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<< Our Photo Pages >> Tell Halaf - Ancient Village or Settlement in Syria

Submitted by AlexHunger on Tuesday, 21 November 2006  Page Views: 16609

Multi-periodSite Name: Tell Halaf Alternative Name: Tall Halaf, Guzana, Gosan
Country: Syria
NOTE: This site is 55.877 km away from the location you searched for.
Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Al Qamishli  Nearest Village: R'as al 'Ayn
Latitude: 36.822809N  Longitude: 40.041151E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 no data Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 no data
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Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf submitted by AlexHunger : Lion/sphinx from Tell Halaf gate in the Aleppo museum. This is one of the few Tell Halaf originals left in Syria. Archeologist Baron Von Oppenheim took many to a Museum in Berlin, which got Bombed during WWII. They are now being painstackingly restored from a multitude of Fragments found in the craters. The Aleppo museum made a number of copies, which are now useful source material. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Village or Settlement in Syria

Tell Halaf is an archaeological site that dates back to the 6th millennium BCE in the Al Hasakah governorate in northeastern Syria in the fertile Khabur river valley (Nahr al Khabur), near the Turkish border. It was the first find of a Neolithic culture, subsequently dubbed the Halafian culture, characterized by glazed pottery painted with geometric and animal designs.

The Halaf people made female figurines of partially baked clay and stone and stamp stone seals. The seals are thought to mark the development of concepts of personal property. The Halafians used stone and clay tools and knew of Copper but did not use it for tools. Halafian structures were constructed of mud-bricks, sometimes on stone foundations and may had ritual use due to a large number of female figurines found. The tholoi of Arpachiyah had a circular domed structures approached through long rectangular anterooms.

The Halaf culture developed from the Neolithic in a linear fashion until about 5300 BCE. The Halafian culture was then replaced in northern Mesopotamia by the Ubaid culture. The site was then abandoned for a long period. In the 10th century BCE, the site became the capital of the Aramaean Guzana city-state. King Kapara built the Hilani palace in a Neo Hittite style with statues and relief orthostats.

From 894 BCE, the site became tributary to the Assyrians and was reduced in 808 BCE to a Assyrian province. The governor's palace was in the eastern part of the citadel mound. An Assyrian style temple in was discovered in the lower town. Guzana remained inhabited until Roman-Parthian Period.

Tell Halaf was rediscovered in 1899 by Baron Max von Oppenheim, a German diplomat and Banking heir, while he was surveying the area to build the Baghdad Railway. He excavated the site between 1911 and 1913 and then again 1929. Von Oppenheim displayed many of the found artefacts in his private Berlin Tell Halaf museum, which was unfortunately bombed to near oblivion in WWII. The fragments of the artefacts found again under the rubble are now being restored by the Berlin Pergamom museum. This project is scheduled to be finalised in 2008 and displayed in 2010. The site is also currently being excavated again with German suport.
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Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf submitted by davidmorgan : A mid-10th century BCE relief of a lion hunt from the palace of King Kapara. In the British Museum. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf submitted by TellHalafProject : Tell Halaf Restoration: Positioning of Head on East Gate Gardian Bull Photo courtesy of Stefan Geismeier, Berlin (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf submitted by TellHalafProject : Tall Halaf Fragments in Pergamon Museum cellar as found after WWII. Other fragments were in metal crates. A sad fate. Photo courtesy of Vorderasiatisches Museum / Museum of Ancient Near East, Berlin (3) (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf submitted by TellHalafProject : Oppenheim Museum in 1930 with the gate Gardian Gods fully set up. Photo courtesy of Max Freiherr von Oppenheim-Stiftung/ Max Freiherr von Oppenheim-Foundation, Köln/Cologne (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf submitted by AlexHunger : Tell Hallaf Warrior orthostat from King Karama's Palace. Object from the Louvre inn Paris (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf submitted by AlexHunger : Tell Hallaf orthostat from King Karama's Palace. Object from the Louvre in Paris

Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf submitted by TellHalafProject : Tell Halaf Restoration: Positioning of torso on East Gate Gardian Lion Photo courtesy of Stefan Geismeier, Berlin

Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf submitted by TellHalafProject : Tell Halaf Restoration of Griffon. Photo courtesy of Dr. Nadja Cholidis, Berlin

Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf submitted by TellHalafProject : Tell Halaf Restoration/Sorting Hall February 2007 Photo courtesy of Stefan Geismeier, Berlin

Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf submitted by TellHalafProject : Tell Halaf Restoration/Sorting Hall June 2003 Photo courtesy of Stefan Geismeier, Berlin

Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf submitted by TellHalafProject : Tell Halaf Modeling on East Gate Gardian Lion, June 2004 Photo courtesy of Stefan Geismeier, Berlin

Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf submitted by TellHalafProject : Guzana West palace. The large statues were at the enrance and many orhtostats decorated various rooms. Scan from "Tell Halaf, Une Civilisation Retrouvee en Mesopotamie" Paris 1939 p.117, fig. 3 (6), Baron Max von Oppenheim.

Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf submitted by TellHalafProject : Fragments of Statue of couple from Tell Halaf. Probably part of Ancestor Worship cult. This statue is now largely restored. Photo courtesy of Stefan Geismeier, Berlin

Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf submitted by TellHalafProject : Baron Max von Oppenheim in front of the large Gate Gardian Statues in his Museum in the 1930s. Photo courtesy of Max Freiherr von Oppenheim-Stiftung/ Max Freiherr von Oppenheim-Foundation, Köln/Cologne

Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf submitted by AlexHunger : 9th Century BCE Bird Statue found in the mound of Tell Halaf as displayed in the Berlin Pergamon Museum.

