Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. 48, no. 2, 2021, pp. 189-220
6. Anton Moortgat, Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die Grabung 1958, Köln und Opladen, 1960
7. Anton Moortgat, Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die zweite Grabungskampagne 1959, Wiesbaden, 1960
8. Anton Moortgat, Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die dritte Grabungskampagne 1960, Köln und Opladen, 1962
9. Anton Moortgat, Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Bericht über die vierte Grabungskampagne 1963, Köln und Opladen, 1965
10. Anton Moortgat, Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die fünfte Grabungskampagne 1964, Köln und Opladen, 1967
11. Anton Moortgat and Ursula Moortgat-Correns, Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die sechste Grabungskampagne 1973, Gebrüder Mann Verlag, 1975
12. Anton Moortgat and Ursula Moortgat-Correns, Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die siebte Grabungskampagne 1974, Gebrüder Mann Verlag, 1976
13. Anton Moortgat & Ursula Moortgat-Correns: Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die achte Grabungskampagne 1976, Mann, 1978 ISBN 3-7861-1198-7
14. Mallowan, M. E. L., "Tell Chuēra in Nordost-Syrien", Iraq, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 89–95, 1966
15. Winfried Orthmann et al., Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die neunte und zehnte Grabungskampagne 1982 und 1983, Mann, 1998, ISBN 3-7861-1451-X
16. Ursula Moortgat-Correns, "Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die elfte Grabungskampagne 1985", Berlin, 1988
17. Winfried Orthmann et al., Ausgrabungen in Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien I Vorbericht uber die Grabungskampagnen 1986 bis 1992, Saarbrucker Druckerei und Verlag – SDV, 1995, ISBN 3-925036-92-X
18. Jan-Waalke Meyer, Tell Chuera: Vorberichte zu den Grabungskampagnen 1998 bis 2005, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2010 ,ISBN 978-3-447-06182-7

Further reading

• Joachim Bretschneider, Jan Driessen and Karel van Lerberghe, Power and architecture: monumental public architecture in the Bronze Age, David Brown, 2007, ISBN 90-429-1831-4
• Dibo, Suzanne, "L’architecture Monumentale De Tell Chuera: Des Temples Ou Des Bâtiments Administratifs ?", Syria, vol. 93, pp. 235–54, 2016
• Hartmut Kühne, "Die Keramik vom Tell Chuera und ihre Beziehungen zu Funden aus Syrien-Palästina, der Türkei und dem Iraq", Berlin, 1976
• Hrouda, B., "Bericht Über Die Ausgrabung (Tell Chuera)", Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 183–84, 1964
• Stefan Jakob, "Die mittelassyrischen Texte aus Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien", Harrassowitz Verlag, 2009, ISBN 3-447-05724-6
• Jabbour, Ali, "The Evolution of Defensive Elements in the Syrian Cities and Kingdoms during the Bronze Age" "Syrian Jazirah, Euphrates region, Northern Levant, Between the Early and Middle Bronze Age", 2020
• Krasnik, Klaus, and Jan-Waalke Meyer, "Im Tod Den Göttern Nahe: Eine Prunkvolle Bestattung in Tell Chuera, Nordsyrien", Antike Welt, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 383–90, 2001
• Jan-Waalke Meyer, "Ausgrabungen in Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien Band 2: II: Vorbericht zu den Grabungskampagnen 1998 bis 2005", Harrassowitz Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-447-06182-7
• Moortgat-Correns, Ursula, "'Tell Chuēra.' Archiv Für Orientforschung", vol. 35, pp. 153–63, 1988
• Moortgat-Correns, Ursula, "Der Tell Chuēra im Rückblick (1958-1985)", Altorientalische Forschungen, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 353-388, 2001
• Ursula Moortgat-Correns, "Tell Chuera in Nordost-Syrien. Vorläufiger Bericht über die neunte und zehnte Grabungskampagne 1982 und 1983", Berlin, 1988
• Winfried Orthmann, "Tell Chuera. Ausgrabungen der Max Freiherr von Oppenheim-Stiftung in Nordost-Syrien", Damaskus und Tartous, 1990
• Winfried Orthmann, "L'architecture religieuse de Tell Chuera", Akkadica, vol. 69, pp. 1–18, 1990
• W. Orthmann, "The Origins of Tell Chuera," in The Origins of Cities in Dry Farming Syria and Mesopotamia in the Third Millennium B.C., ed. H. Weiss (Guilford, Conn.: Four Quarters Publishing, 1986)
• Quenet, Philippe, "Un sceau-cylindre inédit de Tell Khuera (Syrie du Nord) et sa place au sein de la glyptique géométrique du Bronze ancien en Mésopo-tamie", Revue d'assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale, 101, p. 3-34, 2007
• Michael Zick: "Tell Chuera – Stadtplanung vor 5000 Jahren". in: "Bild der Wissenschaft." Leinefelden-Echterdingen 1/2005,1, S. 72–76. ISSN 0006-2375

External links

• Universität Frankfurt zu den Ausgrabungen von Tell Chuera
• Institut für Orientalische Archäologie und Kunst der Universität Halle
• 1996 field season
• 1997 field season
• 1998/99 field season