Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of Archaeology And

Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of Archaeology and Museology

BACHELOR’S DIPLOMA THESIS

Brno 2016 Dominika Miarková Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of Archaeology and Museology

Centre of Prehistoric Archaeology of the Near East

Dominika Miarková

Burials of Infants and Children in the Khabur Region and Eski Mosul Region during the Third Millennium BC Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: Mgr. Inna Mateiciucová, Ph.D. Instructor: Zuzanna Wygnańska, Ph.D.

Brno 2016

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, and that I used only the primary and secondary sources written on bibliography list below. I agree with storing this thesis in the library of the Prehistoric Archaeology of the Near East at Masaryk University in Brno and making it accessible for study purpose.

Brno 30. 11. 2016 ………………………………………………………… Signature

ABSTRACT / ANNOTATION Title: Burials of Infants and Children in the Khabur River Region and Eski Mosul Plain Region during the Third Millennium BC Author: Dominika Miarková Department / Institute: Department of Archaeology and Museology / Centre of Prehistoric Archaeology of the Near East Supervisor: Mgr. Inna Mateiciucová, Ph.D.

This thesis analyses the burials of infants and children as old as 12, from archeological sites located in the Upper, Middle and Lower Khabur regions in northeastern Syria and in the Eski Mosul area, dating to the 3rd milénium BC. It studies the manner, in which the young individuals were buried during this period, on the location of the grave, the type of the grave, and the burial goods to determine, whether any detectable development takes place in them within the given period. The thesis also lists the burials of children and infants in the relevant time and area, to provide groundwork for a future discussion which would lead to a better understanding of the role of infants and children in the culture of the world they belonged to.

ABSTRAKT / ANOTACE Název: Pohřby novorozenců a dětí v oblasti řeky Khabur a regionu Eski Mosul během třetího tisíciletí př. n. l. Autor: Dominika Miarková Ústav / Oddělení: Ústav archeologie a muzeologie / Oddělení pravěké archeologie Předního Východu Vedoucí práce: Mgr. Inna Mateiciucová, Ph.D.

Tato práce se zabývá analýzou pohřbů dětí a novorozenců do věku 12 let v lokalitách nacházejících se v horním a středním povodí řeky Khabur v severovýchodní Sýrii a v regionu Eski Mosul v severovýchodním Iráku během období 3. tisíciletí před naším letopočtem. Důraz je kladen na způsob, jakým byli nedospělí jedinci pohřbíváni v průběhu 3. tisíciletí, na místo uložení hrobu, na typ hrobu a na pohřební výbavu s cílem zjistit, zda-li se dá vydedukovat vývoj ve způsobu pohřbívání. Práce se pokusí podat souhrn pohřbů dětí a novorozenců pro lepší pochopení jejich role ve společnosti a kultuře, aby mohla stát jako základ pro budoucí diskuzi.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT At this place I would first like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Mgr. Inna Mateiciucová, Ph.D and to Dr. phil. Maximilian Wilding for giving me a chance to study the Prehistoric Archaeology of the Near East, for their encouragement and guidance and for allowing me to study under the best foreign scholars. Second I am immensely grateful to Zuzanna Wygnańska, PhD, my instructor on the third millennium BC in the Near East and mortuary practices, for her advices in the designation of this thesis and whose enthusiasm, guidance and patience helped me enormously. And last, but not the least, I would like to thank my best friend Bc. Radka Michaláková for the language tips and for her patience during my long monologues about my research and to my Grandmother Drahomíra Miarková, because without their support and love I would never be able to write this thesis.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ...... 9 2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES...... 10 3 CRITICISM OF THE SOURCES ...... 10 4 METHODS AND STRATEGY ...... 11 5 HISTORY OF RESEARCH OF BURIALS ...... 12 6 STATE OF RESEARCH OF CHILDREN BURIALS ...... 14 7 SPECIFICATION OF RESEARCH AREA ...... 15 7.1 Khabur Region ...... 16 7.2 Eski Mosul Plain ...... 19 8 EARLY BRONZE AGE IN NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA – CULTURAL-HISTORICAL FRAMEWORK ...... 21 8.1 Early Bronze Age ...... 22 8.2 Early Jezirah period ...... 22 8.3 Ninevite 5 ...... 22 8.4 Akkadian period ...... 23 8.5 Post-Akkadian period ...... 23 9 BURIAL TYPOLOGY ...... 24 9.1. Location ...... 24 9.2. Type ...... 25 9.2.1. PIT BURIALS ...... 25 9.2.2. BURIALS IN CERAMIC VESSELS ...... 25 9.2.3. CIST BURIALS ...... 25 9.2.4. SHAFT TOMBS ...... 25 9.2.5. CHAMBER TOMBS ...... 25 9.3. Position and orientation of the body ...... 26 9.4 Grave goods ...... 26 10 BURIALS OF CHILDREN AND INFANTS AT EARLY BRONZE AGE SITES ...... 28 10.1 UPPER KHABUR REGION ...... 28 10.1.1 TELL ARBID ...... 29 10.1.2 TELL BARRI ...... 32 10.1.3 TELL BEYDAR ...... 32 10.1.4 CHAGAR BAZAR ...... 33 10.1.5 TELL ABU HAFUR ...... 34 10.1.6 TELL HAMOUKAR ...... 35 10.1.7 TELL KHAZNE ...... 36 10.1.8 TELL ABU HIJAIRA ...... 37 10.1.9 TELL LEILAN ...... 38

10.2 MIDDLE KHABUR REGION ...... 46 10.2.1 TELL ‘ATIJ ...... 47 10.2.2 TELL MASHNAQA ...... 47 10.2.3 TELL MELEBIYA ...... 48 10.2.4 TELL RAD SHAQRAH...... 48 10.2.5 TELL AL-RAQA’I ...... 51 10.3. ESKI MOSUL REGION ...... 58 10.3.1 TELL JIKAN ...... 59 10.3.2 TELL KARRANA 3 ...... 59 10.3.3 TELL KUTAN ...... 60 10.3.4 TELL MOHAMMED ARAB ...... 60 10.3.5 TELL RIJIM ...... 61 11 RESULTS ...... 64 11. 1 Upper Khabur Region Burials ...... 72 11.1.10 Grave goods assemblage ...... 75 11.2. Middle Khabur region burials ...... 77 11.2.6 Grave goods assemblage ...... 79 11.3 Eski Mosul region burials ...... 81 11.3.6 Grave goods assemblage ...... 82 12 CONCLUSION ...... 83 13 REFERENCES ...... 86 14 LIST OF FIGURES ...... 91 15 LIST OF TABLES ...... 92 16 LIST OF GRAPHS ...... 92

1 INTRODUCTION The main subject of study in the bachelor thesis presented here are infant and children burials in settlements located in the Upper and Middle Khabur regions in northeastern Syria and in Eski Mosul Plain in northwestern Iraq. Although infants and children have always been present in all societies, past as well as today’s, they are often relegated to a secondary position in scholarly debate. Consequently, their impact on society they lived in is also frequently viewed as without any great merit or value. Infants and children tend to be perceived merely as beneficiaries of a culture, not as its members actively involved in shaping it. The emotional influence and social role of the child in connection to their family has, until now, received little attention by scholars. This work therefore aims to contribute to the study of these relatively under researched groups of young individuals, with focus on the choice of the final resting place of a child and the reasoning behind it, as well as the execution of the burial itself. These facets of the life and role of the child in the society it lived in have yet to yield much valuable information and are certainly deserving of a more thorough consideration. Adult burials and their treatment in academic discourse have not been included in this research. The mortuary practices and funeral behavior which this thesis is concerned with are all set in the Early Bronze Age in Northern Mesopotamia, a period traditionally understood as having started at around 3000 BC and ending at roughly 2000 BC. Particular attention shall be given to the Ninevite 5 period of the Khabur Basin and Eski Mosul regions (Early Jezirah 1-2), which is conjoined with the onset of the second urban revolution in Northern Mesopotamia (Akkermans and Schwartz 2003, 8), and the following periods of Early Jezirah 3 and further, concluding with Early Jezirah 5, towards the end of the Early Bronze Age. Correspondingly, the main geographical areas this thesis is interested in are the basin of Khabur River, more specifically the Upper and Middle Khabur Regions, and the area of the Eski Mosul Plain on Tigris, which is now flooded by the Mosul Dam. In the pages that follow, this thesis shall strive to present and examine evidence of treatment of deceased infants and children which is available from archaeological research. The settlements which were processed vary, from larger (Tell Hamoukar) to smaller (Tell al-Raqa’i), from long-standing (Chagar Bazar) to those occupied only for a few centuries (Tell ‘Atij). A variety of sources was utilised for their comparison, such as preliminary reports, anthropological studies and case studies.1 Introduced data is organized into three separate sections. In the first part, the thesis gives general geographical and historical information about the areas of interest. It also describes the history of archaeological research in both regions as well as of mortuary practices observed in them. The second section of this thesis presents a historical overview of the settlements as well as a history of all research relevant to the topic which has been carried out on the tells. Furthermore, it characterizes the burials of infants and children from selected settlements. Information about the burials is presented and analysed, using tables, with focus being put on location of the grave, age of the interred and on accompanying grave goods, in the cases where any such goods have been found. Burials are classified according to their location within the settlement, period in which they were dug and by the age of the interred individual2.

1 The sources shall be presented and discussed in more detail in the following chapters. 2 However this separation was in many cases limited only to the age of the individual as the information was incomplete. The problems with incomplete information will be discussed below.

Finally, the third part summarizes the collected data, discusses similar and differing features and provides a conclusion on examined data.

2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The main objective of this thesis is to collect and process the available data from reports published about burials from the Early Bronze Age period, pertaining to settlements in the Upper Khabur region, Middle Khabur Region and Eski Mosul region, in order to separate the children and infant burials from burials of adults. Regarding the conclusions that may be drawn from the collected data, this thesis seeks, if such an answer may be induced from the available information, to provide an answer to the question whether underaged individuals were as valued, as members of a society, as the older individuals belonging to it, or not. To establish if the fact, that children are often looked over in archaeological reports, is in any way related to their role in society at all, and whether the distinctive manner, in which children and infants are buried, marks a different social attitude towards them. To support such an assessment, a research of the grave goods accompanying burials of young individuals, of the locations of their graves and of the age of the deceased shall be conducted, with the results being compiled into an overview on funerary practices of children and infants with focus on the treatment of burials. The aim is to prove, through examination of the treatment of the final resting places of the young individuals, the position of their graves and possibly also of accompanying goods which all can demonstrate the ongoing ritual attention paid to them, that the social standing of infants and children was one higher importance than is traditionally shown in archaeological reports. Furthermore, the author shall attempt to find evidence that infants and children were not perceived by their contemporaries merely as numbers and adults to-be, but as actual active members of the society, creators of its culture, who had a nonnegligible impact on the individuals within their social circle. Finally, in the context of the burials within the regions that are included in this research, this thesis shall strive to determine the normative behaviour towards underage individuals in the 3rd millennium BC and to discern, whether there was a standard behaviour or if distinctions can be found between the regions. If so, then this thesis shall seek to determine if any pattern can be detected that would point to a change in the way the people in the 3rd millennium BC, or, possibly even to a link between such a change and the changes in urban life, which took place during that era. These changes, tied to the second urban revolution, which took place during the 3rd millennium BC (Akkermans and Schwartz 2003, 8) and brought about a conjoined increase in size of human population as well as human settlements, were the strongest motive for selecting this period as the period this thesis shall mainly deal with. Similarly, the Upper and Middle Khabur regions were chosen as the geographical regions of interest because of the impact the second urban revolution had on them, as well as due to the fact, that the mortuary practices in these regions in the 3rd millennium BC have, until now, seemed to escape a greater notice by the academic community. Eski Mosul region had been added into the research because of the amount of data on the burials in the third millennium BC it yielded, due to the attention it was given in the 1980’s.

3 CRITICISM OF THE SOURCES Many of the publications dealing with subjects which would have been relevant to the research conducted in this thesis, especially those dealing with Khabur region, have not yet been published. This is due to the fact that multiple researches in this region only took place relatively recently, and therefore many of the reports from these researches are still being composed. Contrastingly, the

research papers from Eski Mosul Region are all complete, however, they were frequently published a long time ago and are now challenging to obtain. As a result, the number of samples that this thesis is working with is limited. This gives rise to a number of potential issues when interpreting the evidence presented by them. First, it can lead to a situation where a researcher, upon highlighting similarities found in a small sample, incorrectly concludes that a pattern was detected where there is none. Such a problem could have been avoided completely if the the full sample of data was available, however, because of the challenging state of the publications pertinent to this thesis, some which are not yet published or are dated, it cannot be ruled out in this thesis. It is also necessary to keep in mind that several sites in the areas of interest have not, to this day, been wholly excavated. Second, even though burials, which were excavated at the site, are usually mentioned in archaeological reports, they tend to be mentioned only in passing. Thus, this thesis was forced to make use of some sources, which gave descriptions of children burials but in a small detail. The inconsistencies in these burial records are not to be taken lightly. Lastly, the correct classification of data for the purposes of this thesis was hindered by a problem of authors mislabelling the infants in their works as simply „children.“ This was most often the case in publications written in different languages than English or in publications published more than twenty years ago, but even of that author cannot be sure. It was because of such unclear labelling that not only infant burials are included in this study but children, too. Still, the results of this thesis may be affected by potential misinterpretation of infants as children. 4 METHODS AND STRATEGY The first prompt, which eventually lead to the creation of this thesis, was a series of seminars on burials during the Early and Middle Bronze age delivered by Mgr. Zuzanna Wygnańska, PhD. During these seminars and the intense discussions that occurred within them, a research topic began to take form. The burials of infants and children, specifically, came to be chosen as its focus, because as Mgr. Zuzanna Wygnańska, PhD. helpfully pointed out, it became clear that not only their graves, but also their social and stratigraphical role within their family and by extension within the settlement and the culture, were passing under the radar of the larger scholarly community, so to speak. Then, the Khabur Region was elected as the main region that will be examined in this thesis. In working with the preliminary archaeological reports from the sites in the region which were at the time accessible to the author, the decision was taken to divide the burials mentioned in these into two separate categories – infant burials and children burials. Next step was to resolve issues pertaining to terminology. In the course of research it became apparent that in majority of the sources used in this thesis, the authors label burials of small children as burials of„infants“ when the skeletal remains are those of a child between 0 and 2 years of age. In some publications the terms „newborn“ or „foetus“ were used instead. For the purposes of this thesis however, the term „infant“ shall be used to identify all children between 0 and 2 years of age, since it was impossible for the author of the thesis to confidently assess which skeletal remains are those of „foetuses“ and which are of „newborns“ or „infants“ when the source publication itself did not explicitly state this. The term „child“ is, for the purposes of this thesis, used to denote individuals 12 years old and younger. Additionally, the age of the individual is stated whenever possible, however such information is only rarely included in the source publications and was only encountered by the author of this thesis in a very small number of examples. Children older than 12 were omitted from the study, because they are usually referred to as „adolescents“ and traditionally treated by scholars as more similar to adults than to children. Therefore, they do not fall under the target groups of interest for this thesis.

After sufficient amount of data was collected, it was assembled and categorized to form a database, which is presented further in this thesis. Apart from the age of the buried individual and his or her classification as a child or as an infant, this database also provides additional information pertaining to the burial, which is sorted into following categories:

 Excavation area within the settlement where the burial was found.  Period in the historical development.  Age of the deceased. As explained above, many of the sources do not provide this information. In such cases, the terms „infant“ or „child“ shall be attached instead.  Location of the burial, which details the surroundings of the burial and the supposed type of the grave, where making such a conclusion was possible.  Type of the location, which describes the presumed location, with consideration to the settlement and its surroundings.  Grave goods. If present, they shall be listed in order similar to the order given by the source publication. Finally, the author of this thesis analysed the information yielded by this study, particularly the similarities and differences in burials of infants and children during the 3rd millennium BC in the regions of interest. Results of such an analysis were then applied to form a conclusion on whether the documented funerary behaviour towards underaged individuals before the emergence of the second urban revolution and after it differed in any way. The objective of the author being to add to the research of burials a new perspective on burials of young individuals when separated from the burials of adults.

