Archæological Excavations in Northern Syria

Abstract

MR. M. E. L. MALLOWAN'S account of his further excavations in Northern Syria in the report of the British School of Archæology in Iraq (Gertrude Bell Memorial) for the year ended June 30, 1939, again records a striking frequency in the occurrence of amulets of various kinds among the finds—a feature to which attention was directed in earlier reports. The report on Sir. Mallowan's work covers the fifth expedition to Northern Syria and the third consecutive season's excavations at Brak, one of the largest of the mounds in this part of Syria. The great mud-brick temple, which Mr. Mallowan has named “The Temple of a Thousand Eyes” on account of the enormous number of alabaster “eye idols” found in the foundations of the platform on which the temple is built, has so far produced the most important discoveries of the expedition. Its dimensions are approximately 30 yards by 25 yards; and its Avails are exceptionally heavy, the outer walls being more than eight feet thick. They are buttressed with rough blocks of limestone and basalt. The temple dates from about 3000 B.C. and is thus the oldest shrine yet discovered in eastern Syria. Its architectural relationship to archaic temples at Warka, about eight hundred miles down the Euplirates from Brak, points to cultural contacts between north-east Syria and Sumer at this early date. A striking feature of the plan of the temple is a central shrine, three times as long as it is wide, with a pedestal for the presiding god against the end wall.