Harran Plain Tell A
Harran Plain A · Tell A Harran
Halaf to Islamic (5600 BCE–1500 CE)·Halaf → Ubaid → Uruk → EBA Syrian → Hittite → Islamic Harran·🇹🇷 Şanlıurfa Province, Harran District, Upper Mesopotamian Plain, Turkey
About
About Harran Plain Tell A
Harran Plain Tell A is a 2.8-ha Halaf–Ubaid mound 8 km northeast of Harran city on the Balikh floodplain — one of Wilkinson's mapped Harran plain tells tracking the shift from dispersed Halaf villages to the walled metropolis of Carrhae/Harran. Halaf polychrome tholoi, Ubaid tripartite houses and Islamic Samarran-glazed sherd scatters on top show 7000 years of plain occupation that culminates in the Abbasid Harran university-observatory. Tell A's seriation anchors Harran plain chronology alongside Tell Zeidan.
Why it mattersHalaf–Islamic anchoring tell on Harran Plain — Carrhae settlement-shift witness
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Halaf to Ubaid transition gap?
- 02Islamic settlement — extension of Harran or independent farmstead?
Theories
- 01Wilkinson plain settlement-shift — tells to walled city
- 02Sabian Harran pagan survival via tells
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.5600 BCE Halaf; Ubaid town 5000 BCE; Islamic outer settlement 800 CE
- Period
- Halaf to Islamic (5600 BCE–1500 CE)
- Culture
- Halaf → Ubaid → Uruk → EBA Syrian → Hittite → Islamic Harran
- Builders
- Halaf villagers, Islamic Harranian urbanists (Sabians)
- Purpose
- Tell A on Harran Plain — satellite of Harran (Carrhae) city, Halaf–Ubaid multilayer mound tracking plain settlement shift from tell to Harran metropolis
- Abandoned
- c.1500 CE Ottoman contraction
- Rediscovered
- Surveyed 1950s Lloyd & Brice; Harran Plain survey 2000s Wilkinson & Ricci
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1951
Lloyd & Brice map Harran Plain Tell A, Halaf tholos found
2002
Wilkinson Harran Plain survey maps settlement shift to walled city
2011
Islamic Samarra scatter and Halaf–Ubaid seriation published
On the ground
Structures & features
36.8600° N · 39.0300° E · 360 m · 3 mapped features
Halaf Tholos House (5600 BCE)
settlementHalaf polychrome tholos with painted plaster floor base
36.8608° N · 39.0306° EUbaid Tripartite Hall
settlementUbaid tripartite mudbrick hall above Halaf levels
36.8593° N · 39.0291° EIslamic Samarra Glazed Scatter
settlementAbbasid Samarra ware houses 800–900 CE uppermost layer
36.8611° N · 39.0307° E