The 1959 Deep Sounding at Harran in Turkey

Abstract

In 1947 and succeeding years, the co-operation of l'urkish and English archaeologists resulted in the excavation or survey of a number of sites in south-east Turkey. D6nmez and Brice, in that year, journeyed from Cilicia to Lake Van, noting the occurrence of various types of early pottery in the intervening provinces.2 In July 1950, Lloyd and Brice surveyed the medieval ruins of Harran, and immediately published an excellent resume of the history and topography of the site.3 In May 1951, Bay Nuri G6k<;e and Lloyd made a test excavation at A§agi Yarimca,4 4 miles north-west of Harran, where a stele of the moon god Sin had been found in 1949.5 The inscription on this stele, though largely illegible, was of late Assyrian monumental type. In the sondage on the tell, six levels were distinguished, one probably of the Late Assyrian period, the others dating from the third to the ninth centuries A.D., and later; at 3'50 metres, the excavation reached virgin soil, without encountering earlier deposits. Surface finds of Hala£: Ubaid, Uruk or Jemdet Nasr, Reserved Slip, Khabur, a thin, very hard, black/red ware with slight corrugation, early and late Assyrian, Hellenistic and Islamic pottery indicated that the site had a much longer history,6 but due to the disappointing results of the sondage, the expedition had removed to Sultantepe by the middle of May 1951. Sultantepe,7 about 15 miles north-east of Harran and 10 miles from Urfa, was excavated for two short seasons in 1951 and 1952, work mainly being confined to the Assyrian and post-Assyrian levels, with the exception of two areas, Hand L, from which the earliest pottery was tentatively dated to the first half of the second millennium B.G.s Chalcolithic and early second millennium objects were among the surface finds. During the 195 I season at Sultantepe, Rice began exploratory soundings in the citadel of Harran, 9 and in 1952 began work in the Great Mosque and the medieval city itself.10.Excavation in the G~eat Mosque was continued in 1956, along with a survey of monuments at and around Urfa, and in the Tektek area,!1 followed by a final season in 1959.12 It is the final season at Harran which concerns us here, for, during it, the decision was taken to put a deep sounding in the ancient tell ofHarran. Some pottery fragments and a few records of the finds in this trench are now kept in the Ashmolean Museum, and are described in the following pages.