5 HISTORY OF RESEARCH OF BURIALS The early researchers who stood at the very beginnings of excavations in the Near East and Mesopotamia had only given burials only minimal notice, as their main objects of study were ancient cities that were at the time being rapidly unearthed. When a burial had captured their attention, it was usually a large royal tomb furnished with rich grave goods. Archaeologists in the early 19th century had thus focused mainly on the material remains of death and the treatment given to the deceased (Chapman 2003, 305). No attention had been paid to the social status of children or to the treatment of their burial spaces. The emphasis on social aspects of the burial was only introduced in the later 20th century, and it was this century that also brought about their more extensive study. In Pittsburgh, in 1966, an annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association was being held. It was here that James Brown organized symposium titled „The Social Dimensions of Mortuary Practices“ which was published shortly after, then under the name„Approaches to the social dimensions of mortuary practice“ (Brown, 1971). This publication marked the beginning of a shift towards an understanding of the burial as a social and cultural interaction of the community of the living with the dead (Laneri 2007, 299). Since then scholars have begun to process archaeological data in a manner more attentive to the burial practices and the social aspects connected to funerary rituals. A few years later, Alan Saxe introduced role theory in 1970 in his PhD dissertation, the „Social Dimensions of Mortuary Practices“ and Lewis Robert Binford usilised this theory in his research featured in the publication „Mortuary practices: their study and their potential“, published in 1971. Thus, a new stance towards the study of mortuary practices emerged. More attention has started to be paid to the grave goods and material treatment of the dead. Focus has started to be given to differentiation between grave goods to assess the social status of the deceased (Schwartz 1986, 45; Binford 1971, 6).

Saxe had been analysing archaeological material from a cemetery in the wadi Halfa Region in Sudan. The buried population was dated to c. 11 000 to 8000 BP and belonged to a hunter-gatherer culture. He collected information on age and sex of the buried individuals and, according to Robert Chapman, concluded that they „formed a random sample of the original, living population“. Saxe also observed greater variations in positioning within female graves, which led him to believe that although the society had probably been egalitarian, patrilocal residence3 had been practised. Furthermore, he observed that cemeteries appeared in societies where rituals had been practiced to legitimize control over a land by referencing ancestors, who had historically occupied that land. (Chapman 2003, 307). Although the research in Saxe’s dissertation was never published, it soon became the most cited archaeological thesis of the time (2003, 308). Binford’s paper had used ethnographic data to create a cross-cultural generalization of mortuary practices that could provide a key to a social organization of the peoples he studied in his research, in hopes that such a key could then be used to help archaeologists reconstruct a social organization within their own subjects of research, using the patterns provided by him. His work that of Saxe, however, Binford did not use any archaeological data (Chapman 2003, 306). After Saxe’s and Binford’s papers, more explicit use of social context in mortuary practices was presented in Christopher Spalding Peebles’s study of Moundville, located in the southeastern United States of the 2nd millennium AD. He postulated that „persons who are treated differentially in life will be treated differentially in death“ (Peebles 1971, 68) Opposed to these theories stood Ian Hodder and Michael Parker Pearson during the period known as „postprocessual“ approach to archaeology in the 1980’s (Chapman 2003, 308). Hodder criticised the proposal of mirrored patterns in death and life on burial customs among the Mesakin Nuba of Sudan (Hodder 1980, 163). Pearson focused on the role of ideology and proposed the theory that the living could manipulate the image of the burial of the dead, expressing or concealing the reality (Chapman 2003, 309; Pearson 1982).

Another study, which deserves to be mentioned and which focuses on the ancient Near Eastern social differentiation, which it studies with the use of mortuary data, is Susan Pollock’s Ph.D. dissertation from 1983, titled „The Symbolism of Prestige: An Archaeological Example from the Royal Cemetery of Ur“. „The Living, the Dead and the Ancestors: Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Mortuary Practices“ by John C. Barrett, published in 1988, is yet another study which uses mortuary data as a primary source. However, it focuses on the Neolithic and EBA of the British Isles and discusses the changes in mortuary practices. None of the scholars named above gave an emphasis to the funeral treatment of children, their focus always remains on the adults and their burials. In present day funeral practices and rituals are given more attention in various ways. Case studies on burials within settlements in the Near East have become more frequent, even though reports of funerary remains are often unsatisfactory as to the amount of details provided – this is even more so in case of children and infants. There are, however, several case studies which have proved very helpful for this thesis by recording burials in detail without leaving out the burials of children. Out of those pertaining to the EBA period it is for example the article published in Subartu by Katrien Van de Vijver, who studied burials at Tell Beydar and stresses that „there is a great variety among different regions and peoples“ (Van de Vijver 2006, 227). Kathryn Mary Grossman’s PhD dissertation focuses

3 Patrilocal residence is a social-anthropological term reffering, in this context, to position of a female grave near the husband’s family (Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014. S.v. Patrilocal residence." Retrieved October 27 2016 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Patrilocal+residence)

on Tell Hamoukar, the settlement’s „biography“ is presented and burials form an inseparable element of it (Grossman 2013). Grossman provides information on Early Bronze Age burials of both adults and children at Hamoukar, but does not incorporate disarticulated human bones, which shall be considered in this thesis, into her reasearch. Glenn Schwartz (1986), D. Bolt and A. Green (2003) and Stefano Valentini (2011) all deal with EBA period, specifically with the burials dated to the Ninevite 5 in the Southern Mesopotamia, in their publications. While Schwartz has provided an overview with focus on the social structure of the burials; Bolt and Green have focused on the description of the burials, giving the report on the archaeological finds and classifying the burials into the Ninevite 5 period through the grave goods without making any assumptions about the possible social status of the buried individuals. Valentini gives an overview on mortuary practices during the EBA period with examples of actual archaeological finds. For the creation of this thesis, the last three publications were especially valuable. Work of Bolt and Green and that of Valentini proved to be a great source of inspiration due to the manner, in which they approach the descriptive aspects of their own works, encouraging a more in-depth and detail-oriented approach to the analysis of burials in this thesis. To Schwartz’s work this thesis owes the inspiration to focus on the social structure more extensively when considering individual burials.

6 STATE OF RESEARCH OF CHILDREN BURIALS Even though burials and mortuary practices already have a long history of being researched, and not only by archaeologists and anthropologists, just a scant portion of the focus has ever been put on 3rd millennium funerary practices. The Khabur region, which is of interest to this thesis, has received even less attention. The current research of burials of children and infants in lags behind that of adults. While information about children and infant graves is not excluded from the archaeological reports, the burials of young individuals are never the focal point of the work and, and tend to be treated as a secondary source, with the only exception to this phenomenon being the work of Kristine Henriksen Garroway4. The main focus lies on the categorisation of burials and on finding the common types of burials. It is very unusual to find a mention of the possible social standing of the deceased child or infant within a community or within its closest relatives in a report or a study. The following passage shall provide more detailed information on the state of research of burial practices in the EBA period in Syria and adjoining areas. Overalll, there are five publications on burials in the EBA Upper Mesopotamia that are most relevant to this thesis: Glenn Schwartz’s „Mortuary Evidence and Social Stratification in the Ninevite V Period“ published in 1986, D. Bolt and A. Green’s „The Burial of the Dead“ from 2003, which deals with burials during the Ninevite 5 period, Stefano Valentini’s unpublished PhD thesis titled „Funerary Customs in the Middle and Upper Khabur Region during the first half of the 3rd millennium BC5“ and „Burials and funerary practices“ from 2011 by the same author and Kristine Henriksen Garroway’s „Children in the Ancient Near Eastern Household“ from 2014. Schwartz’s study was first published in 1986 in a book titled „The Origin of Cities in Dry-Farming Syria and Mesopotamia in the third millennium BC“ edited by Harvey Weiss. In the study, he analyses mortuary practices during the Ninevite 5 period to determine whether the data can support the theory

4 To the author’s knowledge. 5 This PhD thesis was not accessible due to its author’s ongoing work on the publishable version, therefore the results from this source were not included into the research in this thesis.

of urban development during the middle-third millennium (Schwartz 1986, 45). The burials of children were not excluded from this publication; however, they were not considered with any extraordinary care, neither. The heart of Bolt and Green’s work lies in determining, whether the burials discussed in it belonged to the Ninevite 5 period. They focus on grave goods which could prove to be of assistance in accomplishing this goal, mostly ceramic vessels, as these are unique for the Ninivite 5 culture. Their work provides an overview of several settlements from Upper Khabur Region and Eski Mosul Plain and does not necessarily focus more on adult or children burials – rather, it describes them as equal and as conveyors of the evidence which was studied. The article was published in „The Origins of North Mesopotamian Civilization: Ninevite 5 Chronology, Economy, Society“ edited by Elena Rova and Harvey Weiss. Valentini’s publication „Burials and funerary practices“ concentrated on results from his unpublished PhD thesis and on every example of burials studied in his PhD from the Upper Mesopotamian region without excluding children and infant burials. The article cathegorises the results and presents the overall situation of mortuary practices. The most recent study focused on children in the Near East is a study by Kristine Henriksen Garroway,„Children in the Ancient Near Eastern Household,“ published in 2014. It is a research on the western part of the Near East called Levant based upon her PhD dissertation. The author works with both texts and archaeological data concerning children from 3300 BC to 539 BC. Not focusing on the Upper Mesopotamia, but on conjoining regions, studies on EBA mortuary practices from Cyprus and Canaan have been published by P. Keswani and D. Ilan in 2004 and 2002 respectively. Upon examining these sources, it would seem, that only very little attention is being paid to the burials of children and infants by the current researchers. As far as author of this thesis is aware, no comprehensive study of children and infant burials from the Upper Khabur region and Eski Mosul region in the EBA period exists so far. It is the purpose of this thesis to contribute to this area of research by providing a study of burials of children and infants in the EBA Upper Mesopotamia with focus on both the typological similarities, the location of the burial and the treatment of the place of burial. Presence of grave goods, the overall amount of the assemblage or its absence will be integrated into the research, too. Based on the results this study yields, the thesis will then attempt to deliver not only a summary of the encountered archaeological finds, but also evidence of a change having occurred during the second urban revolution. Finally, evidence shall be presented to prove, that the sociological and stratigrapohical role of the deceased young individuals was not only that of the beneficiaries of a culture but also that of its active participants and creators.

7 SPECIFICATION OF RESEARCH AREA This thesis deals mainly with the area of Upper and Middle Khabur Basin and the Eski Mosul Plain in north-eastern Syria and north-eastern Iraq. Upper and Middle Khabur regions were selected as the regions of interest because of the emergence of the second urban revolution in these regions (Akkermans and Schwartz 2003, 8) and its connection to the increased population in the area. The rather unknown region of Eski Mosul was added to list of researched areas due of the plethora of information available on the region that emerged in the 1980’s, before the region was flooded by a newly constructed dam.

Fig. 1 A map of the Near East with borders of modern states and marked cities of Hasseke and Mosul

Fig. 2 Regions of interest within Syria and Iraq, with marked big modern cities of Hasseke, Al Qamishli, Mosul, Dohuk and Kiziltepe 7.1 Khabur Region Khabur Region is an area located in the Upper Mesopotamia in Jezirah region in northeast Syria, which neighbours with Turkey in the north and Iraq in the south. It is a semi-arid steppe. The largest

tributary of the Euphrates river, Khabur river, supplies this region with water all year long, and the wadis connected to it are filled with water during autumns. Khabur River, which gave this region its name, divides the area into three smaller regions. Upper Khabur Region spreads from Tell Halaf to Tell Hamoukar and is situated in the north of Hassake. Middle Khabur Region lies south of Hassake between Jebel Abd el-Aziz and Sinjar Mountain Range. It continues in Iraq (Lebeau 2011, 3). Lower Khabur Region spreads from the Khabur Dam to the joint of the Khabur River and the Euphrates River.

Fig. 3 Marked Upper Khabur and Middle Khabur Regions within Syria

Khabur river is the largest tributary of the Euphrates River. It stems in Turkey and many wadis – regional rivers, which are dry during the summer – connect to it along its way. Its valley stretches over 400 km long and joins with Euphrates 150 km south from its source, near Syrian town of Busaryah. (Zeder 1998a, 570).

Fig. 4 A map of southeastern Syria; an area called Upper and Middle Khabur Region, with Khabur River and some of the important wadis, marked (made with Google Earth)

The way the local people practice agriculture around the Khabur River divides the region further, into two parts. Rain-fed agriculture is only possible to the north of the modern town of Hassake. On the southern part of the Khabur River stream, on the other hand, the landscape turns into a more arid steppe, which necessitates the utilisation of an irrigation system for agricultural labor to bear fruit (Pfälzner 1990, 63). Upper Khabur region can rely on annual precipitation plentiful enough to facilitate rain-fed agriculture. However, in the south the annual precipitation decreases. Middle Khabur Region lies within a marginal zone where annual average precipitation is such, that irrigation had to be arranged and irrigation agriculture predominated (Curvers & Schwartz 1992, 398). Settlements were therefore located in an area stretching at the most 1 or 2 kilometers away from the river valley (Curvers & Schwartz 1990, 6).

Fig. 5 Upper and Middle Khabur Basin (Tell Brak online)

Plains surrounding the Khabur river are rich and in the past settlements were linked together via a web of roads on which carts with goods could easily travel from one city to another6. 7.2 Eski Mosul Plain Eski Mosul Plain, also known as the Nineveh Plains or Plains of Mosul, lies north from the city of Mosul along the Tigris River in the northwestern Iraq. The area extends about 60 km from northwest to southeast. Before the construction of the Mosul Dam (then called the Saddam Dam) the area was characterised by steep rocky hills (in contrast to the Khabur Region) and numerous wadis. Although now flooded, the area underwent vigorous research as part of the Eski Mosul Dam Salvage Project in the 1980’s. Many teams from different countries participated in this project.

6 For more information see Wilkinson (2003, 116)

Fig. 1 A map of Eski Mosul Region within Iraq (made with Google Earth)

8 EARLY BRONZE AGE IN NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA – CULTURAL-HISTORICAL FRAMEWORK Temporally, this thesis focuses on the third millennium BC, more specifically on the period traditionally called the Early Bronze Age. For the purposes of this thesis, the chronology proposed by the Associated Regional Chronologies for the Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean (ARCANE) project will be used together with the Ninevite 5 period.

Fig. 2 ARCANE periodisation table (ARCANE online)7. ME – Middle Euphrates Region, UE – Upper Euphrates Region, JZ – Jezirah Region, EJZ 0-5 – Early Jezirah period 0-5, EM I-V – Early Mesopotamian Horizon, TG – Tigridian Region, SM/CM – Southern Mesopotamia/Central Mesopotamia, WI - Western Iran. The years are presented in calibrated BC.

7 The periodisation table is cropped. The original has been taken from http://www.arcane.uni-tuebingen.de/EA- EM-EL_phasing_v5-4-6.pdf

8.1 Early Bronze Age Early Bronze Age is understood as having started around the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC in Syria, even though the use of tin and copper alloy has only commenced in the second half of the third millennium (Akkermans and Schwartz 2003, 211). In Syria and adjoint regions ties to the southern Mesopotamia and the Uruk culture had been severed after its collapse. The area had dealt with being a „periphery“, and given raise to new styles of culture on its own. However8Syrian Jezirah, southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia, had, unlike other regions, become rural – poor communities with only a small amount of monumental architecture, if any, with slower growth of centers, little to no elite art and writing (2003,11). Population on many sites had decreased and some sites had become completely abandoned, for instance the settlements of Habuba Kabira - which was founded by the Uruk people - and Jebel Aruda (2003, 190-196). Later, around 2600 BC, a cultural phenomenon istarts in the Khabur region, but also in the whole Upper Mesopotamia and northern Iraq, called the second urban revolution (2003, 8). As Akkermans and Schwartz point out, the word „second“ in the name „second urban revolution“ can mean two different things. First, it can imply that this is second time society underwent a diverse and complex urban evolution, since urbanisation first occured during the Uruk expansion in the fourt millennium BC and died out before the early third millennium. Second, it may be interpreted as the urbanisation facet of the revolution being secondary to its cultural facet. Under this view, the focal point lies on the influence of the southern Mesopotamian culture may have had in this region even after its source collapsed, and which should then be assessed as primary and as a source of this revolution. It is necessary to note, however, that the actual extent of the influence of southern Mesopotamia is still being discussed today (2003, 233). The flourishing of the urban evolution ends with the dusk of the third millennium in 2000 BC. Approximately three centuries after the dawn of the second urban revolution in the region, around 2300 BC, the influence of southern Mesopotamia over northern Mesopotamia and the Khabur River Region becames much clearer. During this period the Akkadian kings had unified southern Mesopotamia into an empire and their rule extended even into the Khabur Region, where their presence had left its marks (2003, 233). Towards the end of the third millennium the region had underwent some sort of a blow. It is unclear what precisely was the caused the ensuing decline, however, it is suspected that the urban civilisation of the time had suffered from crisis or perhaps a collapse. This part of the Early Bronze Age period remains still a subject of debate among scholars (2003, 235). 8.2 Early Jezirah period Early Jezirah is the name of a chronological period of the 3rd millennium BC in northern Mesopotamia, which was proposed by Peter Pfälzner and developed by Marc Lebeau (Lebeau 2011, 11). It was developed in reaction to the unfitting Early Dynastic period used in the Southern Mesopotamia, and based on stratigraphic and ceramic evidence from important sites in Syria. Its purpose was to standardize the chronology in the Northern Mesopotamia. 8.3 Ninevite 5 Ninevite 5 spans from 2900 BC to 2600 BC (which translates into EJ II). The term is being used as a title to a chronological period, a culture and to painted, incised and plain pottery (Bolt and Green 2003, 519). Sir Max Mallowan and Ephraim Speiser were the first to excavate and identify the Ninevite 5 levels. Mallowan, during his research in Nineveh, mentioned the term to describe a specific type of pottery.

