Continuity versus cultural markers : results of the controlled surface collection of Tell Halula, North Syria

Abstract

This thesis provides the results of intensive surface investigations carried out in 1986 at Tell Halula, a complex multi-period site located in the Euphrates River valley in northern Syria. The research was undertaken with the twofold aim of obtaining a more precise understanding of the occupation history of the site, whilst demonstrating the effectiveness and increased benefits to be gained by the use of controlled collection methods for obtaining robust data from complex archaeological sites. The result is a biography of Tell Halula which traces its development from initial settlement, c. 7800 cal. BC, during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period, through to its abandonment at the end of the Late Assyrian period, c. 600 BC, and its later conversion to farmland during the Late Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic periods, c. 450-925 AD, and again more recently during the Ottoman period, around 150 years ago. To build a picture of how the site developed, both physically and culturally, various strands of evidence are examined, including the evidence of dating and cultural affiliations obtained through comparative analysis of the artefact assemblages recovered by controlled collection, the results from subsequent excavations conducted on the site by the Universitat Aut{u00F2}noma de Barcelona, Spain, where available, and by spatial analysis of the collected material. For later periods historical resources and ethnographies are also used. The analyses demonstrate that important information can be derived from the continuity evident in the material. A main component of the thesis is the exploration of where the different settlements were located on the site and what their spatial extent and the artefact inventories suggest about the function or relative importance of the site at different times, in other words, how it functioned within the regional cultural landscape of each period. For several periods, notably the Halaf, this points to deficiencies in present characterisations of the society then existing and explanations of social development. Some revised perspectives are offered, based both directly on the results of the research and on the re-interpretation of existing material and literature in light of this research.