The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Halafian Culture

an archaeological culture that flourished in the fifth millennium B.C. in northern Mesopotamia, in what is now Iraq, northern Syria, and southern Turkey. It was named after the settlement of Tall Halaf (Tell Halaf) in northern Syria.

The most thoroughly investigated sites are the settlements of Tall Arpachiya (excavated by a British expedition in 1933) and Yarim-Tepe II. The small settlements were situated on rivers; they were densely built up with one-room mud-brick tholos-type houses, with attached rectangular outbuildings, which sometimes had stoves or hearths, including kilns for baking pottery. The economy was based on land cultivation and stock raising. Among the finds were stone querns and sickles, scorched grains of various varieties of wheat and barley, and the bones of domestic animals, including cows, sheep, goats, and dogs. Also found were numerous tools made of bone. There were various types of pottery, decorated with painted geometric or animal motifs in brown on a pinkish or yellowish background. Anthropomorphic and zoomorphic clay figurines and several copper objects, including a seal, have been found. The dead were usually buried in catacombs or pits; cremation was also practiced.

REFERENCES

Masson, V. M. Sredniaia Asiia i Drevnii Vostok. Moscow-Leningrad, 1964.
Merpert, N. Ia., and R. M. Munchaev. “Rannezemledel’cheskie poseleniia Severnoi Mesopotamii” Sovetskaia arkheologiia, 1971, no. 3.
Oppenheim, M. F. Tell Halaf, vols. 1–4. Berlin, 1943–62.
Mallowan, M. E., and J. C. Rose. The Excavations at Tall Arpachiyah, 1933. London, 1935.

R. M. MUNCHAEV

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References in periodicals archive

So, to display his finds, he bought an ex-factory building in Charlottenburg and transformed it into the Tell Halaf Museum.

OLD WORLD DISORDER

After the Pergamonmuseum in Berlin declined to purchase the considerable quantity of Tell Halaf artifacts in Oppenheim's possession, the diplomat turned archaeologist opened his own museum in Charlottenburg, Berlin, in 1930.

Rayyane Tabet: SFEIR-SEMLER GALLERY

Oppenheim ultimately returned to dig at Tell Halaf in 1927 and 1929 and was then allowed by the French mandate authorities to export his share of the finds to Berlin.

The Passion of Max von Oppenheim: Archaeology and Intrigue in the Middle East from Wilhelm II to Hider. By LIONEL GOSSMAN

German diplomat, archaeologist and wealthy collector Max von Oppenheim had discovered some ancient statues at Tell Halaf, what is now Syria, and brought them to Berlin in the early part of the 20th century.

How a 3000-yr-old, 27,000-piece jigsaw puzzle was solved in 9yrs!

The ruins of Syrian Tell Halaf, Hasakeh, northern Syria near the Khabour River had been destroyed and shattered into thousands of pieces during World War II.

Aramean Gods of Tell Halaf in Syria Rises from Rubble in Berlin

His passion is reflected in the unusual design of the 925 sterling silver fountain pen, which recalls Oppenheim's greatest discovery: the Temple Palace at Tell Halaf in Syria.

montblanc patron of art edition max von oppenheim

The project began when the artist looked into the story of his great-grandfather, Faik Borcoche, who worked with German diplomat Max von Oppenheim, who headed the archaeological dig of Syria's Tell Halaf.

Tabet flips, reconstructs Tell Halaf ruins, safely

Tell Halaf Vorbericht fiber die dritte bis fiinfte .syrisch-deutsche Grabungskampagne.

I. Ancient near east

Berlin, SANA_ An exhibition of Tell Halaf, an archaeological site in the al-Hasaka governorate, northeastern Syria, was opened on Friday at the German Pergamon Museum, Berlin, amid a huge turnout exceeded 2,000 visitors.

Exhibition of Archaeological Site of Tell Halaf Opened in Berlin