8 E.g. proto-Elamite Iran, which developed complex and literate societies (Akkermans and Schwartz 2003, 211).

Meanwhile Speiser at Tell Billa discovered the same type of pottery. Finally, more Ninevite 5 sherds were unearthed from many northern Mesopotamian settlements, e. g. : Chagar Bazar, Tell Chuera, Mari (Grossman 2014, 83). Ninevite 5 period became a period to which an enormous focus was given throughout the 1930’s, 1960’s and 1980’s. In 1980’s many surveys were conducted targeted on further discovering the Ninevite 5 period. (Grossman 2014, 85).

8.4 Akkadian period Akkadian period starts with Sargon of Akkad’s accession in 2334 BC, beginning his dynasty. The last centuries of the third millennium BC are characterised by stardardisation and centralisation under the city of Akkad through military means. (van de Mieroop 2015, 63) The Akkadian power is easily detected at Tell Brak, where a monumental building was built with the name of Naram-Sin on it. The Akkadian Empire found its sudden end during Sharkalisharri’s reign due to both internal and external pressures. The collapse is dated to around 2200 BC (Weiss 1993, 995). Despite numerous attempts the capital city of Akkad is yet to be found. 8.5 Post-Akkadian period Post-Akkadian period is marked by an abrubt climate change and a consecutive collapse of Akkadian, Gutean and Ur III empires. Khabur Hiatus 1, a period of abandonment, coincides with this climate change in the Upper Mesopotamia (Weiss 1993, 1002).Tephra layers of volcanic glass and fine sands found at Tell Leilan, Tell Abu Hijaira and Tell Abu Hafur point to a volcanic erruption (Weiss 1993, 1000). Subsequently, Amorites, nomadic pastoralists who, according to the late third millennium inscriptions „know no bread“, became a threat to the southern Mesopotamia. The group „Martu“ is first mentioned in the texts during the mid-third millennium, and is sometimes associated with desert regions northeast of Palmyra (Akkermans and Schwartz 2003, 288-290).

Fig. 6 Map of Syro-Mesopotamia, 2600-2000 BC (after Weiss 1993, 995)

The Khabur region is reoccupated and brought under a centralised Amorite control, joining an empire which spanned from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, under the rule of Shamshi-Adad at Tell Leilan (Weiss 1993, 1002; Akkermans and Schwartz 2003, 288).

9 BURIAL TYPOLOGY The value of burial data is immense and the data has relevance to a wide variety of issues. Burials and connected rituals and practice are significant sources of information pertaining to social relationships. Mortuary practices shape memories, ties to land and culture, they create ancestors. The way the dead are treated may answer many questions, as well as generate many new ones. Burials in literature are usually cathegorised in several sections. They are the location of the burial within the settlement, orientation and position of the body in the grave, type of the grave and amount of work given to the preparation of the grave and goods which are found accompanying the deceased or directly on the body. 9.1. Location The location of the burial is divided into three cathegories, based on its position towards the settlement. 1) Intramoenial-Intramural – are burials inside a settlement and inside a house or other building – either with domestic installations or not. 2) Intramoenial-Extramural – are burials inside a settlement or in a cemetery in obvious context to a settlement, but without any context to a house or other building. 3) Extramoenial – is understood as a burial in a cemetery outside of a settlement.

9.2. Type The type of a burial is understood as the amount of labour invested into the construction of the grave. In concordance with this approach, this thesis shall divide burials into five types, based on their labor- intensiveness. These range from the generally primitive pit burials to the most labour-intensive set ups. 9.2.1. PIT BURIALS The most basic burial is a pit burial. It is a hole cut into the soil in a shape of a rectangular without any other additional steps being taken to take care of the pit, apart from closing the pit with soil. A size of a pit should resemble the size of the interred deceased, with consideration to the position of the body. 9.2.2. BURIALS IN CERAMIC VESSELS The burial in a ceramic vessel is understood as an interment of a body into a ceramic vessel, which is subsequently placed into a pit and covered with soil. Considering the proportions of bodies, the burial in a ceramic vessel should be more common in children and infant burials. This more labour intensive type of burial generates new variables, for example in position of both the containing vessel and the body. This thesis shall endeavour to look for parallels in treatment of such burials. 9.2.3. CIST BURIALS Cist burials are assumed to be underground rooms dug without a visible shaft. More labor may have been invested in the place. The walls and floor may be plastered with mud bricks or stones. The cist may be covered from above with mud bricks or with a stone slab. It is presumed that this more labour intensive type of burial will be accompanied by grave goods more frequently than the preceding types.

Fig. 7 An example of a cist burial from Tell Raqa'i (two mud brick enclosures, discussed further below in this thesis). (Curvers and Schwartz 1990, 15)

9.2.4. SHAFT TOMBS Shaft tombs are underground rooms equipped, in contrast to cist burials, with a vertical shaft large enough for an adult person to walk into the burial chamber which contained the body. Such type of grave was very labour intensive and some care was probably also given to the floor and walls of the chamber. Furthermore, such grave promises presence of a higher number of accompaniyng goods. 9.2.5. CHAMBER TOMBS Chamber tomb is a type of burial understood as an underground chamber to which a special treatment of some kind was given. The chamber could be plastered and valuable accompanying goods present. The chamber tomb can be expected to have undergone even more careful treatment than shaft tomb and may also possibly be semi-subterranean.

Fig. 8 An example of a possible shaft tomb or chamber tomb from Tell Mohammed Arab (a chamber and a shaft are separated by a partition wall, the burial is discussed further below in this thesis). (Bolt and Green 2003, 545) 9.3. Position and orientation of the body Position of the body is the way the deceased was laid into the grave pit. The position may vary depending on: 1) Tradition 2) Age of the deceased 3) Primary or secondary burial 4) A single inhumation of an only child or infant 5) An inhumation of more deceased children or infants 6) An inhumation of an adult/s with a child or infant or more children and infants However, the position of buried bodies may also vary considerably within a single settlement, with the reasoning behind such a positioning of the deceased being considerably difficult to divine. In adult burials, assessment may be attempted as the bodies are usually found lying on either side with flexed legs and arms to the torso. However, the dead body may also have been positioned in many other, differing ways; not only on the side, but also on the back, face down or in some even more unusual manner. It is possible to separate the „common“ positions from the anomalies through comparison of the graves at cemetery or settlement. Children burials, it is presumed, would generally follow the same pattern as adult burials within a cemetery or settlement. Infant burials are more problematic to assess. A body of infant is marginably smaller than that of an adult, furthermore bones of foetuses and infants are weaker and easily succumb to destruction. Orientation of the adult burial within the grave is described as the position of the body in context to the cardinal directions. The orientation is expected to fluctuate even within a single settlement. Burials of children and infants are not expected to deviate from this expectation. 9.4 Grave goods Grave goods or burial gifts are objects buried with the individual. Grave good is understood as every object in vicinity of the grave, or directly within it, or in clear association with the grave. Traditionally no grave goods are expected to be discovered in infant burials. Excluding pots in the pot burials, the grave goods within children and infant graves can be divided into two groups: 1. Personal items – the objects found on a body (necklaces of beads, bracelets, pins) made of various materials including, stone, clay, shells and bronze/copper. These grave goods may

have been personal items of the deceased and may have been used during their life as ornaments or as practical accessory. 2. Accompanying objects – usually pottery vessels, which may have held offerings of consumables for the dead given by the mourners as a gift to the dead. Grave goods may have served as a gift for the afterlife, intended to equip the dead for the netherworld or to prevent the dead from coming back, to appease the dead (Pearson 1999, 7). Therefore, they may have been connected to the ritual of passage.

10 BURIALS OF CHILDREN AND INFANTS AT EARLY BRONZE AGE SITES Settlements in the Khabur Region and Eski Mosul Region with children and infant burials from the Early Bronze Age were selected from known sites. Studied settlements are listed according to their geographical position and then sorted alphabetically. 10.1 UPPER KHABUR REGION

Fig. 9 A map of Upper Khabur Region (done with Google Earth)

Fig. 10 A map of Upper Khabur Region with marked settlements discussed in this thesis

The following section discusses settlements of the Upper Khabur region which contained graves with children and infant, and were acessible for the author. A general overview of every such settlement is presented with emphasis on the burials of children and infants from the EBA period. A synoptic table of the most important data is located at the end of the chapter, on page 36.

10.1.1 TELL ARBID Tell Arbid is a site in northeastern Syria on the upper Khabur River valley, near a modern village and about 50 kilometres to the north-northeast of the town of Hassake. The very first excavations on Tell Arbid commenced in the 1930s with a survey by Max Mallowan and his team. Before leaving for Chagar Bazar and Brak, Mallowan even dug eight test trenches which was enough to determine that Arbid was an important urban centre in the 3rd and first half of the 2nd millennium BC. During the eighties, Dr. Bertille Lyonnet conducted another survey, and finally in the summer of 1996 the joint Syro-Polish archaeological expedition led by Piotr Bieliński begun its research. It is not certain at what period the settlement had been founded. It has been occupied throughout the Bronze age, with the Ninevite 5 period being the peak in the development of the site (Szeląg 2009, 585). Arbid provides the ceramic assemblage of the second millennium (Khabur ware) and traces of Mittanian occupation until Neo-Babylonian Iron Age.9 A large number of burials, starting from basic pit graves with no grave goods to rich burials, from all periods were unearthed on this location.

Burials In the area S of the so-called “citadel” a wall was found against which remains of structures were built at the eastern end of the area. Interpreted were remnants of three small rooms and a narrow courtyard dating to Ninevite 5 based on found pottery (Bieliński 1999, 215). A clear impression of a round basket was found in a small pit with mud plastered walls. Inside the basket a body of an infant in a tightly flexed position was located. There is no information available on the state of the bones, only the impression of a bottom of the basket survived in the earth. No grave goods were found, neither. From the collection of kitchen ware sherds which were collected in this area it is possible to state that this installation of rooms was a domestic one. The room, locus 22, was interpreted as a kitchen and the burial was found in the room nearby (locus 19). It is probable therefore, that this infant was buried in the house. (Bieliński 1999, 216).

9 Archaeological Expedition to Tell Arbid. (n.d.). Retrieved June 09, 2016, from http://www.tellarbid.uw.edu.pl/research

Fig. 11 Tell Arbid, reed impression of a basket serving as a container of an infant burial. (Bieliński 1999, 216)

An unspecified number of child burials of the 3rd millennium BC was found in the area SD. No further information is given, except that some of them were buried in simple pits without any other installations, others in mud-brick boxes or in cooking pots (Bieliński 2000b, 284)

More burials of infants were found in the area SS, layer VI. Based on the finds from the burials the layer can be dated to the post-Akkadian period (EJ IV) and it is considered to be an „industrial“ part of the tell. (Bieliński 2001, 318) The skeleton of a child was unearthed in a shallow pit, its bones in a very good condition. It was located in a big jar and accompanied by a medium-sized vessel. Subsequently, inside the burial jar grave goods of two small bronze bracelets, four earrings (one pair bronze, other possibly silver), five beads of shell and stone were found (Bieliński 2001, 318). Opening of a jar was blocked by a mud-brick. Next to the jar were some scattered animal bones (also with a skull of sheep or goat).

In the western part of area SD, in a layer dated to the Akkadian and post-Akkadian periods, six burials of adults and children were unearthed. Children were buried in brick chambers or in large vessels. (Bieliński 2004, 339). Only one child’s grave was not of Khabour-ware period. It consisted of a skeleton placed into a big cooking pot. The child’s skull was not found inside the pot, but in a separate location, along with a large post-Akkadian sherd. The skeleton was accompanied by a rich assemblage of grave goods – there were seven small vases, a circular bronze pendant and a disc (it is presumed by Bieliński to be a dress appliqué), golden and silver earrings, 70 beads of several materials (carnelian, lapis lazuli, 30 of silver and 1 of gold) and “a rattle in the form of a bird (a dove ?)” (Bieliński 2004, 339).

Fig. 12 Tell Arbid, grave goods from a burial of a child with the toy rattle. (Bieliński 2004, 338)

Another burial of a child is dated to Late Akkadian and post-Akkadian phases (Early Jezirah IV). No further information is given regarding the child, except that it was buried without any grave goods (Bieliński 2005, 477)

In the sector D, which is interpreted as a Ninevite 5 residential district, two graves of infants beneath the floor of a room were unearthed. No other information on the graves is available. In the same sector a burial of older child, dug in the wall of the same room only in a later phase of the Akkadian period, was found. The skeleton was in contracted position, accompanied by a bronze bracelet, beads of lapis lazuli, carnelian and shell, two jars, two goblets and a cup (Bieliński 2010, 543).

Fig. 13 Tell Arbid, a burial of a child and the accompanying goods. (Bieliński 2010, 543)

A badly damaged infant burial was found in the clearing of the outer wall of the cella of the Southern Temple, pressed between two courses of bricks (Bieliński 2013, 357). It was dated to the very end of the Ninevite 5 period.

Grave goods contain two toggle pins, a bone ring and an unknown number of beads of diverse materials10 (Bieliński 2013, 358)

Another find was a child burial in an enclosure of mud-bricks beneath the floor level of a room which seems to been in use during the latest phase of the Southern Temple (Bieliński 2013, 362). No other information is given.

A Ninevite 5 child’s grave was found just under the surface of the tell. Grave goods consisted of a plain ware juglet and a Ninevite 5 vessel. A small number of beads was found, too. (Koliński 2011b, 317).

10.1.2 TELL BARRI Tell Barri (ancient Kahat) is located in northeastern Syria on the bank of wadi Jaghjagh, about 40 km northeastern of Hassake and south of Qamishli. The tell lies at the height of more than 30 m and occupates about 37 ha. It has been excavated by an Italian team directer by P. E. Pecorella and, since 2005, by R. P. Benoit. It was probably founded during the EBA, as virgin soil has been reached in Area G. Burials Of the total number of 92 burials found at Tell Barri, 10 of them were infants dated to the EBA IIa, 2 infant burials dated to either EBA II or IIIa and two infant burials from the very end of the EBA. Only two children burials were recovered (EBA II-IIIa and EBA IIIb) (Sołtysiak 2008, 68). In the course of excavations inside the Sacred Area at Barri (Area G) eight burials of infants were discovered out of the 10. These were dated to the EJ II. They were buried under earthen beaten floor inside four small pits without any other additions. The two other skeletons of infants were found under the beaten floor of Shrine 1297. In contrast to the other infant burials at Barri, these shrine graves are unique in the form of the deposition – they are pit burials, while the other infants were usually interred in pottery vessels at Barri. There are also two newborns in one pit – one older, incomplete and bearing signs of secondary movement of the skeleton, the other deposited later and complete. This undoubtedly exceptional treatment may have been a result of a sacrificial activity11, however, there is no written text to substantiate that theory (Valentini 2011, 272).

10.1.3 TELL BEYDAR Tell Beydar is a medium sized city located 35 km north-northwestern of Hassake at the cross point of two major roads - from the Tigris to the Euphrates and from Syria to the Diyarbekir plain. A joint Syro-European archaeological mission, organized by the European Centre for Upper Mesopotamian Studies, started its research at Beydar at 1992 and has been led by Marc Lebeau since the same year, while Antoine Suleiman has been in charge of the Syrian section since 1995. Beydar is a circular city protected by fortification with seven gates. The virgin soil has been reached, dated as Late Chalcolithic (4300-3700 BC). It consists of three parts, this thesis will focus on Beydar I,

10 Materials included carnelian 11 Sacrifice of infants and children can be traced throughout the history. As an example may serve the Merina community in Madagascar, who believed that the burial of the dead into the earth will bring high crop yield (Bloch 1971)

which was, as Lebeau and Suleiman call it „the crown city of the 3rd millennium BC“ (Lebeau and Suleiman 2003, 3).12 Burials In EJ, the western area of the Inner City Gate at Tell Beydar was used as a burial ground for children. Six of the graves were excavated. Before that there seems to have been a building of some importance because it was built of the same large and yellowish-greyish bricks which were used for the gate walls. Before the area became the burial ground the house’s rooms were abandoned and filled with multiple layers of ash and debris (Lebeau and Suleiman 2003, 9). In the field H of Beydar I (Eastern side of the north-eastern Outer City Gate) a wide massive wall was discovered. Its northern side „was protected by sloping layers of hard clay“ (Lebeau and Suleiman 2003, 11) in which a number of adult and children graves were found. The type of graves was not mentioned, nor was the selection of burial goods present in the children’s graves, but both simple pit graves and brick-lined cist graves were found. Burial goods consisted of ceramic vessels and personal ornaments, such as metal pins, pendants and stone and shell beads. These graves were dated to EJ II and EJ IIIa based on pottery (Lebeau and Suleiman 2003, 11). On the internal side of the City wall in the same field, some domestic units with workshops were found dated to the EJ IIIa period. These structures consisted of small-sized rooms, small-width mudbrick walls and equipped with plastered benches, ovens and storage installations. Under these floors a few children burials were found (Lebeau and Suleiman 2003, 12). Another child‘s grave was found in the field K. It lies in the north-western part of the Outer City wall and is located on the inner slope of a rampart. Several rich adult graves of the final EJ IIIa period were excavated here. Under this place a domestic structure was found with one room with plastered floor. North from this room there was a mud floor and beneath it a vaulted child burial dated to the early EJ IIIa period. (Lebeau and Suleiman 2003, 12).

