Tepe Gawra

Tepe Gawra (tĕ`pĕ gourä`) [Kurdish,=great mound], locality in N Iraq, 15 mi (24 km) NE of Mosul. In 1927 the archaeologist Ephraim Speiser discovered it to be the site of ancient settlements. In all, 24 levels and sublevels were unearthed; they date from the 5th millennium B.C. to the 2d millennium B.C. The levels are numbered from top to bottom. The upper levels were not very distinctive; they show a type of civilization less advanced than that found in the lower levels. In the lower levels the chronological sequence of the Halafian (c.5000 B.C.), Al Ubaid (c.4100–3500 B.C.), and Jemdet Nasr (3500–3000 B.C.) periods is well represented (see Mesopotamia). The number of architectural remains from these early periods at Tepe Gawra makes it one of the most important sites of N Mesopotamia. The three monumental temple remains on an acropolis of the 13th level represent the finest architecture at the site.

Bibliography

See E. A. Speiser et al., Excavations at Tepe Gawra (2 vol., 1935–50).

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Tepe Gawra

Ancient city, Mesopotamia. Located near present-day Mosul, Iraq, it was continuously occupied from the mid-6th to the mid-2nd millennium BC and gave its name to the Gawra Period (c. 3500–2900 BC). Its remains include the earliest known temple decorated with pilasters and recesses, a style that remained dominant in Mesopotamia for centuries. Its archaeological record illustrates the transition from early Stone Age farming villages to complex settlements.

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Tepe Gawra 

a multilayered settlement of the fifth to second millennia B.C., situated 25 km east of Mosul, Iraq. Tepe Gawra was excavated by an American archaeological expedition in 1927 and from 1931 to 1938. The bottom layer (layer XX) contains articles of the Halaf culture of the fifth millennium B.C, and layers XIX-XII are a local variant of the Ubaid culture. Layers XI-VIII represent the Gawra culture, characterized by painted pottery, developed metallurgy, and rich tombs of stone slabs. Layers VIII-VII, which date from the end of the fourth millennium B.C. and the beginning of the third, contain predominantly wheel-made pottery, as well as cylinder seals. Tepe Gawra was inhabited until the middle of the second millennium B.C.; the upper layers (III-I) evidently contain remains of the Hurrian culture.

REFERENCES

Childe, V. G. Drevneishii Vostok v svete novykh raskopok. Moscow, 1956. (Translated from English.)
Speiser, E. A. Excavations at Tepe Gawra, vol. 1. Philadelphia, 1935.
Tobler, A. J. Excavations at Tepe Gawra, vol. 2. Philadelphia, 1950.