Tell Halula
تل حلولة · Tall Halula · Tell Haloula
Middle PPNB to Halaf-Ubaid (8500–5500 BCE)·Middle Euphrates PPNB → Halaf·🇸🇾 Aleppo Governorate, Middle Euphrates (Membij area), Syria
About
About Tell Halula
Key Middle Euphrates PPNB–Pottery Neolithic type-sequence tell (c.8500–5500 BCE), 4 km west of Euphrates, 8 ha, 10 m deep, excavated by Molist (UAB Barcelona since 1991). Provides stratified PPNB houses with red plastered floors and intramural burials, Halaf-Ubaid pottery sequence, fingerprint study on PPNB figurines demonstrating adult/child craft participation, and 7000–5000 BCE archaeomagnetic intensity data. Survived Tabqa Dam lacustrine margin, essential for synchronising Euphrates PPNB with southern Levant and Upper Tigris chronologies.
Why it mattersEuphrates reference section linking Byblos–Jericho–Halula–Abu Hureyra PPNB interaction sphere; archaeomagnetic and fingerprint datasets unique.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why Halula PPNB plaster mirrors Anatolian tradition?
Theories
- 01Euphrates corridor as plaster technology conduit south
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. 8500 BCE (Middle PPNB)
- Period
- Middle PPNB to Halaf-Ubaid (8500–5500 BCE)
- Culture
- Middle Euphrates PPNB → Halaf
- Builders
- Euphrates farming communities
- Purpose
- Agrarian town with plaster technology and figurine workshop
- Abandoned
- c.5500 BCE (Ubaid) then ephemeral sherd scatter
- Rediscovered
- 1991 UAB mission (M. Molist) systematic excavation
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.7600 BCE
PPNB plaster-floor houses with burials beneath
c.6000 BCE
Halaf painted ware village
1991
Barcelona mission begins continuous excavation
On the ground
Structures & features
36.4167° N · 38.1667° E · 337 m · 2 mapped features
PPNB house with burial
houseMPPNB rectangular house with plaster floor and intramural grave pit
36.4168° N · 38.1669° EFigurine workshop area
workshopConcentration of PPNB clay figurines with preserved fingerprints
36.4165° N · 38.1665° E