Tell Halaf

Tell Halaf is located in the Al Hasakah governorate of northeastern Syria, near the Turkish border. The site gave its name to the Halaf culture, which flourished in the 7th millennium in northern Syria. It was discovered in 1899 by Max von Oppenheim, a German diplomat, while he was surveying the area to build the Baghdad Railway, and he returned to excavate the site from 1911 to 1913 and then again in 1929. Most of the monumental findings date from the Aramaean kingdom Bit-Bahiani of the 10th-9th centuries BCE, during which the city was named Guzana. By the end of the 9th century BCE, it was incorporated into the Assyrian Empire. Orthostats and reliefs display heavy influence of Neo-Hittite style. Numerous monumental artifacts that had been moved to Berlin were heavily damaged during WWII bombardments. After a lengthy restoration in 2011, they went on display in the Pergamon Museum (2nd and 3rd rows below). Other pieces can be seen in the Aleppo Museum (1st row), NY Met (4th row), and the Louvre (5th row).


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