Excavations in the Baliḫ Valley, 1938

Abstract

In November 1938, after completing the excavations at T. Brak, the Expedition, which had been operating at that site under the auspices of the British Museum and of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, moved to T. Abyaḍ in order to examine a number of selected sites in the Baliḫ valley. Our soundings at five mounds in this district occupied a period of 6 weeks' work, and thanks to the knowledge of kindred archaeological material acquired during four previous campaigns in the Ḫabur valley, we were enabled in this short space of time to obtain a clear picture of the main sequence of culture on the Baliḫ from the early chalcolithic period down to the middle of the second millennium B.C. The more spectacular results achieved at T. Brak and the discoveries made during the last season at T. Chagar Bazar in the Ḫabur valley will be described in subsequent numbers of Iraq. In the meantime it will be convenient to dispose of the Baliḫ valley material forthwith, as briefly as possible, since most of the finds from this district merely amplify and confirm the evidence already obtained on the Ḫabur.