10.1.4 CHAGAR BAZAR Chagar Bazar is located on the wadi Dara, a tributary of the Khabur River, about 35 km north of Hassake. It is about 12 ha large. The area of Chagar Bazar has been occupied for a long time, as there are signs that a settlement was already in the area in the Neolithic. It is positioned in a fertile valley, enclosed by Taurus mountains, Jebel Abd al-Aziz and Jebel Sinjar from the north, southwest and southeast, respectively. Sir Max Mallowan with Agatha Christie excavated on this site during the years 1932-1937 after it was identified during his surveys. The excavations continued from 1999 to 2002 by a joint Syro-British- Belgium team (Cruells et al. 2013, 467). Burials During Max Mallowan’s first archaeological research at Chagar Bazar his team excavated an area of buildings built on limestone foundations with mud brick walls in level 2 and similarly planned buildings in level 3. He categorized the layers roughly to the end of the 3rd millennium BC (with layer 3 being dated to EJ IIIa-b (Valentini 2011, 271) (Mallowan 1936, 10). In these two layers a total number of 45 graves were identified, out of which 23 were burials of children less than 12 years old and 13 were burials of infants less than a year old (Mallowan 1936, 17- 18).

12 Apart of Beydar I there are two other parts: Beydar II which was occupied in neo-Assyrian period and Beydar III which lies about 1 kilometer south of the Beydar I tell.

Level 2 yielded a total number of 19 burials out of which 12 were children and 5 were infants (Mallowan 1936, 18). Level 3 was characterised mostly by the high number of burials under earthen floors of houses. In one of the rooms (Room 3), under the beaten floor, five infant burials were found. „Many of them“ were accompanied by grave goods, mostly of pottery vessels and in the southern wall of the room a niche was identified, which Mallowan interprets as an altar. Finds in this room led Max Mallowan to designate it as a „shrine to infant burials“ (1936, 15). Apart of these burials, level 3 yielded 3 other infant burials and 11 child burials of total number of 26 burials in this layer. Deeper in level 4 seven burials were found, out of which two infant skeletons were found in housing complex with a possible shrine room (Mallowan 1936, 15). Level 5 was a layer showing signs of abandonment after a destruction. A cemeter was discovered with a number of adult burials and a child inhumation13. Graves were dated approximately to 3000 BC (Mallowan 1936, 16).

10.1.5 TELL ABU HAFUR Tell Abu Hafur is a site situated about 15 km north-northeast of Hassake, near the Wadi al-Awadj and another smaller wadi, seasonal tributaries of the Jaghjagh River. It’s composed of two tells, between which the smaller wadi flowed14. The higher settlement was oval in shape and 16 m high and 200 m x 150 m in width (Koliński and Lawecka 1992, 179) It was located on the flat alluvial plain on the presumed southern end of the Hassake Eastern Dam, near another 3rd millennium BC settlement, Tell Djassa al-Gharbi. The excavations were conducted since 1986 by the Polish team of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology as a part of the international Salvage Programme of the Hassake Dams Area organized by the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums (Bieliński 1990, 17).

Burials From sources available to the author it can be assessed that seven burials in total were found during the excavations and all of them from the Area A, six of them were relevant to this thesis as they were burials in the same ratio of infants and children. This area consisted of remnants of 3rd millennium BC structures, therefore the following burials were included into this research. Three of the burials were burials of infants interred into large cooking pots. They were located below the floor of domestic buildings (Bieliński 1990, 23). At least two of the burials were covered by some sort of sealing15. The burials were found in two layers, which were inhabited concurrently (Bieliński 1990, 23). The first burial was discovered in layer 4, which is characterized by larger buildings and by much larger

13 It is not stated whether the child was located within the cemetery, or separately from the adult burials. 14 Although the water could have been a factor which separated the tell into two parts, Koliński and Lawecka in their report from 1992 are confident it was not so (1992, 179). 15 The sources in this case vary in regarding the sealing of the burial vessel. While Bieliński in his publication from 1990 states that every infant burial found in this area was contained in a sealed pot, Koliński and Lawecka in their publication from 1992 explain that there were no traces of sealing found. The author decided to keep only the latter information as the source was more comprehensive in general.

frequency in tannurs and ovens found; the next two burials were located in layer 3. The floors were not plastered, but out of beaten earth and burials were dug directly beneath the surface of the floors. The first infant burial was dug near the northeastern wall. The cooking pot was of Kitchen Ware and was sitting upright in a pit. The cover was made of mud bricks. The skeleton was not well-preserved and there were no grave goods. The second infant burial was also located near the northeastern wall of a room, positioned upright and without any discovered burial gifts. Similar shape of a vessel containing the skeleton was used, however, no traces of mud-brick or clay sealing were found. The third infant burial was uncovered in the northern corner about 0.5 m from the walls. A different shape of Kitchen Ware pot was used as a containing vessel and in was leaning towards north. It was closed shut by a very thin layer of clay plaster (Koliński and Lawecka 1992, 201).

The burials of children were located outside of houses therefore their exact datation is unknown. The oldest grave (G2) belongs to the layer 1 as it was partially dug into a wall of a layer 2 house, but the finds recovered from it are analogous to layer 2. The second grave (G7) was found under the earlier floor of a room and from the last grave (G5) was uncovered in the subsurface. The first child grave (G5) was rather small (0.5 m x 0.35 m) and built from remains of mud brick. The grave’s position was parallel to the wall of a nearby house (north-nothwestern – south-southeastern). Badly eroded and damaged skeleton of a child of 2-3 years without grave goods was discovered inside the enclosure. The skeleton was in a flexed position, placed on its right side. Its head was turned to north-nothwest, face to south-southwest. The second child grave (G7) was, as Koliński and Lawecka affirm „partly destroyed either by later building activities or during excavations“ (1992, 202). Only a plan of the burial pit was left, which was oriented in the northwest – southeast direction, its measures being 0.75 m x 0.6 m. The last child grave (G2) consisted of a chamber completely made of brick and mudbrick fragments and measured 0.47 m x 0.28m x 0.09 m. The orientation of the dug pit was the same as of the G5 and also the position of the skeleton was the same. The child’s assessed age was 5 or 6 years. In contrast to the other infant and child burials in this area, this deseased was buried with grave goods. Around the neck a necklace of black beads, perforated shells and bone plaques was laid and on both hands a bracelet made of bone beads, one bigger frit bead and a shell was found. A small fine ware jar in the upright position was found next to the head and another jar with a cup positioned as a lid was found beside the bones of legs (Koliński and Lawecka 1992, 202).

10.1.6 TELL HAMOUKAR Tell Hamoukar, a settlement in the upper Khabur Region, is situated about 115 km east from Hassake and about 70 km southeast from Qamishli not far from the Syro Iraqi border. Its earliest history starts at around 4500 BC and the settlement thrives the most during EBA, between 2500 and 2200 BC. With its size of approximately 100 ha, Hamoukar is a large site with a higher mound, which served as a centre with palaces and temples and a lower town that surrounded the mound (Reichel 2006, 67). During 1999 and 2001 three excavation seasons took place at Hamoukar, directed by McGuire Gibson. After a break caused by the Iraq War, it became possible to come back to Hamoukar in 2005 and joint Syro-American expedition directed by Clemens Reichel of the Oriental Institute of Chicago and Salam al-Kuntar of the Syrian Department of Antiquities has been excavating this site until 2010.

For purposes of this thesis more focus was given to Hamoukar’s lower town, research of burials was based on K. Grossman’s work, gathered in her dissertation from 2013 and Reichel’s annual reports. Hamoukar’s lower town has begun its development during the Ninevite 5 period and flourished for at least „three successive phases of third millennium BC“ (Grossman 2013, 2). Burials Area H is located on the eastern edge of the lower town. Grossman postulates that soundings here provide one of the clearest sequences of occupation in the lower town, and that they also show strong proof of the initial settlement starting here in the Ninevite 5 period. Burials in Area H of Hamoukar’s lower town date to the Ninevite 5 period and Akkadian/post- Akkadian period. Several pits and walls were discovered in the uppermost layer, Level 1. Many disarticulated human remains were found here and bones of infants were enclosed within some of the walls. Furthermore, on the floor of room L. 303 a „partially articulated skeleton16“ (Grossman 2013, 126) was recovered. Level 1 in Area H had two more burials which were found in some of the pits. The burial in L. 549 was a child. It was accompanied by a shallow bowl in which a large collection of beads was found. Apparetnly there were more goods as Grossman points out the beads in the shallow bowl were only a part of the assemblage of grave goods (2013, 126) The pit L. 529 contained a large jar in which an infant accompanied with grave goods of several small vessels was buried. In addition to these burials, three other infant graves were found, according to Grossman’s dissertation. In Area H1, Locus 317, a disturbed grave with remains of an infant was discovered. The body position was disturbed, deposited in a brick wall with no grave goods. The dating of this burial is indetermined In the same area, Locus 334, a jar burial of an infant was unearthed. The grave’s dimensions were 1 m x 1 m. Within the burial an indeterminate crystal object and frit bead fragments were unearthed (Grossman 2013, 364). In the Area E1, Locus 174, a pit grave was discovered, containing a skeleton of a bigger infant or older child. Bones were fragmented but body position was not disturbed. Accompanying the skeleton were 58 miniature vessels and unknown number of frit beads (Grossman 2013, 359).

10.1.7 TELL KHAZNE Tell Khazne lies between Hassake and Tell Brak on the wadi Ridjla and, similarly as Tell Bderi or Tell Banat, on the line between the steppe and agricultural land (Munchaev & Merpert 1990). It is not so different from other tells in the Jezira; small but high. It was assumed that there was a village during the third millennium BC, but excavations there have revealed that during the middle third millenium BC (Munchaev & Merpert, 1994) it was not so – Tell Khazne was a temple complex with no indication that this site had a domestic function during its use as a cult centre. (Ristvet 2005, 110). Ristvet in her dissertation also believes that Tell Khazne was „the centre of a cult that combined agricultural and pastoral elements” (2005, 109). Reuses and reconstructions of the settlement made the excavations difficult, but four platforms, a defensive wall built out of pisé and a central round tower with an enclosure wall were unearthed. The tower was built upon a 1.7 m platform and excavations within have exposed thick layers of ash and

16 The information regarding the age of the skeleton was not provided.

grain, animal bones and zoomorphic figurines which were interpreted as offerings (Merpert & Munchaev 1999). Archaeologists found chambers, which resembled third millenium houses on the highest platform; though they served different function. Dead bodies of both adults and children were laid in these chambers – adult skeletons were found inside the chambers accompanied by many goods such as vessels, bronze tools and weapons and hundreds of quartzite and carnelian beads. Dead children were buried under the floors inside the chambers. Cist graves were dug and dead body was put into a ceramic vessel17 (Merpert & Munchaev 1999, 122). The pottery found at Khazne was identified as Ninevite 5 (Ristvet 2005, 109).18

10.1.8 TELL ABU HIJAIRA Tell Abu Hijaira lies about 20 km north-west of Hassake and is located approximately in the intended center of the eastern dam. Joint expedition of German and Syrian archaeological teams excavated here from 1987 to 1990. The type of ceramic assemblage (Metallic ware, Ninevite 5, Uruk-ware) allowed to date the occupation of the tell to the Early Dynastic II/III period (about 2500 to 2350 BC) (Lutz & Tietze 1992, 249). After the end of the Early Dynastic period the settlement has been abandoned and the reason for this abandonment remains unknown. In Ausgrabungen auf dem Teil Abu Hgaira Lutz and Tietze say, however, that it is likely connected to the climatic change of the region during that time (1992, 249). Burials Numerous infant and young children’s graves were unearthed on this site. They differed in the types of graves, as well as the grave goods interred with the children and infants. Infants ranging in age from 6 to 18 months have been buried in mud brick boxes or pot graves under floors of courtyards or directly within the living quarters inside houses (Lutz & Tietze 1992, 255).No grave goods have been found in the jar burials, while in the mud brick boxes offerings of jewelery and ceramic vessels were abundant.19

17 One of the vessels was a closed jar (Valentini 2011, 262). 18 Tell Khazne share many similar features to Gre Virike on the Euphrates River north of Carchemish. A small platform was discovered there containing chamber graves of adults with infant and child burials surrounding them. Furthermore, in Gre Virike deposits of grain, animal figurines and products and ash were found and interpreted as oferings (Ristvet 2005, 110). 19 Author was not succesfull in retrieving more data on these burials, however, Schwartz and Curvers mention similarities with grave goods found in mud brick child graves at Tell al-Raqa’i to those found at Tell Abu Hijaira. More precisely they describe miniature animal figurines and ceramic vessels as „closely paralelled“ (1992, 401).

Fig. 14 Tell Hijaira, some of the jewelery found within burials of infants buried into mud brick enclosures. (Lutz & Tietze 1992, 258) 10.1.9 TELL LEILAN Tell Leilan, the assyrian city of Shubat-Enlil, is located on the wadi Darra and the Wadi Qatrani in the Khabur Plains of Northeastern Syria, about 50 km from Tell Brak, Tell Mozan and Tell Hamoukar. It belongs to the cathegory of larger sites of the Khabur Region, with occupation on the precipices lasting from the sixth millennium BC till the second millennium BC (Curvers 1989, 186). It expanded significantly durind EJ II and, similarly to Chuera and Beydar, it developed an acropolis on the top of the mound where public buildings, palaces and temples were located. Its center, however, is located in the western part of the tell, not in its geographical midst (Meyer 2012,133). Yale University started their research at Tell Leilan in 1978, under the direction of Harvey Weiss. The excavations have continued until recently, when war put a forcible stop to them. Periods of interest to this thesis at Tell Leilan are, firstly, Period III, which corresponding with the Ninevite 5 ware period and the Early Dynastic sequence of southern Mesopotamia (Weiss 1986, 87). Secondly, Period II, which is set in the mid-late 3rd millennium BC (Miller 1990, 12). Burials Infant and three adults came to be buried in a rectangular pit (1,25 m x 1,15 m), each at a different time, but all within the Period II. The burial pit was cut into the „sterile“ soil20. The burial of an infant was the latest one. The skeleton was oriented to the west-east just beneath the surface. It was accompanied by a pendant necklace, a shell bead, two frit beads and a clay sealing21. A fine ware jar was positioned next to the skull and two small black ware vessels next to the feet (Weiss et al. 1990, 551-554). Judging by the sealing the infant burial can be dated to the ED II or III (Weiss et al. 1990, 556). Phase 4-7 at Tell Leilan (Period II) yielded 35 burials of which 26 were burials of infants. Only eleven of these 26 infant burials were accompanied by grave goods (almost exclusively ceramic vessels) which is less than a half. Simultaneously all nine adult burials were accompanied by grave goods. (Weiss 1990, 204-205).

20 The „sterile“ soil was a very compact soil, with red-brown clay and pebble-sized calcium carbonate inclusions. From the picture included in the publication it can be read that this part of the tell was not yet excavated in the 1985 (Weiss 1990, 548). 21 The sealing was 19 x 20 mm small with „two horned animals connected at the neck; small antelope passing to the left“ (Weiss et al. 1990, 556).

A burial of an infant buried in a pot low in the Ninevite 5 layer was discovered without any grave goods (Bolt and Green 2003, 523).

The author was not able to recover any information pertaining to burials of children at Tell Leilan. It is, however, highly unlikely that no such burials were found at a site of this size.

