Chagar Bazar

It is a short distance from the major ancient city of Nagar (Tell Brak). The site was occupied from the Halaf period (c. 6100 to 5100 BC) until the middle of the 2nd millennium BC.

Chagar Bazar

تل شاغربازار
Shown within Syria
Location	Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria
Coordinates	36°52′33″N 40°53′53″E / 36.875971°N 40.897942°E / 36.875971; 40.897942
Type	settlement
History
Founded	ca. 6,000 BC
Abandoned	ca. 2,000 BC
Periods	Neolithic
Cultures	chagar culture
Site notes
Excavation dates	1935—1937 1999—2002
Archaeologists	Max Mallowan University of Liège Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums, Augusta McMahon
Ownership	Public
Public access	Yes

 

The site contains two mounds, a higher but smaller one to the south and a lower larger northern one. Occupation was Halaf at the northern end then at the southern end in the Late Chalcolithic period followed by full occupation in the 3rd millennium BC. The 2nd millennium BC occupation was restricted to the northern (5 hectare) mound. Chagar Bazar was excavated for three seasons by the British archaeologist Max Mallowan, with his wife Agatha Christie, from 1935 to 1937. Many of the artefacts discovered were brought to the British Museum. Besides pottery, a large number of Old Babylonian period clay tablets written in cuneiform script were discovered. Work was resumed at the site in 1999 by an expedition from the British School of Archaeology in Iraq in cooperation with University of Liège archaeologists and the Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums. During these excavations, which ended in 2002, 214 cuneiform tablets were recovered.

 

Chagar Bazar is located in Al-Hasakah Governorate, approximately 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of Al-Hasakah, on the Wadi Dara, a tributary to the Khabur River. The ancient site measures approximately 12 hectares (30 acres).

Chagar Bazar was already settled in the Neolithic. Excavations revealed pottery belonging to the Halaf and Ubaid cultures. By the Early Bronze Age, in the third millennium BC, Chagar Bazar had turned into a small town with the size of 12 hectares / 30 acres. The site appears to have been abandoned by the end of the third millennium BC. It was resettled and was known as Asnakkum at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age. The town was part of the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia under Shamshi-Adad I and his son Yasmah-Adad. Hurrians also occupied the city and fine examples of the Khabur ware pottery dating to this period have been discovered by the excavators.