Discovered Funeral Content in the Graves and Cemeteries of Tell Hanas

Abstract

The funeral contents discovered in the ancient graves and cemeteries are considered an important source of the archaeological finds in different ages and one of the information sources that shows the ancient religious beliefs concerning the death and the life after death. Their importance lies in the detailed information they provide about the ancient beliefs related to death and the life after death and also the information about the ancient Iraqi populations and the level of the religious, cultural, economic and political development and progress. These contents also help to identify the types of vessels and tools they used in their daily life and explaining the purpose of their presence inside those graves. The research focused on the funeral contents that were discovered in the graves and cemeteries of Tell Hanas to be the subject of this research as they are the most important archaeological finds in Makhul area as the research topic because these finds are the most important ones discovered in Makhul area. The current research is limited to the funeral contents found in Tell Hanas graves and cemeteries, which is one of the most essential sites in Makhul that belong to the middle Assyrian age (1500-911) B.C as this site is characterized with numerous graves and cemeteries with numerous funeral contents. Also, the importance of this age lies in that it is an essential site of settlement in the middle Assyrian age which is characterized with the several of its four lower layers. After that, it was abandoned for a long time and then it was resettled in the Parthian era (138 B.C – 226 AD). The migration and historical abandonment of this location for a long time and for certain reason, some of which might be political, or may be this location was afflicted with a plague that made the people avoid residing in it. Moreover, the research involved a brief discussion about the importance of the funeral contents and the purpose behind their presence inside the graves of Tell Hanas site and the excavations in it. It also involved a detailed explanation of the funeral contents that were discovered in this site depending on the results of the archaeological excavation and their sketches.