Tab 1 Upper Khabur region burials of infants and children

UPPER KHABUR REGION BURIALS Excavatio Type of Site ID n area Period Age Location location Grave Goods Literature

Arbid Ninevit below floor, in a Bieliński 1. S e 5 infant basket intra no grave goods 1999, 216 children in pits, in mud brick, Bieliński 2. SD 3rd mill (?) in pots ? no grave goods 2000b, 284 intramur al ("industri a medium-sized vessel, inside the burial jar two small jar sealed by a mud al" part bronze bracelets, four earrings (one pair bronze, other Post- brick inside a shallow of the possibly silver), five beads of shell and stone, next to Bieliński 3. SS Akk child pit tell) the jar - scattered animal bones + skull of a goat/sheep 2001, 318 seven small vases, a circular bronze pendant and disc (dress appliqué?), golden and silver earrings, 70 beads of several materials (carnelian, lapis lazuli, 30 of Post- cooking pot, skull silver and 1 of gold) and “a rattle in the form of a bird Bieliński 4. SD Akk child covered by sherd ? (a dove ?)” 2004, 339 Post- Bieliński 5. ? Akk child no grave goods 2005, 477 Ninevit below the floor of a intramur Bieliński 6. D e 5 infant room al ? 2010, 543 Ninevit below the floor of a intramur Bieliński 7. D e 5 infant room al ? 2010, 543 Akkadi intramur bronze bracelet, beads of lapis lazuli, carnelian and Bieliński 8. D an child wall al shell, two jars, two goblets and a cup 2010, 543

Southern Ninevite clearing of the outer two toggle pins, a bone ring, an unknown number of Bieliński 9. Temple 5 infant wall intramural beads of diverse materials 2013, 357 in an enclosure of mud bricks, below Bieliński 10. ? ? child floor intramural 2013, 362 Ninevite plain ware juglet, a Ninevite 5 vessel, small number Koliński 11. 38/60 5 child of beads 2011b, 317

Barri Sacred under the floor inside Area, 4 pits (2 infants inside Valentini 12. Area G EJ II 8 infants 1 pit) intra no grave goods 2011, 272 Shrine 1297, Valentini 13. Area G EJ II 2 infants under the floor in pits intra no grave goods 2011, 272 EBA Valentini 14. ? II/IIIa 2 infants in jars (?) ? ? 2011, 272 end of Valentini 15. ? EBA 2 infants in jars (?) ? ? 2011, 272 EBA Valentini 16. ? III/IIIa child ? ? ? 2011, 272 Valentini 17. ? EBA IIIb child ? ? ? 2011, 272 Beydar W of intramoe Inner 6 nia- Lebeau and city EJ II, EJ children extramur Suleiman 18. Gate III (+) burial ground al ? 2003, 9 Lebeau and EJ II, EJ ? pit graves, brick lined ceramic vessels and personal ornaments as metal pins, Suleiman 19. field H IIIa children cist graves ? pendants and stone and shell beads 2003, 11

field H, internal side of Lebeau and the city a few under floor of intramur Suleiman 20. wall EJ IIIa children domestic installations al ? 2003, 12 Lebeau and under mud floor, intramur Suleiman 21. field K EJ IIIa child vaulted al no grave goods 2003, 12

Chagar Bazar 12 Mallowan 22. level 2 EJ IIIb children area of buildings intra ? 1936, 18 Mallowan 23. level 2 EJ IIIb 5 infants area of buildings intra ? 1936, 18 room 3, half a meter Mallowan 24. level 3 EJ IIIa-b 5 infants under floor intra pottery 1936, 15 in a housing complex with a possible shrine Mallowan 25. level 4 2 infant room intra ? 1936, 15 Mallowan 26. level 5 3000 BC child in a cemetery (?) intra ? 1936, 16

Hafur kitchen ware pot in a pit, immediately Koliński below earthen floor, and covered by mud Lawecka 27. area a 3rd mill infant bricks intra no grave goods 1992, 201 kitchen ware pot in a Koliński pit, immediately and below earthen floor, Lawecka 28. area a 3rd mill infant no covering intra no grave goods 1992, 201 kitchen ware pot in a pit, immediately Koliński below earthen floor, and covered by a thin Lawecka 29. area a 3rd mill infant layer of clay plaster intra ? 1992, 201 Koliński mudbrick cist grave and child (2- NNW-SSE, parallel to Lawecka 30. area a 3rd mill 3yrs) the wall of a house intra no grave goods 1992, 202 Koliński and only a plan - Lawecka 31. area a 3rd mill child orientation NW-SE ? 1992, 202 Around the neck a necklace of black beads, perforated shells and bone plaques was laid and on both hands a bracelet made of bone beads, one bigger frit bead and Koliński brick+mudbrick cist a shell, a small fine ware jar in the upright position and child (5- grave NNW-SSE, next to the head, jar with a cup positioned as a lid Lawecka 32. area a 3rd mill 6yrs) Outside of a house intra beside the bones of legs 1992, 202

Hamouka r Area H akk/post- infant Grossman 33. level 1 akk bones in some of the walls intra no grave goods 2013, 126 Area H akk/post- shallow bowl, beads, + some other grave goods (not Grossman 34. level 1 akk child pit intra specified) 2013, 126 Area H akk/post- Grossman 35. level 2 akk infant jar in a pit intra several small vessels 2013, 126 Area Grossman 36. H1 ? infant in a wall ? 2013, 364 Area akk/post- Grossman 37. H1 akk infant jar in a pit crystal object + frit bead fragments 2013, 364 bigger Area akk/post- infant or Grossman 38. E1 akk older pit 58 miniature vessels, frit beads 2013, 359

Khazne cist graves, in a Merpert & vessel, under floor Munchaev 39. Ninevite 5 children inside chambers ? 1999, 122

Abu Hijaira mud brick boxes, Lutz & infants under floors or Tietze 1992, 40. ? ED II/III (?) courtyards intra jewelery and pottery 255 Lutz & infants pot, under floors or Tietze 1992, 41. ? ED II/III (?) courtyards intra no grave goods 255

Leilan mid-late in a grave with three pendant necklace, a shell bead, two frit beads, clay Weiss et al. 3rd mill adults, W-E, just sealing, fine ware jar (next to the skull), two small 1990, 551- 42. (ED II-III) infant beneath the surface ? black ware vessels (next to the feet) 554 Phase mid-late 11 accompanied by grave goods (almost exclusively Weiss 1990, 43. 4-7 3rd mill infants ? ? ceramic vessels) 204-205 mid-late 15 Weiss 1990, 44. 3rd mill infants ? ? no grave goods 204-205 Bolt and Green 2003, 523+AA42: 45. Ninevite 5 infant pot ? no grave goods J65

10.2 MIDDLE KHABUR REGION

Fig. 15 A map of Middle Khabur Region

Fig. 16 A map of Upper Khabur Region with marked settlements discussed in this thesis

The following pages discuss the settlements in which children and infant burials were found, in the the Middle Khabur region, which were acessible to the author. A general overview on every settlement is presented with emphasis on the burials of children and infants from the EBA period. At the end of the chapter, on page 48, a synoptic table of the most important data is located.

10.2.1 TELL ‘ATIJ Tell 'Atij is a small site consisting of two tells on the left bank of the Khabur river in northern Syria in the proximity of Raqa‘i. Founded during the Early Bronze Age (Akkermans and Schwartz 2003, 218) and occupied for about 400 years – from 3000 to 2600 BC (McCorriston 1998, 47) - this tell was excavated during 1986-1993 by the Canadian team lead by Michel Fortin. During the research archaeologists discovered large, thick-walled structures which they explain to be silos. It seems that this site was a storage facility, a center for redistribution of grain. It is why Michel Fortin in his 1989 publication calls the site a „commercial station“ (Hole 1991b, 25; Fortin 1989) Burials During the first campaing in 1986 on Tell Atij a burial of an infant has been found in a two-partite rectangular storage room on the southern slope of the tell which was interpreted as one of the formentioned silos (517-517). Three storage jars, each 1 meter in diameter, have been found inside the silo. The burial of an infant itself was accompanied by three Ninevite 5 vases. The burial has made the excavators wonder about the possible reuse of the silo for other purposes (Fortin 1988, 162). The information on the burial is not, however, detailed enough to say whether the burial is or is not contemporary with the silo. On the secondary tell a cemetery, considered to be an extramoenial one, was discovered consisting of 12 burials of mostly infants and children. This cemetery was dated to the EJ IIIb.

10.2.2 TELL MASHNAQA Mashnaqa was a small settlement 30 km south of Hassake excavated since 1985 by a team from l'Institut Français d'Archéologie du Proche-Orient. At the highest point the tell was rising to more than 11 metres. It was inhabited since Halaf period and was abandoned around 2000 BC (Monchambert 1985, 221). Now Mashnaqa is flooded by a dam. There is much bigger number of burials of adults dated around 4900 BC than those of children. Also most graves were probably marked indicating that the dead were remembered even after death (Akkermans and Schwartz 2003, 177). In the EBA period burials seem not to differ from the other settlements. Burials In Level 2 there are several layers which are difficult to date but are believed to belong to the 3rd millennium. In context there are two mudbrick walls, a tannur and a burial of an infant in a mudbrick box. The skeleton lies on the left side and is accompanied by two miniature vases22 (Monchambert 1985, 229).

22 See section about Tell al-Raqa’i in this thesis for a comparable burial of an infant.

Fig. 17 Tell Mashnaqa, a burial of an infant in a mudbrick box together with two miniature vessels. (Monchambert 1985, 229) 10.2.3 TELL MELEBIYA Tell Melebiya was a settlement founded in EBA (Akkermans and Schwartz 2003, 218). It is located in the Middle Khabur Region, approximately 15 km southeastern of Hassake. Burials Bolt and Green mention a number of burials of infants in pots, which may be dated to the Ninevite 5 period (2003, 524).

10.2.4 TELL RAD SHAQRAH Tell Rad Shaqrah was an oval mound located approximately 15 km southeast of Hassake on the eastern bank of the Khabur river. The mound was severely damaged from three sides by a river and a modern village. (Bieliński 1992, 77). The occupation of the tell was established, through surface survey and excavation, to have started durin the Early Dynastic period, with only an insignificant occupation being documented during the neo-Assyrian period. This may have been caused by the damage the site sustained, because an ED layer was found on the surface of the mound (Bieliński 1992, 78). Tell Rad Shaqrah was excavated from 1991 to 1995 by a Polish team, directed by Piotr Bieliński, as a part of Hassake Dam Salvage Project. Five excavation areas were opened and three of them yielded a significant number of child burials. A defensive wall was unearthed which leads scholars to believe that Rad Shaqrah served as a storage site at the beginning of the third millennium (Fortin 1998, 21). Burials In the second stratum, Area B, a child burial was discovered. This layer consisted of a narrow street paved with pebbles, on the top of them was a layer or ash and potsherds. This street separated two dwelling units, each of which had stone foundations23. One of the dwellings was explored in more

23 Similar stone foundations were found in the layer above the second stratum and also in the trenches B1 and B2 below the stratum.

detail, yet not completely24. It consisted of two small rooms, one of them equipped with a large tannur (Bieliński 1992, 82). Further south more similar domestic structures were found, walls of which were situated parallelly with the paved street. Most of the houses were furnished with tannurs, basins and other domestic features. In one of the forementioned dwellings a burial of a child was unearthed. It was, along with the houses, dated to the 3rd millennium BC. The skeleton was placed inside a mud-brick enclosure, each brick was set on the edge. Inside the enclosure a vessel of Metallic Ware was found (Bieliński 1992, 83). Another two child burials were discovered in Shaqra’s Area C. Both were dated to the ED III period. The first one was preserved rather badly – only small parts of bones was possible to uncover because of the intrusion by a modern grave. It was accompanied by several stone beads. Second burial was preserved exceptionally well. It was a deep grave of a child five or six years old. The pit had stone walls and was covered with a limestone slab. The construction’s opening was in the side – the body of a child was placed inside together with the grave goods and then the opening was closed with a layer of mud bricks and another limestone slab. Grave goods accompanying the skeleton were numerous – there were more than a hundred frit and stone beads from a necklace and bracelts, bronze earrings and six ceramic vessels (Bieliński 1992, 85).

Fig. 18 Tell Rad Shaqrah, a burial of a child buried in a cist grave with stone walls. (Bieliński 1992, 84)

Two years later, another ED III child burial was found in the same area. It was dug into the top of a wall of a house which was perpedicular to a defense wall. The skeleton of a child of unknown age was placed into a box constructed out of mud bricks. It was accompanied by three jars, numerous beads and three perforated pendants. (Bieliński 1994, 160). Bieliński also affirms, in the same publication, that this kind of grave is typical for the Early Dynastic child burial.

24 The excavation trench ended, it is anticipated by the excavators that the house continued toward the west and south (Bieliński 1992, 82)

Fig. 19 Tell Rad Shaqrah, three perforated pendants from a burial of a child. (Bieliński 1994, 160)

Another burial was discovered just several metres to the south. It was positioned near a wall. Below a masterly plastered floor of an ED III house a well preserved skeleton of a child was placed in a mud brick box. The grave was furnished by three vessels and 730 frit beads (Bieliński 1994, 161). In a trench B2 three rooms, out of which two belonged to the same dwelling, were unearthed. Domestic furnishing was found in one of the rooms. Three child burials, which also belong to the ED III period, were discovered in this trench. In the place between the two houses a rather small mud brick box was identified. It contained a skeleton of a child a ceramic jar and several beads. Found under a floor of one of the house was a child’s skeleton in a pit with four jars, several beads and five pendants made of amethyst. Another burial under a floor of a different house consisted of a skeleton with burial gifts of three ceramic vessels and several beads. Not only are these burials similar in grave goods and location, all of the burials also were positioned in east-western axis with heads to the west (Bieliński 1994, 162). In a trench B1 only one child burial was found. It was a grave of an infant in the northwestern corner of a room. The infant was interred into a mud brick box and it’s bones were rather badly preserved thus the lack of information of the position of bones. Pendants of shell, several beads and a corroded bronze item were found inside the enclosure (Bieliński 1995, 112). In the Area C the excavations unearthed, among others, a house dated to the ED period. It consisted of two rooms, under a floor of one of the rooms a similar stone chamber burial to the one mentioned above was unearthed. Skeletons of at least two children were found in a small chamber (about 1,40 x 0,70 m) made of stones, covered with a large limestone slab. Additionally, a collection of grave goods was brought to light. Apart of twenty beads and three vessels, it included seven amulets, two of which representated birds, four quadrupeds and one was carved with a symbol of a sun (Bieliński 1995, 115). There were twelve other ED child burials unearthed in the Area C. Bieliński does not provide detailed information on each of the burials in his report on the excavation season 1995, yet he summarizes them into different types, in the following way:

 Modest burial, where the child is interred into a simple cooking pot.  More elaborate burial, where the child is placed in a mud brick box closed from above with two bricks.  The most elaborate burial, where the child is interred in a chamber plastered with stones and closed with a slab of a limestone.

The more elaborate burials yielded a relatively rich collection of burial gifts of pottery vessels, beads and amulets.25 Another stone chamber grave was found and it again included much richer set of grave goods such as bracelets and earrings of bronze, pendants and 240 beads of frit, rock crystal, carnelian and other stones (Bieliński 1996, 167). The only child burial in Area D was an Akkadian period grave. It was located in a room. The skeleton was accompanied by „four pots, a pair of bronze earrings and several hundreds of different beads“ (Bieliński 1996, 168)

10.2.5 TELL AL-RAQA’I Tell al-Raqa’i is located in the Middle Khabur Region, about 10 km southeast of Hassake. The site was excavated by the University of Amsterdam and John Hopkins University, directed by M. van Loon and co-directed by H. H. Curvers and G. M. Schwartz. Their research was focused on small scale site particularities, such as the rural specialisation and the economy of the site (Schwartz and Curvers 1992, 397). The settlement was founded in the Early Bronze Age (Akkermans and Schwartz 2003, 218) and was primarily occupied durind the early and middle 3rd millennium BC. Tell al-Raqa’i is unique in its possible specialisation in storing as constructions with vaulted storing rooms and large silos were excavated within it (Schwartz and Curvers 1992, 397). Burials Burials of infants and children were found in two layers A. based on the ceramics, level 3 can be dated to the late Ninevite 526 and level 2 to early Leilan II (which translates into before Brak ED IIIb) (Schwartz and Curvers 1992, 401). Level 3 at Tell Raqa’i was well preserved and consisted of small rectangular structures, one-roomed square temple or shrine and a large thick-walled Rounded building (Curvers and Schwartz 1990, 10). Installations that are indicative of specialized productions were unearthed in rectangular structures, such as plastered basins, mud brick floors, drains and silos (analogous to the one at Tell ‘Atij) (Curvers and Schwartz 1990, 11). The Rounded building, in the excavation area 42, was not preserved wholly, but it is assumed that its shape was oval. The wall was constructed by irregularly shaped bricks and was vaulted. On the floor of the building an ashy layer sloping down from the center, ovens and partition walls were found. Two rectangular mudbrick boxes, one of which contained a skeleton of a child, were found within the rounded building. The skeleton in a mudbrick box was accompanied by two small jars.

25 1-5 vessels in each grave, beads of various materials and amulets of shell representing animals. 26 Leilan IIId or ED II/ED IIIa (Schwartz and Curvers 1992, 406)

Fig. 20 Tell Raqa'i, a burial of a child in a rectangular mud brick box located within the Rounded building. (Curvers and Schwartz 1990, 13)

East of the Rounded building a similar burial of a child was found – the skeleton was accompanied, according to the description provided by Curvers and Schwartz, by „three small vessels, beads, a limestone fish pendant and a pair of perforated small limestone sheep figurines“ (1990, 13). The bones in this grave were very badly preserved, still the grave is analogous to the one from Mashnaqa mentioned in this thesis. Another burial documented was a pit of eliptical shape with a child in a very flexed position, lying on its right side27. Accompanying goods were, as presented by Curvers and Schwartz: „a bracelet of beads around the left wrist, more beads around the neck, a copper/bronze toggle, pin on the chest, and 10 ceramic vessels around the head“ (1990, 14). The body had most likely been placed on a reed matting, as traces of reed were found, and mudbricks stood on the edges and covered the lower body. Vessels from this grave are similar to the vessels found at Tell Kutan. Two infants „less than six months old“ (1990, 15) without any grave goods were found inside a rectangular mudbrick enclosure covered with a vaulted brick in the area 49. Authors of the aforementioned publication called this area „open“ which makes these infant burials stand out.

