Pottery Analysis and Halaf Period Trade in the Khabur Headwaters Region

Abstract

In September 1974 the University of Edinburgh began a survey of archaeological sites in the Khabur headwaters region of North-eastern Syria. One of the principal aims of this survey was to collect materials for a preliminary study of prehistoric ceramics and geological clays in that area by neutron activation analysis. From its inception this project received the aid and encouragement of the Department of Antiquities of the Syrian Arab Republic, and we should like to give special thanks to M. Bahnassi, the director of the Department of Antiquities, and to M. Bounni for their help. The work was supported by grants from the Russell Trust and from the Munro Foundation.Previous to the survey, a long series of neutron activation analyses had been completed on prehistoric pottery, mainly of the Halaf period, from excavated sites in Northern Iraq and Eastern Syria. A comparison of the chemical compositions of Halaf sherds from different sites indicated that some varieties of Halaf painted ware had been extensively traded. It was hoped that a study of clay and pottery compositions at a number of ancient sites within a limited geographical area would provide evidence for the detailed form of this pottery trade, and would reveal the sources of the clays used in prehistoric pottery manufacture.