Historical Overview

5th/4th Millennia BC

 

The earliest levels so far excavated date to the mid-fifth millennium BC (Late ‘Ubaid and LC1, Area CH). These levels, to be published in Brak 3 (forthcoming), had been much disturbed by the construction of later monumental buildings. The evidence suggests that there were monumental buildings in this area at least as early as the end of the Ubaid Period.

 

Better-preserved evidence has been found in Area TW, where an uninterrupted sequence from the late 5th (LC2) to the early 3rd millennium BC has been excavated. This includes evidence for a south Mesopotamian Late Uruk colony, and unparalleled monumental buildings of late 5th and early 4th millennia date (LC2). An industrial area adjacent to the 5th millennium BC monumental building is one focus of the current research programme.  Material of this date has also been identified on the Area HS ridge, and much of the outer town (outside the limits of the tell itself) is occupied at this time.

  

Topographic plan of Tell Brak

EDM tell plan, one metre intervals, showing major areas of excavation.

Plan courtesy G. Emberling, T. Skuldbøl & T. Larsen.
Tell Brak, looking north

Tell Brak, from the north

  

Eye idols

Eye idols

Undoubtedly the best-known building of this date is the Eye Temple, excavated by Mallowan in the 1930s. Our recent excavations now enable us to date more precisely the original version of this building to the first half of the 4th millennium BC.

3rd Millennium BC

This was the original focus of research at the site, and a number of areas of the 3rd millennium city have been excavated on the lower, southern portion of the tell. The earliest work here was that of Mallowan in the 1930s. Of particular importance was his excavation of the ‘Palace’ (actually a fortified storehouse) of Naram-Sin, a grandson of Sargon of Agade, the first evidence for South Mesopotamian control in the area. During recent excavations a number of important buildings have been investigated, including a unique audience hall and temple together with administrative and ‘industrial’ areas (Area SS), and a temple and possible ‘way station’ near the north gate of the city (Area FS), both of early Akkadian date. Cuneiform tablets from the site also tell us something of the Akkadian and later administration.

Naram-Sin Palace

Area of Naram-Sin Palace, seen from Area HH, with Jebel Sinjar and its western pass in the distance.
Sealing of late 3rd millennium Hurrian ruler, Talpuš-atali Sealing of late 3rd millennium Hurrian ruler, Talpuš-atali

Sealing of late 3rd millennium Hurrian ruler, “Talpuš-atali, sun of the country of Nagar”

Houses of the earlier, independent city of Nagar have been found in Area CH and, more recently, part of a large public building has been investigated in Area TC. The earlier 3rd millennium Ninevite 5 phase is also present at the site (published in Brak vols 4 & 2). Also of significance is the evidence for more or less continuous occupation throughout the third millennium, including an apparently Hurrian rebuilding of the Naram-Sin building.

Kite photograph of Area TC

Kite photograph of Area TC. Photo by Evan Malone (with permission of Geoff Emberling).

2nd Millennium BC

Area HH.  Sometime around 1950 BC there is a change in settlement pattern both at the site and in the Upper Khabur plain generally, apparently coinciding with the settlement of the recently-arrived tribal Amorites. This is signalled archaeologically by the presence of so-called Khabur ware, an MB painted pottery type first found (and named) by Mallowan. Occupation on the mound at Brak is reduced at this time, moving to the northern part of the tell which, as a result, has become its highest part. The northern part of the outer town is also (re)occupied. 

Mallowan excavated Mitanni houses in Area HH, and in the late 1980s David Oates dug the Mitanni Palace and adjacent temple. Heavily eroded remains of Mitanni houses have also been observed in the ploughed area north of the tell. The latest surviving occupation on the main tell is of Middle Assyrian date.

The settlement landscape and material culture of the terminal 3rd through 2nd millennia BC is a current focus of research at the site. This project includes investigation of the little-understood phase representing the transition from Early to Middle Bronze (c. 1950 BC), marked in the region by evidence for settlement pattern change and possible environmental breakdown. It also comprises exploration of the continuity of domestic space use patterns on the site during the political shifts from the territorial state of Samsi-Addu through its collapse and the imposition of the Mitanni Empire.

Legal document sworn in the presence of the Mitanni king Tušratta

Reverse of a legal document sworn in the presence of the Mitanni king Tušratta, one of the royal participants in the famous Amarna correspondence (14th century BC).

Hurrian text from the Mitanni Palace

Relatively few texts are known written in Hurrian; this is a Hurrian text from the Mitanni Palace, listing workmen

(14th century BC).
First millennium and later settlement, including Roman and early Islamic, is found largely in the outer town, though there may have been a Late Assyrian temple on the north part of the tell, suggested by the recovery of two Late Assyrian baked clay ‘hands of Ishtar’.

© Tell Brak Project. This site was designed by David Thomas and was last updated on 7/01/2008. Text by Joan Oates and Augusta McMahon; photos by Joan Oates and Augusta McMahon, unless otherwise indicated.