27 The location within the settlement was not disclosed.

Fig. 21 Tell Raqa'i, burials of two infants in rectangular mud brick enclosures were covered with a vaulted brick. (Curvers and Schwartz 1990, 15)

Northeast of the temple a burial of a child interred into a brick-lined pit was found, furnished with a pointed-based jar and a Ninevite 5 zigzag incised flat-based cup (Curvers and Schwartz 1990, 15). Level 2 of Tell al-Raqa’i was much worse preserved, as it was disrupted by recent activity. It represents the latest 3rd millennium occupation of this settlement, and has provided a range of child burials. Some were simple pit burials with few grave goods. In those made of mud brick enclosures more associated grave goods were discovered28. Objects located in the burials were mostly of personal type. Beads and pendants of various material and shapes29 and bronze spirals. Of ceramics mostly miniature vessels, plain ware vessels and Metallic ware were present (Curvers and Schwartz 1992, 400).

28 These mud brick burials were present in a variety of ways. Some of the burials were rectangular mud brick enclosures with another mud brick positioned above the body, some were only covered by the mud brick. 29 Noteworthy are two pendants: a shell pendant in a shape of a bird of prey and a incised fish pendant carved out of a bone. They are closely similar to those found in Tell Abu Hijaira (mentioned in this thesis).

Tab 2 Middle Khabur region burials of infants and children

MIDDLE KHABUR REGION BURIALS Excavatio Type of Site ID n area Period Age Location location Grave Goods Literature Atij silo 517- 46. 517 Ninevite 5 infant below floor intramural 3 vases Fortin 1988, 162 secondary 12 infants 47. tell EJ IIIb and children cemetery extramoenial ? Fortin 1988, 162

Mashnaqa mud brick box, lies on Monchambert 1985, 48. level 2 3rd mill infant the left side intra 2 miniature vessels 229

Melebiya Bolt and Green 2003, 49. Ninevite 5 infants (?) pots ? 524

Rad Shaqrah mud brick enclosure below floor of 50. Area B 3rd mill child a house intra metallic ware vessel Bieliński 1992, 83 51. Area C ED III child pit? ? several stone beads Bieliński 1992, 85

pit with stone walls, closed with limestone slab from above, mudbricks+li mestone from jewelery, hundreds of frit and stone 52. Area C ED III child (5-6) the side ? beads, 6 vessels Bieliński 1992, 85 top of the three jars, numerous beads, three 53. Area C ED III child wall in a box perforated pendants Bieliński 1994, 160 mud brick box below floor of a 54. Area C ED III child house intra three vessels, 730 frit beads Bieliński 1994, 161 mud brick box between 55. Trench B2 ED III child two houses intra jar, several beads Bieliński 1994, 162 pit below floor of a four jars, several beads and five 56. Trench B3 ED III child house intra pendants of amethyst Bieliński 1994, 162 pit below floor of a 57. Trench B4 ED III child house intra three vessels, several beads Bieliński 1994, 162 mud brick box below floor of a Pendants of shell, several beads and a 58. Trench B1 ED III infant house intra corroded bronze item Bieliński 1995, 112 chamber with stone slabs, twenty beads and three vessels, it closed with included seven amulets, two of which limestone slab representated birds, four quadrupeds below floor of and one was carved with a symbol of a 59. Area C ED III 2 children a house intra sun Bieliński 1995, 115

vessel in a pit; modest - no grave goods, elaborate - 1- 60. Area C ED III 12 children mud brick intra 5 vessels in each grave, beads of Bieliński 1996, 167 box; chamber below floor of various materials and amulets of shell a house representing animals bracelets and earrings of bronze, pendants, 240 beads of frit, rock crystal, 61. Area C ? ? stone chamber ? carnelian and other stones Bieliński 1996, 167 four pots, a pair of bronze earrings and 62. Area D Akkadian child pit in a room intra several hundreds of different beads Bieliński 1996, 168 Raqa'i within a "Rounded Level 3, Late building", Curvers & Schwartz 63. area 42 Ninevite 5 child mudbrick box under floor? two small jars 1990, 13 east of the three small vessels, beads, a limestone Level 3, Late "Rounded fish pendant and a pair of perforated Curvers & Schwartz 64. area 42 Ninevite 5 child building" ? small limestone sheep figurines 1990, 13 eliptical pit, in a flexed position, on a reed matting, a bracelet of beads around the left wrist, covered by more beads around the neck, a Late mudbricks on copper/bronze toggle, pin on the chest, Curvers & Schwartz 65. Level 3 Ninevite 5 child edger ? and 10 ceramic vessels around the head 1990, 14 rectangular mudbrick enclosure covered with Level 3, Late a vaulted in the "open Curvers & Schwartz 66. area 49 Ninevite 5 infant brick area" no grave goods 1990, 15

rectangular mudbrick enclosure covered with Level 3, Late a vaulted in the "open Curvers & Schwartz 67. area 49 Ninevite 5 infant brick area" no grave goods 1990, 15 Level 3, NE of Late northeast of pointed-based jar, flat-based Ninevite 5 Curvers & Schwartz 68. temple Ninevite 5 child brick lined pit the temple zigzag incised cup 1990, 15 personal ornaments, beads, pendants simple x mud (miniature animals), bronze spirals, after late brick miniature vessels, large plain ware, Curvers & Schwartz 69. Level 2 Ninevite 5 children (?) enclosures ? metallic ware 1992, 400

10.3. ESKI MOSUL REGION

Fig. 22 A map of Eski Mosul Region

Fig. 23 A map of Eski Mosul Region with marked settlements discussed in this thesis

The following pages discuss the settlements in which children and infant burials were found, in the the Eski Mosul region, which were acessible to the author. A general overview on every settlement is presented with emphasis on the burials of children and infants from the EBA period. At the end of the chapter, on page 55, a synoptic table of the most important data is located.

10.3.1 TELL JIKAN Around 550 m long, 250 m wide and 14 m high, Tell Jikan was one of the biggest mounds in the Eski Mosul Plain. Four archaeological teams conducted their research on this rectangular mound - Iraqi expedition, archaeological team from Innsbruck University, Austria, German-Italian joint expedition and a team from Kokushikan University, Japan. The settlement was occupied from Hassuna to Islamic periods (Hiroyuki 2003, 43). Burials An infant was buried together with at least two adults. The grave was dated to the late ED III. Inside the grave 8 pottery vessels, more than 600 beads and some copper objects were discovered (Hiroyuki 2003, 43).

Fig. 24 Tell Jikan, some of the beads from the grave. (Hiroyuki 2003, 59)

10.3.2 TELL KARRANA 3 Tell Karrana 3 lies close to the left bank of the Tigris River. It was a steep hill on the Eski Mosul Plain, which was a subject of joint German-Italian Expedition to Iraq as a part of EMDSP. Three years of excavations were conducted until the site was flooded by the Mosul Dam (Rova 2003, 11) Burials One burial of 6-8 year old child of Ninevite 5 date was discovered. It contained a painted Ninevite 5 vessel (Bolt and Green 2003, 524).

Fig. 25 Tell Karrana 3, a burial of a child with painted Ninevite 5 vessel. (Bolt and Green 2003, 558)

10.3.3 TELL KUTAN French Archaeological Expedition in Iraq conducted the research of Tell Kutan during 1983-1985 as a part of the EMDSP. The excavations were directed by L. Bachelot and J.-D. Forest. The small mound (6 ha), about 45 km northwest of Mosul, was located on the right side of the Tigris River in a „piedmont“ area30 and is now flooded by the Mosul Dam (Bachelot 2003, 153). Burials An unspecified number of burials of infants and children was excavated here, probably of Ninevite 5 date (Bolt and Green 2003, 524). Of grave goods miniature vessels were discovered in the graves which are paralleled with the miniature vessels from infant graves at Raqa’i (Forest 1987, 88).

10.3.4 TELL MOHAMMED ARAB A settlement in the Eski Mosul plain, now flooded by Mosul Dam, was excavated since 1982 by the British Archaeological Expedition to Iraq through the EMDSP. I tis located on the southeastern part of the flooded area. The top of the mound was very badly damaged by weather and approximatelly a half of the tell was eroded by water. It comprises periods from Late Uruk to Sassanian with Ninevite 5 settlement roughy from 3000 to 2450 BC (Roaf 1984, 141). Burials Mohammed Arab yielded a sample of Ninevite 5 burials with 12 examples. Three of them were children and two infants. All of them were accompanied by grave goods. The burial of a 9-11 years old female, oriented to N-S with head aligned to the south, facing west. Was accompanied by bowl, 2 jars, pin and beads. Another female, 8-10 years old, was oriented E-W, with the head to the west and facing up. A pebble was included in this grave. The last child was a 8-10 years old male, the grave was oriented N-S, with the head to the south, face turned to east. The burial contained a „gravestone“. The burial of the first infant, which was identified as 3 months old, was accompanied by beads. The grave was in E-W orientation, head was position towards east, facing south.

30 „Piedmont“ area is an area of hills divided by wadis.

Fig. 26 Tell Mohamed Arab, a grave of 3 months old infant. (Bolt and Green 2003, 545)

The second infant burial was accompanied by 2 miniature jars and an unknown number of beads. Grave orientation was N-S with the head to the south and facing east (Bolt and Green, 2003, 522-523)

Fig. 27 Tell Mohamed Arab, a grave of an infant with two miniature jars. (Bolt and Green 2003, 551) 10.3.5 TELL RIJIM Tell Rijim was a small settlement (2.5 ha) on the western bank of Tigris excavated in the 1980’s by the Polish team led by Piotr Bieliński through the EMDSP. Three complete seasons were conducted until the flooding of the site in 1986. Occupated since the Late Uruk until the modern times, the 3rd millennium BC layers were badly preserved (Bolt and Green 2003, 523). Burial A cemetery on the top of the tell, which was mostly destroyed by the 2nd millennium BC and modern- day activities, yielded a grave of a child. Only a skull in approximatelly 50 cm wide burial pit stayed preserved out of the entire skeleton. The direction of the body was assumed to be north-south. Above the skull two ceramic vessels were found – a small plain cup positioned inside an incised and excised convex-bottomed Ninevite 5 jar (Bolt and Green 2003, 523; Bieliński 2003, 494).

Tab 3 Eski Mosul region burials of infants and children

ESKI MOSUL REGION BURIALS Excavatio Type of Site ID n area Period Age Location location Grave Goods Literature Jikan in a grave late ED with at least 8 pottery vessels, more than 600 beads, copper Hiroyuki 70. ? III infant two adults ? objects 2003, 43

Karrana 3 Bolt and Ninevite Green 2003, 71. ? 5 child (6-8yrs) ? ? painted Ninevite 5 vessel 524

Kutan Bolt and Green 2003, Ninevite infants and 524; Forest 72. ? 5 children (?) ? ? miniature vessels similar to Raqa'i 1987, 88

Mohamme d Arab Bolt and N-S (head to Green, Ninevite south, face to 2003, 522- 73. 5 child (9-11yrs, f) west) intra bowl, 2 jars, pin and beads 523 Bolt and E-W (head to Green, Ninevite west, facing 2003, 522- 74. 5 child (8-10yrs, f) up) intra pebble 523

Bolt and N-S (head to Green, Ninevite child (8-10yrs, south, face to 2003, 522- 75. 5 m) east) ? "gravestone" 523 Bolt and E-W (head to Green, Ninevite east, face to 2003, 522- 76. 5 infant (3 months) south) ? beads 523 Bolt and N-S (head to Green, Ninevite south, face to 2003, 522- 77. 5 infant east) ? 2 miniature jars, unknown number of beads 523

Rijim Bolt and intramoe Green 2003, N-S, only a nial- above the skull a small plain cup positioned 523; Ninevite skull, in a extramur inside an incised and excised convex-bottomed Bieliński 78. 5 child cemetery al Ninevite 5 jar 2003, 494

11 RESULTS The main goal of this thesis was to process the available information on settlements of the Upper Khabur region, Middle Khabur Region and Eski Mosul region, to separate children and infants burials from the reports given on burials from the Early Bronze Age period and to evaluate whether the results are enough to trace a possible change in mortuary behaviour towards underaged individuals after the emergence of the second urban revolution. Secondary goals of this thesis were to trace similarities and differencies in burials of infants and children and to attempt to add to the research of burials a view onto burials of young individuals, which were usually overlooked, a study focusing not only on the treatment of the burial place, location of the burial and type of the grave, but also on the evidence of the social standing of the buried foetus, infant or child within family, settlements and regions. Out of all the known settlements from the EBA period of the regions of interest and those available to the author a total number of 19 sites were separated with reported burials of children and infants. These settlements yielded 78 records on burials – some of them were informations on single inhumations, but some were contracted evidence of the situation within the settlement of interest. Entries were given an ID number, which is used when describing the burial. Following data was observed:

 Excavation area in which the grave was found  Period of time in the historical development  Age of the deceased (infant or child)  Location of the grave considering it’s location within the settlement  Type of location of the grave considering it’s position towards the larger space  Grave goods which accompanied the deceased or their lack there of. Period of time in the historical development was taken, if it was possible, from the main source. If not, the period was evaluated after discussion with Zuzanna Wygnańska, PhD. Afterwards, these periods were summarized into 5 categories: 1. 3rd millennium BC  This category embraces all entries that were dated only to the 3rd millennium BC and were not possible to confidently date 2. Ninevite 5 and Late Ninevite 5  This category encompasses Ninevite 5 period as well as EJ II, IIIa, ED II and early ED III. It happens in the first half of the 3rd millennium. 3. Post Ninevite 5  In this category from mid-3rd millennium to mid late-3rd millennium late EJ IIIa and IIIb were included as well as entries dated to the ED III 4. Akkadian  Akkadian period or EJ IV are included in this category taking place in 2400 – 2200 BC. 5. Post Akkadian  The last category takes place in around 2150 – 2000 BC and includes period EJ V which translates into Ur III.31 Following are tables of burials encountered in the regions of interest arranged by the aforementioned chronological categories:

31 After personal communication with Zuzanna Wygnańska, PhD.

Upper Khabur region Category Period Site ID Number of buried Reference 1 ? Arbid 10. child Page 33 1 ? Chagar Bazar 25. 2 infant Page 34 1 3000 BC Chagar Bazar 26. child Page 34 1 ? Hamoukar 36. infant Page 36 2 Ninevite 5 Arbid 1. infant Page 29 2 Ninevite 5 Arbid 6. infant Page 31 2 Ninevite 5 Arbid 7. infant Page 32 2 Ninevite 5 Arbid 9. infant Page 32 2 Ninevite 5 Arbid 11. child Page 33 2 EJ II Barri 12. 8 infants Page 32 2 EJ II Barri 13. 2 infants Page 32 2 EBA II/IIIa Barri 14. 2 infants Page 32 2 EJ II, EJ III Beydar 18. 6 children (+) Page 33 2 EJ II, EJ IIIa Beydar 19. ? children Page 33 2 Ninevite 5 Khazne 39. children Page 36 2 ED II/III Abu Hijaira 40. infants (?) Page 37 2 ED II/III Abu Hijaira 41. infants (?) Page 37 2 Ninevite 5 Leilan 45. infant Page 38 3 3rd mill Arbid 2. children (?) Page 30 3 EBA III/IIIa Barri 16. child Page 32 3 EJ IIIa Beydar 20. a few children Page 33 3 EJ IIIa Beydar 21. child Page 33 3 EJ IIIb Chagar Bazar 22. 12 children Page 33 3 EJ IIIb Chagar Bazar 23. 5 infants Page 33 3 EJ IIIa-b Chagar Bazar 24. 5 infants Page 33 3 3rd mill Abu Hafur 27. infant Page 35 3 3rd mill Abu Hafur 28. infant Page 35 3 3rd mill Abu Hafur 29. infant Page 35 3 3rd mill Abu Hafur 30. child (2-3yrs) Page 35 3 3rd mill Abu Hafur 31. child Page 35 3 3rd mill Abu Hafur 32. child (5-6yrs) Page 35 mid-late 3rd mill (ED II- 3 III) Leilan 42. infant Page 38 3 mid-late 3rd mill Leilan 43. 11 infants Page 38 3 mid-late 3rd mill Leilan 44. 15 infants Page 39 4 Akkadian Arbid 8. child Page 32 4 EBA IIIb Barri 17. child Page 32 4 akk/post-akk Hamoukar 33. infant bones Page 36 4 akk/post-akk Hamoukar 34. child Page 36 4 akk/post-akk Hamoukar 35. infant Page 36 4 akk/post-akk Hamoukar 37. infant Page 36 4 akk/post-akk Hamoukar 38. bigger infant or older Page 36 5 Post-Akk Arbid 3. child Page 30