Tell Halaf
Tell Halaf submitted by AlexHunger : Copies of tell Hallaf Statues/decorative items in front of the Aleppo Museum. The originals were taken to the Oppenheim Museum in Berlin and destroyed in WWII and are now being painstackingly being pieced together.

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 62.5km NW 309° Sefer Tepe* Ancient Village or Settlement
 66.8km W 270° Bazda Cave* Cave or Rock Shelter
 72.1km WNW 295° Karahan Tepe* Ancient Village or Settlement
 74.5km WNW 290° Harbetsuvan Tepesi Ancient Village or Settlement
 81.3km ESE 121° Tell Tuneinir Ancient Village or Settlement
 84.5km WNW 303° Kurt Tepesi Ancient Village or Settlement
 88.3km W 268° Kucuk Hedbe Ancient Village or Settlement
 88.9km ENE 73° Urkesh* Ancient Village or Settlement
 89.9km NW 311° Tasli Tepe Ancient Village or Settlement
 89.9km W 273° Harran* Ancient Village or Settlement
 90.0km NW 311° Başbük Ancient Village or Settlement
 91.4km SE 138° Shadikanni Ancient Village or Settlement
 92.3km E 101° Tell Brak* Ancient Village or Settlement
 108.8km WNW 294° Göbekli Tepe* Ancient Temple
 110.2km ENE 73° Girnavaz* Ancient Village or Settlement
 111.2km WNW 288° Gürcütepe Ancient Village or Settlement
 113.7km WNW 285° Hamzan Tepe Ancient Village or Settlement
 117.3km WNW 288° Yeni Mahalle Ancient Village or Settlement
 125.4km NNE 29° Hakemi Use Tepe Ancient Village or Settlement
 126.3km E 89° Tell Qarassa* Ancient Village or Settlement
 126.8km NNE 31° Ziyaret Tepe Ancient Village or Settlement
 129.6km S 188° Zalabiye Ancient Village or Settlement
 129.7km SW 225° Tuttul Ancient Village or Settlement
 130.2km WNW 285° Sayburç* Ancient Village or Settlement
 130.2km WNW 282° Çakmaktepe Ancient Village or Settlement
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New life for ancient Syrian sculptures by coldrum on Thursday, 01 October 2009
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New life for ancient Syrian sculptures

Conservators in Berlin piece together the Tell Halaf fragments over 60 years after they were damaged by Allied bombs.

A group of 30 monumental sculptures from Tell Halaf, in Syria, have been reconstructed after being pulverised into 25,000 fragments in a bombing raid in World War II. Dating from soon after 1000 BC, the basalt statues were on display in Berlin until a combination of fire and water caused devastating damage.

Following the war, there were legal and political problems in even considering restoration. Although the reunification of Germany in 1990 eased the difficulties, conservators initially feared that reconstruction of the sculptures would be impossible. However, the painstaking work eventually began in 2002 and is finally nearing completion.

Tell Halaf lies in north-east Syria, close to the Turkish border and is now a Kurdish region. The site’s origins date back to 6000 BC, in late Neolithic times, but arguably the most important remains are those of the Aramaean civilisation, in the tenth century BC.

In 1899 Tell Halaf was discovered by Baron Max von Oppenheim, a German diplomat based in Cairo. He later sought permission from the Ottoman authorities to excavate the site between 1911 and 1913. Work was interrupted by World War I, and his final dig took place in 1927. The greatest finds were the remains of the palace of Prince Kapara, which included a five-metre high ensemble of three gods standing on animals and a twice life-size figure of a seated woman (or goddess, as Oppenheim believed). The excavated finds were divided between the national museum in Aleppo and Oppenheim, who took his share back to Berlin.

In 1930 Oppenheim opened his own museum in Berlin, in a disused iron foundry in Charlottenburg. Among pre-war visitors were Agatha Christie and her husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan. She later recalled being shown around by Oppenheim for a gruelling five-hour visit, during which he “stopped his eager dissertation to say lovingly: ‘Ah, my beautiful Venus’ and stroke the figure affectionately.” This was the enthroned woman.

War brought disaster. On 22-24 November 1943 the museum was bombed by the British, and fire broke out, with temperatures exceeding 1,000 degrees centigrade. This completely destroyed the wood and limestone artefacts from Tell Halaf, and the basalt sculptures were split by sudden temperature changes resulting from hosed water. Despite logistical difficulties during wartime, the director of Berlin’s Museum of the Ancient Near East managed to get the fragments crated up on behalf of Oppenheim. In August 1944 nine truckloads of rubble were brought to that museum’s deep cellar, which forms part of the Pergamon Museum.

After the war, the Pergamon Museum was in Soviet-occupied East Berlin, while the burnt-out museum in Charlottenburg was in West Berlin, with the Oppenheim family settled in Cologne, in West Germany. Initially there was nothing that could be done with the Tell Halaf fragments in war-devastated Germany, and even when the economic situation improved there were difficulties: the rubble was owned by a West German foundation, but housed in an East German museum.

It was only after reunification in 1990 that attention once again focused on the Tell Halaf fragments. Archaeologists recalled what Oppenheim had written in 1944, in the depths of war: “How wonderful it would be if all the fragments into which the sculptures have been shattered could be gathered up and taken to the state museums of Berlin and there, eventually, reassembled. But what a horrendous task that would be, given that this collection has been smashed to smithereens. What I want most of all, of course, is to save the great enthroned goddess.” Oppenheim died in 1946, and it was to be over 60 years later before his dream was realised.

The reconstruction project began in 2002, in two huge halls in a former mater

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