Mezraa-Teleilat Pre-Pottery Levels
Mezraa Teleilat PPN · Birecik Early Neolithic Mound
Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Early Bronze (10500–3000 BCE)·PPNA–PPNB → Halaf → Ubaid → Uruk·🇹🇷 Şanlıurfa Province, Birecik District, Lower Euphrates Left Bank, Turkey
About
About Mezraa-Teleilat Pre-Pottery Levels
Mezraa-Teleilat Pre-Pottery Levels are the basal 6 m beneath the Halaf–Ubaid mound on the Euphrates left bank 5 km south of Birecik. PPN levels expose PPNA oval pisé houses, PPNB rectangular lime-plaster buildings and Pre-Halaf transitional wares — the longest Pre-Pottery to Pottery Neolithic sequence on the lower Turkish Euphrates. Halaf tholoi and Ubaid tripartite houses cap the sequence, bridging Göbekli/Nevalı Çori PPN to Kurban EBA, making Mezraa the Euphrates Neolithic type-site south of Karababa.
Why it mattersLongest PPN–Halaf–Ubaid sequence lower Turkish Euphrates — PPNA to EB type-site south of Karababa
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01PPNA to PPNB transition — continuity or replacement?
- 02Halaf tholoi origin — north or local?
Theories
- 01Karul Euphrates Neolithic diffusion — Mezraa as Halaf genesis strip
- 02PPN hunter-gatherer crisis model at Mezraa
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.10500 BCE PPNA founding; PPNB mega-site 9000 BCE
- Period
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Early Bronze (10500–3000 BCE)
- Culture
- PPNA–PPNB → Halaf → Ubaid → Uruk
- Builders
- PPN hunter-gatherers, Halaf villagers, Ubaid chiefly communities
- Purpose
- Pre-pottery basal levels of Mezraa-Teleilat — one of earliest Neolithic long-sequences on lower Euphrates, 5km S Birecik
- Abandoned
- c.3000 BCE EB reoccupation hiatus
- Rediscovered
- Excavated 1999–2008 Karul et al. (Istanbul Univ.)
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1999
Karul opens Mezraa trench, PPNA oval houses found
2004
PPNB plaster buildings and Halaf tholoi published
2008
PPN–Halaf long sequence monograph completes
On the ground
Structures & features
37.0300° N · 37.9500° E · 400 m · 3 mapped features
PPNA Oval Pisé Houses (10500 BCE)
settlementOval pisé houses with lime floors at mound base, PPNA
37.0308° N · 37.9506° EPPNB Rectangular Plaster Buildings
settlementRectangular lime-plastered buildings 9000–7000 BCE, PPNB
37.0293° N · 37.9491° EHalaf Tholos Quarter
settlementHalaf painted tholoi with polychrome ware above PPN levels
37.0311° N · 37.9507° E