5 Post-Akk Arbid 4. child Page 30 5 Post-Akk Arbid 5. child Page 31 5 end of EBA Barri 15. 2 infants Page 32 Tab 4 Burials of children and infants in the Upper Khabur region separated into chronological categories 1-5 after the period of historical development

Middle Khabur region Category Period Site ID Number of buried Reference 1 ? Rad Shaqrah 61. ? Page 51 2 Ninevite 5 Atij 46. infant Page 47 2 EJ IIIb Atij 47. 12 infants and children Page 47 2 Ninevite 5 Melebiya 49. infants (?) Page 48 2 Late Ninevite 5 Raqa'i 63. child Page 51 2 Late Ninevite 5 Raqa'i 64. child Page 51 2 Late Ninevite 5 Raqa'i 65. child Page 52 2 Late Ninevite 5 Raqa'i 66. infant Page 52 2 Late Ninevite 5 Raqa'i 67. infant Page 52 2 Late Ninevite 5 Raqa'i 68. child Page 53 3 3rd mill Mashnaqa 48. infant Page 47 3 3rd mill Rad Shaqrah 50. child Page 48 3 ED III Rad Shaqrah 51. child Page 49 3 ED III Rad Shaqrah 52. child (5-6) Page 49 3 ED III Rad Shaqrah 53. child Page 49 3 ED III Rad Shaqrah 54. child Page 49 3 ED III Rad Shaqrah 55. child Page 49 3 ED III Rad Shaqrah 56. child Page 49 3 ED III Rad Shaqrah 57. child Page 49 3 ED III Rad Shaqrah 58. infant Page 50 3 ED III Rad Shaqrah 59. 2 children Page 50 3 ED III Rad Shaqrah 60. 12 children Page 50 3 after late Ninevite 5 Raqa'i 69. children (?) Page 53 4 Akkadian Rad Shaqrah 62. child Page 51 Tab 5 Burials of children and infants in the Middle Khabur region separated into chronological categories 1-5 after the period of historical development

Eski Mosul region Category Period Site ID Number of buried Reference 2 Ninevite 5 Karrana 3 71. child (6-8yrs) Page 59 2 Ninevite 5 Kutan 72. infants and children (?) Page 60 2 Ninevite 5 Mohammed Arab 73. child (9-11yrs, f) Page 60 2 Ninevite 5 Mohammed Arab 74. child (8-10yrs, f) Page 60 2 Ninevite 5 Mohammed Arab 75. child (8-10yrs, m) Page 60 2 Ninevite 5 Mohammed Arab 76. infant (3 months) Page 60 2 Ninevite 5 Mohammed Arab 77. infant Page 61 2 Ninevite 5 Rijim 78. child Page 61 3 late ED III Jikan 70. infant Page 59 Tab 6 Burials of children and infants in the Eski Mosul region separated into chronological categories 1-5 after the period of historical development

Age of the deceased was assessed from the main source. It is either infant or child. By the term „Infant“ it is meant a newborn child up to two years of age. However, the exact information on age of the deceased was very rarely discussed, therefore also foetuses were included under this term. In the case of children the exact age is known only from several cases:

 Tell Abu Hafur (Koliński and Lawecka 1992, 202), Karrana 3 (Bolt and Green 2003, 524), Mohammed Arab (Bolt and Green, 2003, 522-523) and Tell Rad Shaqrah (Bieliński 1992, 85) In all other cases simply a term „child“ is used and therefore it was elected to call individuals older than 2 years and up to 12 years of age a child. Location of the grave is the location of emplacement of the grave within the settlement. Additional information is considered in this group and also the type of grave is resolved here. Some of the encountered burials were inhumations of more children (Tell Barri, grave 12, see page 32) and more adults with a child or infant (Tell Leilan, grave 42, see page 38; Tell Jikan, grave 70, see page 59). Out of the anticipated types of burials these were encountered:

 Pit burial  Jar burial  Mud-brick enclosure burial  Chamber grave Type of location of the grave discusses the location of the grave within the settlement or in the closest vicinity of the settlement in three groups: 1) Intramoenial – intramural - within a settlement – inside a building 2) intramoenial – extramural - within a settlement – outside of a building 3) extramoenial - outside of a settlement. This group gives additional information to the previous group Location of the grave to have the most precise information on the actual placement of the grave. Grave goods or burials gifts are various objects which were intentionally buried with the deceased individual. Excluding ceramic vessels serving as a body container in burials a grave good is every

object located in a vicinity and clear association with the grave or directly within the grave.

For the use in this thesis, grave goods were separated into three groups, distinguished by the amount of objects accompanying the deceased and by the rarity of the found objects towards other burials in the same chronological category and settlement. Those groups are:

 No grave goods – when the information was not given o rit is stated, that no grave goods were unearthed; e.g. grave 27 from Tell Hamoukar or 20 from Tell Beydar, where no grave goods were found, but in one case it is mentioned, in the other no information is given (Koliński and Lawecka 1992, 201; Lebeau and Suleiman 2003, 9)  Grave goods – graves with some amount of grave goods were added into this category; e.g. grave 57. from Tell Rad Shaqrah, where three vessels and several beads were accompanying a deceased child (Bieliński 1994, 162) or grave 46 unearthed with three vases at Tell Atij (Fortin 1988, 162).  Rich grave goods – burials with additional object of rare type or in a great amount were considered rich burials; e.g. a grave 54. from Tell Rad Shaqrah with a high amout of frit beads (730) and three vessels (Bieliński 1994, 161) or grave 65. from Tell Raqa’i with several types of goods (vessels, jewelery and beads) as well as high number of them (Curvers & Schwartz 1990, 14).

18 16 Burials in regions separated into chronological categories 14 12 10 8 6 4

Numberburials of 2 0 Upper Khabur Region Burials Middle Khabur Region Burials Eski Mosul Region Burials Category 1 4 1 Category 2 14 9 8 Category 3 16 14 1 Category 4 7 1 Category 5 4 0

Graph 1 Burials in regions separated into chronological categories

This graph shows the total number of graves in separate regions considering the chronological categories: 1. 3rd millennium BC 2. Ninevite 5 and Late Ninevite 5, EJ II, IIIa = ED II (early ED III), first half of the 3rd millennium 3. Post Ninevite 5, Late EJ IIIa, IIIb = ED III, mid-3rd millennium to mid late-3rd millennium 4. Akkadian, EJ IV, 2400 – 2200 BC 5. Post Akkadian, EJ V, Ur III, 2150 – 2000 BC The most burials encountered during the research of the regions were from Category 2 Ninevite 5 and Late Ninevite 5 followed by the subsequent period from Category 3 Post Ninevite 5. The Akkadian period (Category 4) was represented mostly in the Upper Khabur region and in one case in the Middle Khabur region and Post Akkadian period (Category 5) only in the Upper Khabur region. Eski Mosul Region entries were all dated to the Categories 2 and 3. This may show a possible clue to the amount of population in the regions during the first half of the 3rd millennium with a decline of amount of burials in the later part of the 3rd millennium.

Number of burials in regions of interest by grave goods assemblage 35 30 30 25 20

15 11 9 10 7 7 5 6 Numberburials of 5 2 0 0 No grave goods Grave goods Rich grave goods Upper Khabur region 30 9 6 Middle Khabur region 5 11 7 Eski Mosul region 0 7 2

Upper Khabur region Middle Khabur region Eski Mosul region

Graph 2 Number of burials in regions of interest by grave goods assemblage

This graph shows number of graves encountered in the regions of interest throughout the EBA period with focus on the accompanying goods using the three groups of grave goods. This graph shows the overwhelming amount of not furnished graves encountered in the Upper Khabur region. Middle Khabur region, on the other hand, presents a balanced distribution of furnished burials and not furnished burials; with more richly furnished graves than those without any additional objects, this region got closer to support the author’s theory – infants and children were mostly buried with accompanying objects possibly showing their importance to the bereaved. Eski Mosul region did not yield any burial without grave goods; all of them were accompanied by a vessel or beads. In one case (Tell Mohammed Arab, grave 74, page 60) a pebble was found within the grave, which was assessed as a grave good (Bolt and Green 2003, 522-523).

Number of burials in regions of interest by grave goods assemblage in chronological categories 14 12 12 10 10 7 7 8 6 6 4 4 3 4 3 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 Název Název osy 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 UKR - MKR - EMR - UKR - no UKR - MKR - no MKR - EMR - no EMR - rich rich rich grave grave grave grave grave grave grave grave grave goods goods goods goods goods goods goods goods goods Category 1 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Category 2 10 4 0 4 3 2 0 7 1 Category 3 12 2 2 1 7 6 0 0 1 Category 4 2 3 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 Category 5 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0

Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4 Category 5

Graph 3 Number of burials in regions of interest by grave goods assemblage in chronological categories. UKR – Upper Khabur region, MKR – Middle Khabur region, EMR – Eski Mosul region

In this graph the information from the previous graph is broken into the chronological categories to better show the change throughout the historical development of the regions.

 Upper Khabur region shows the tendency to bury their young deceased individuals without grave goods mostly in the first half of the 3rd millennium – in Categories 2 and 3 (Ninevite 5 and Late Ninevite 5, EJ II, IIIa, IIIb = ED III) to mid late-3rd millennium. Moving to the later parts of the 3rd millennium the situation with grave goods evens. This tendency may support the author’s theory of young individuals being taken as important parts of the community through the accompanying assemblage in the Upper Khabur region.

 Middle Khabur region yielded results only in Categories 2 and 3. The higher results in the graves with grave goods again show more care given to the final resting place of the young individuals. With one entry in both Categories 1 and 4 and no example in the last Category it is not possible to give a confident conclusion on the evolution of burying the deceased with grave goods. However, Middle Khabur region may help with the higher numbers of burials with grave goods to assess the same conclusion as the graph above.

 Eski Mosul region, with 9 entries, lacks not furnished graves whatsoever. All of them were accompanied by an object considered as a grave good. With 2 more richly furnished graves of an infant and a child, this region shows the best the tradition to bury children and infants with accompanying objects.

11. 1 Upper Khabur Region Burials Burials in the Upper Khabur Region by chronological categories 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Numberburials of 0 Hamouk Arbid Barri Beydar Chagar Hafur Khazna Hijaira Leilan ar Category 1 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 Category 2 5 3 2 0 0 0 1 2 1 Category 3 1 1 2 3 6 0 0 0 3 Category 4 1 1 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 Category 5 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4 Category 5

Graph 4 Burials in the Upper Khabur region separated into chronological categories

In the Upper Khabur area a whole number of 45 of mentions of infant and children burials were studied. Closer look on the Upper Khabur regions shows that the most entries were encountered in the Categories 2 and 3. It may be possible to assess the change in mortuary evidence. 11.1.1 Tell Arbid Burials of infants and children at Tell Arbid

5 4 4 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0

Numberburials of Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4 Category 5 Infants 0 4 0 0 0 Children 1 1 1 1 3

Infants Children

Graph 5 Burials of infants and children at Tell Arbid

Burials of infants and children at Tell Arbid were categorised into all developer categories. Type of the burials did not evolve during the time – all of the encountered burials were pit burials, some of them in a ceramic vessel. An unknown number of children dated to Category 3 were buried into mud brick graves, but not exclusively (Bieliński 2000b, 284).

11.1.2 Tell Barri Burials of infants and children at Tell Barri

15 12 10

5 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 0

Category 2 Category 3 Category 4 Category 5 Numberburials of Infants 12 0 0 2 Children 0 1 1 0

Infants Children

Graph 6 Burials of infants and children at Tell Barri

All dated categories were encountered at Tell Barri. 10 infants inside a sacred area and a possible shrine were unearthed in extraordinary situation – with two infants inside one pit. Information on children is scarce, however infants dated to Category 5 were buried in jars (Valentini 2011, 272). 11.1.3 Tell Beydar The exact number of buried children and infants can not be assessed, because the source does not give the exact number and the author was not able to mend this situation; the authors state, that „a few children“ graves were found which were dated to both Category 2 and Category 3. The burials were found on burial ground, but also under floors of domestic installations. Both pit graves and possibly mud brick graves were encountered (Lebeau and Suleiman 2003, 9-12). No infants were found.

11.1.4 Chagar Bazar Burials of infants and children at Chagar Bazar

15 12 10 10

5 2 1 0 Category 1 Category 3

Numberburials of Infants 2 10 Children 1 12

Infants Children

Graph 7 Burials of infants and children at Chagar Bazar

Out of the categories with decided dating, only Category 3 was encountered at Chagar Bazar. Both age groups were discovered near the housing area. The type of burial was not possible to distinguish and grave goods were not mentioned, with only exception of pottery inside 5 infant burials located below floors of rooms (Mallowan 1936, 15-18).

11.1.5 Tell Abu Hafur Burials of infants and children at Tell Abu Hafur 3,5 3 3 3 2,5 2 1,5 1 0,5

Numberburials of 0 Category 3 Infants 3 Children 3

Infants Children

Graph 8 Burials of infants and children at Tell Abu Hafur

Exclusively dated to Category 3, Tell Abu Hafur yielded the same number of burials of both age groups. Infants were buried inside kitchen ware pots and below floors and children were buried in mud brick cist graves (Koliński and Lawecka 1992, 201-202). This settlement is the only one with direct distinction between age groups and type of burials. Only one child was accompanied by grave goods (grave 32, page 35). 11.1.6 Tell Hamoukar Burials of infants and children at Tell Hamoukar 5 4 4 3 2 1 1 1 0 0 Numberburials of Category 1 Category 4 Infants 1 4 Children 0 1

Infants Children

Graph 9 Burials of infants and children at Tell Hamoukar

Burials of infants and children at Tell Hamoukar were dated almost exclusively to the Category 4, with one exception of an infant burial with unknown datation. The deceased were buried in pit burials or in a ceramic container. Infant bones were encountered inside walls (grave 33, page 36) (Grossman 2013, 126).

11.1.7 Tell Khazne At this settlement an unknown number of „children“ (Merpert & Munchaev 1999, 122) from Ninevite 5 period (Category 2) in a probable ritual burial was found either in cist graves, in vessels or under floor of rooms.

11.1.8 Tell Hijaira An unknown number of infants either in jar burials without grave goods or mud brick boxes with grave goods of both personal and accompanying kind buried under floors of rooms and/or courtyards dated to the period ED II/III (Category 2) were encountered at Tell Hijaira (Lutz & Tietze 1992, 255).

11.1.9 Tell Leilan Burials of infants and children at Tell Leilan 27 30 20 10 1 0 0 0

Numberburials of Category 2 Category 3 Infants 1 27 Children 0 0

Infants Children

Graph 10 Burials of infants and children at Tell Leilan

No children, only infant burials and represented only in Category 2 and 3, with the Category 3 being significantly higer than the Category 2, were studied at Tell Leilan. On most of the burials no additional information was retrieved, only one infant, buried in a ceramic vessel (Bolt and Green 2003, 523) and one infant buried inside a grave with three adults (Weiss et al. 1990, 551-554) are disclosed in more detail. The one example from Category 2 is not accompanied by any grave goods and an approximate half of the examples from Category 3 are graves furnished with some grave goods, mostly ceramic vessels (Weiss 1990, 204-205).

11.1.10 Grave goods assemblage Grave goods assemblage in burials of children and infants in the Upper Khabur region by chronological periods

14 12 12 10 10 8 6 4 4 3 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

Numberburials of 0 0 0 0 0 No grave goods Grave goods Rich grave goods Category 1 4 0 0 Category 2 10 4 0 Category 3 12 2 2 Category 4 2 3 2 Category 5 2 0 2

Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4 Category 5

Graph 11 Grave goods assemblage in burials of children and infants in the Upper Khabur region by chronological periods

This graph shows number of graves encountered in the Upper Khabur region throughout the EBA period with focus on the accompanying goods. Three groups of grave goods were observed:

 No grave goods - no additional objects or unknown status on grave goods  Grave goods – graves with some grave goods, as in grave 11 (page 32) at Tell Arbid where plain ware juglet, a Ninevite 5 vessel and small number of beads were found accompanying a burial of a child (Koliński 2011b, 317).  Rich grave goods – assemblage of objects in the burials was considered rich, if the objects were of unusual type or in a higher amount. E.g. in grave 4 (page 30) at Tell Arbid, where seven small vases, a circular bronze pendant, a disc probably for holding the clothing, golden and silver earrings, 70 beads of several materials including silver and lapis lazuli and a probable toy rattle were found accompanying a deceased child (Bieliński 2004, 339). All of the created chronological categories were encountered in the Upper Khabur region. Those were: 1. 3rd millennium BC 2. Ninevite 5 and Late Ninevite 5, EJ II, IIIa = ED II (early ED III), first half of the 3rd millennium 3. Post Ninevite 5, Late EJ IIIa, IIIb = ED III, mid-3rd millennium to mid late-3rd millennium 4. Akkadian, EJ IV, 2400 – 2200 BC 5. Post Akkadian, EJ V, Ur III, 2150 – 2000 BC Upper Khabur region showed tendency to bury children and infants into furnished graves more frequently later in the 3rd millennium BC so that no rich graves were found in the Category 2, however not furnished graves were also present in the Categories 4 and 5.

The richly furnished graves were:

 Category 3 – Grave number 32 of a child from Tell Abu Hafur buried in a mud brick box (page 35) and a grave number 42 of an infant buried with three adults in a pit burial at Tell Leilan (page 38)  Category 4 – Grave number 8 of a child from Tell Arbid buried inside a wall (page 32), a grave number 38 of a bigger infant from Tell Hamoukar buried in a pit (page 36)  Category 5 – Graves of children number 3 and 4 from Tell Arbid (page 30) buried in ceramic vessels. Not furnished graves were of both infants and children in varied types of burials, usually under floors of houses or in a general area of housing space. The type of location, if possible, was determined to be almost exclusively intramoenial-intramural, with only one exception of children buried on a burial ground at Tell Beydar (Lebeau and Suleiman 2003, 9). Those were assessed to be intramoenia-extramural burials. The type of burials were not complex. Infants were usually buried in simple pit burials or burials in a ceramic vessel. Children were more often buried in mud brick boxes, however no distinction can be done between the two age groups, because of the problematic definition of the age and also because of no exact difference between the type of burial. Only one more labour extensive entry of a burial was found – Tell Khazne yielded grave number 39 (page 36) of an unknown number of children buried, among other, inside chambers (Merpert & Munchaev 1999, 122). As this entry falls into the Category 2 and is the only one, no conclusion on evolution of the way of burials can be done.

11.2. Middle Khabur region burials

Burials in the Middle Khabur region by chronological categories 11 12 10 8 6 6 4 2 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Numberburials of 0 Atij Mashnaqa Melebiya Shaqrah Raqa'i Category 2 2 0 1 0 6 Category 3 0 1 0 11 1 Category 4 0 0 0 1 0

Category 2 Category 3 Category 4

Graph 12 Burials in the Middle Khabur region separated into chronological categories

In the Middle Khabur Region a total number of 24 burials spreading from Ninevite 5 (Category 2) to the Akkadian period (Category 4) were discussed in this thesis. 11.2.1 Tell Atij One infant buried with 3 vases under a floor of a silo dated to Category 2 and 12 infants and children buried on a secondary tell on a cemetery probably without grave goods dated to Category 2 were unearthed here (Fortin 1988, 162).

11.2.2 Tell Mashnaqa One infant burial was dated to Category 3 and found in a mud brick box with two miniature vessels (Monchambert 1985, 229).

11.2.3 Tell Melebiya An unknown number of infants were buried in pots dated to Category 2 (Bolt and Green 2003, 524).

11.2.4 Tell Rad Shaqrah Burials of infants and children at Tell Rad Shaqrah 25 22 20 15 10 5 1 0 1 Numberburials of 0 Category 3 Category 4 Infants 1 0 Children 22 1

Infants Children

Graph 13 Burials of infants and children at Tell Rad Shaqrah

Tell Rad Shaqrah yielded the most burials of all settlements in the Middle Khabur region. Both infants and children were buried in similar fashion, all accompanied by rather rich assemblage of grave goods. Simple pit burials, burials in ceramic vessels and mud brick enclosure burials were present, with two chamber burials. All of the burials were intramural.

11.2.5 Tell Raqa‘i Burials of infants and children at Tell Raqa'i

5 4 4 3 2 2 1 1 0 Numberburials of 0 Category 2 Category 3 Infants 2 0 Children 4 1

Infants Children

Graph 14 Burials of infants and children at Tell Raqa'i

The number of burials of children dated to Category 3 was not disclosed. At Tell Raqa’i infant burials were not accompanied by grave goods, children burials, on the other hand, were all accompanied throughout the chronological categories 2 and 3. All of the burials were interrments into mud bricks and one of the children was laid into an mud brick enclosure on a reed matting (Curvers & Schwartz 1990, 13-15).

11.2.6 Grave goods assemblage Grave goods assemblage in burials of children and infants in the Middle Khabur region by chronological periods 12 11

6 5 4 4 3 2 Numberburials of 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4 Category 5 No grave goods 0 4 0 0 0 Grave goods 0 3 11 0 0 Rich grave goods 1 2 5 1 0

No grave goods Grave goods Rich grave goods

Graph 15 Grave goods assemblage in burials of children and infants in the Middle Khabur region by chronological periods

This graph shows number of graves encountered in the Middle Khabur region throughout the EBA period with focus on the accompanying goods. Three groups of grave goods were observed:

 No grave goods  Grave goods – graves with some grave goods, as in grave number 51 (page 49) of a child at Tell Rad Shaqrah with several stone beads (Bieliński 1992, 85).

 Rich grave goods – assemblage of objects in the burials was considered rich, if the objects were of unusual type or in a higher amount. E.g. in grave number 64 (page 51) at Tell Raqa‘i, where unusual grave goods were encountered of three small vessels, beads, a limestone fish pendant and a pair of perforated small limestone sheep figurines (Curvers & Schwartz 1990, 13). All of the created chronological categories with an exception of Category 5 were encountered in the Middle Khabur region. Those were: 1. 3rd millennium BC 2. Ninevite 5 and Late Ninevite 5, EJ II, IIIa = ED II (early ED III), first half of the 3rd millennium 3. Post Ninevite 5, Late EJ IIIa, IIIb = ED III, mid-3rd millennium to mid late-3rd millennium 4. Akkadian, EJ IV, 2400 – 2200 BC In the Middle Khabur region a tendency to bury children with grave goods was encountered. The small amount of not furnished graves supports the theory of importance of children and infants. Furthermore, the rich grave in Category 4, even with a lack of any other examples, may support it too.

Closer look on the burials shows, unlike in the Upper Khabur region, that from the studied examples only graves of children were richly furnished with grave goods and only graves of infants were not furnished whatsoever (or the information is not accessible). Types of burials were more elaborate and most of them encountered in the Category 3, e.g. Post Ninevite 5 which translates into Late EJ IIIa, IIIb (mid-3rd to mid late-3rd millennium BC. (Detailed info on the burials can be seen also on page 54 in Table 2) The richly furnished graves were:

 Category 2 – Graves number 64 and 65 of children from Tell Raqa’I (page 51-52)  Category 3 – Graves number 52-54, 56, 59 and 62 all of children from Tell Rad Shaqrah (page 49-51) Not furnished graves were of both infants and children in varied types of burials both less and more elaborate, for example:

 grave 49, page 48 from Category 2 of infant buried in a pot  grave 66, page 52 from Category 2 of infant buried inside a rectangular mudbrick enclosure covered with a vaulted brick The information on the location of burials was vague, but mostly the burials were located near the housing space, for example:

 grave 62, page 51 from Category 4 in a room  grave 63, page 51 from Category 2 within a building

The type of location, if possible, was determined to be almost exclusively intramoenial-intramural, with only one exception of both infants and children buried in a cemetery on a secondary tell at Tell Atij (Fortin 1988, 162). Those were assessed to be extramoenial burials. The type of burials were not usually complex, nevertheless more mud brick burials were encountered in the Middle Khabur region, than in the Upper Khabur region. Mud brick enclosures were encountered in all studied settlements. Furthermore, at Tell Rad Shaqrah

(graves 52, 59, 60 and 61, pages 44-45) stone walled and paved burials were unearthed, all of them richly furnished with grave goods (Bieliński 1992, 85; 1995, 112; 1995, 115; 1996, 167). Falling within the Category 3 (with the only exception of grave 61, which dating is undetermined and therefore included in Category 1) these elaborate installations show more labour was given into burying the underaged individuals, than encountered before. To summarize the Middle Khabur region, the bigger amount of rich burials in the Categories 3 and 4 may be a lead for a change in the later parts of the 3rd millennium after the second urban revolution.

11.3 Eski Mosul region burials Burials in the Eski Mosul region by chronological categories 6 5 4 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 Název Název osy Mohammed Jikan Karrana 3 Kutan Rijim Arab Category2 0 1 1 5 1 Category 3 1 0 0 0 0

Category2 Category 3

Graph 16 Burials in the Eski Mosul region separated into chronological categories

In the Eski Mosu Region a total number of 9 burials, mostly from the Ninevite 5 (Category 2) with one entry in the ollowing Category 3 were discussed in this thesis.

11.3.1 Tell Jikan One infant buried in a grave with two adults dated to Category 3 was found. The grave was furnished with rich grave goodsot exactly said whether the rich grave goods assemblage belonged to the infant or to the adults.

11.3.2 Tell Karrana 3 One child accompanied by Ninevite 5 painted vessel dated to Category 2.

11.3.3 Tell Kutan An unknown number of infants and children buried with miniature vessels similar to those found at Tell Raqa’i (Bolt and Green 2003, 524; Forest 1987, 88). Dated to Category 2.

11.3.4 Tell Mohammed Arab Burials of infants and children at Tell Mohammed Arab 4 3 3 2 2

Numberburials of 1 0 Category 2 Infants 2 Children 3

Infants Children

Graph 17 Burials of infants and children at Tell Mohammed Arab

Both infants and children buried accompanied by grave goods (Bolt and Green, 2003, 522-523).

11.3.5 Tell Rijim A single burial of a child buried in a cemetery with grave goods (Bolt and Green 2003, 523; Bieliński 2003, 494). Dated to Category 2.

11.3.6 Grave goods assemblage Grave goods assemblage in burials of children and infants in the Eski Mosul region by chronological periods

10 8 8 6 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 No grave goods Some grave goods Rich grave goods

Numberburials of Category 2 0 8 0 Category 3 0 0 1

Category 2 Category 3

Graph 18 Grave goods assemblage in burials of children and infants in the Eski Mosul region by chronological periods

This graph shows number of graves encountered in the Eski Mosul region throughout the EBA period with focus on the accompanying goods. (Detailed info on the burials can be seen also on page 55 in Table 3) From the original three groups of grave goods only two were observed, as not furnished graves were not present in Eski Mosul region:

 Grave goods – graves with some grave goods, as in grave number 71 (page 53) of a child at Tell Karrana 3 with painted Ninevite 5 vessel (Bolt and Green 2003, 524).

 Rich grave goods – assemblage of objects in the burials was considered rich, if the objects were of unusual type or in a higher amount. E.g. in grave number 70 (page 51) at Tell Jikan, where an infant was buried with at least two adults with assigned grave goods of 8 ceramic vessels, more than 600 beads and some copper objects (Hiroyuki 2003, 43) Of the created chronological categories only Categories 2 and 3 were encountered in the Eski Mosul region: 2. Ninevite 5 and Late Ninevite 5, EJ II, IIIa = ED II (early ED III), first half of the 3rd millennium 3. Post Ninevite 5, Late EJ IIIa, IIIb = ED III, mid-3rd millennium to mid late-3rd millennium. This situation did not enable to make assumptions on a possible change through the historical development of the area. However, the lack of not furnished graves supports the author’s theory of importance of deceased children and infants. Type of burials and location of the graves was not accessible and apart from one grave of infant buried with at least two adults (grave 70, page 53) no additional information was reached. It was concluded, however, that all the burials at Eski Mosul region were intramural, apart from the burial at Tell Rijim (grave 78, page 54), which was found on a cemetery and therefore considered intramoenial-extramural.

12 CONCLUSION The main goal of this thesis was to study patterns in the burials of infants and children dated to the EBA in settlements located in the Upper and Middle Khabur regions in northeastern Syria and in Eski Mosul Plain in northwestern Iraq and to present evidence on the behaviour towards underaged persons. With focus on the Ninevite 5 period, but also including the whole EBA, settlements were chosen from aformentioned regions according to their accessibility to the author and and to the presence of burials of children and infants. The data processed in this thesis come from settlements, which vary in many ways – from well- researched long-term studied settlements to mounds, which were excavated in a matter of a couple of years through salvage projects. They vary in size as well as in occupational time, however are connected by their region and time. Even though many years have to pass from a person to grow from an infant to a child, attention was given to both ages. These two groups are often overlooked, which led the author presume, that they may be viewed as the less productive, as only consumers of the culture and not their co-creators. The author of this thesis that this is a stance that is not correct and therefore it was elected to study both infants and children in this thesis. Since the topic of mortuary practices and funerary behavior towards children and infants is not studied often, the material examined in this thesis comes from a wide array of sources, mostly archaeological reports. The thesis gave an overview on burials and the state of research in the areas of interest. Then presented the chosen settlements where burials of children and infants were found. The author had to solve various problems, for example a solution to mis-interpretation of the age of the buried individuals was found in including both children and infants into the study and to not separate between the two age groups. The second problem was often poor publication of studies and reports from archaeological campaigns in the region. Many settlements, both smaller and bigger, were excluded from this thesis due to the incomplete publication of data even though there is little to no possibility that infants and

children were not given a burial by the inhabitants of the settlements and their burials were not unearthed by the excavators. Considering these complications, the research answered following questions. The available information on burials of children and infants in the regions of interest from EBA period was processed and a database was prepared. The burials were separated by regions (Upper Khabur, Middle Khabur and Eski Mosul regions) and chronological categories were created to synchronise the results. Those were: 1. 3rd millennium BC  In this category results with no exact dating were included. 2. Ninevite 5 and Late Ninevite 5, EJ II, IIIa = ED II (early ED III), first half of the 3rd millennium  Upper Khabur region – 14 enstires  Middle Khabur region – 9 entries  Eski Mosul region – 8 entries 3. Post Ninevite 5, Late EJ IIIa, IIIb = ED III, mid-3rd millennium to mid late-3rd millennium  Upper Khabur region – 16 entries  Middle Khabur region – 13 entries  Eski Mosul region – 1 entry 4. Akkadian, EJ IV, 2400 – 2200 BC  Upper Khabur region – 7 entries  Middle Khabur region – 1 entry 5. Post Akkadian, EJ V, Ur III, 2150 – 2000 BC  Upper Khabur region – 4 entries In the Upper Khabur region children and infants were usually buried into graves without additional objects. It is observed, that with time the amount of furnished burials grows and not furnished burials disappear. No rich graves were found in Category 2, but Categories 3, 4 and 5 yielded rich burials. The type of location was determined to be almost exclusively intramoenial-intramural, meaning almost all of the burials were encountered within the settlement and with connection to the housing space. The type of burials were not complex. Infants were usually buried in simple pit burials or burials in a ceramic vessel and children were more often buried in mud brick boxes, however, not one type is exklusive to any of the age groups. Only one more labour-extensive entry of a burial was found – Tell Khazne yielded grave number 39 of an unknown number of children buried, among other, in chamber grave (Merpert & Munchaev 1999, 122).

In the Middle Khabur region more burials furnished with grave goods were encountered than those not furnished evolving from the Category 2 to Category 3 and yielding more furnished and also richly furnished graves. The information on the location of burials was vague, but mostly the burials were located near the housing space. The type of location, if possible, was determined to be almost exclusively intramoenial-intramural, with only one exception of extramoenial burials on a cemetery at Tell Atij (Fortin 1988, 162). Types of burials studied in this region were more complex, than in the Upper Khabur region. More mud brick burials were encountered, and also in all studied settlements. Possibly chamber burials -

stone walled and paved - were found, all of them richly furnished with grave goods, at Tell Rad Shaqrah (Bieliński 1992, 85; 1995, 112; 1995, 115; 1996, 167). Furthermore, all of them were dated to the Category 3, supporting the theory of a change of mortuary practice with time by introducing higher number of more elaborate installations in the later parts of the 3rd millennium after the second urban revolution.

In the Eski Mosul region such conclusions can not be done, as entries from Category 2 and an only entry from Category 3 were encountered. However, no burial was found without grave goods. Considering these gifts were buried with the deceased never to be used again, it supports the author’s theory that children and infants were considered important part of the society.

According to the grave goods assemblage and typology of encountered burials it can be concluded, that later in the 3rd millennium BC more children and infants were buried with accompanying goods than without. The change can be traced between Category 2 and Category 3, supporting the author’s assumption that with the emergence of the second urban revolution more care was given to the treatment of burials of infants and children. Furthermore, the author of this thesis believes, that even though the researched is not by far completed, it can be concluded, that infants and children were not mere numbers, but their impact on the culture is not to be overlooked.

In the future, a similar research of burials of children and infants can be done considering also the adult burials from the same settlements, which were not included in this thesis. More valuable information can be achieved by including adults, comparing types of burials, locations and grave goods with the treatment given to the burial places of younger individuals.

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14 LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1 A map of the Near East with borders of modern states and marked cities of Hasseke and Mosul ...... 16 Fig. 2 Regions of interest within Syria and Iraq, with marked big modern cities of Hasseke, Al Qamishli, Mosul, Dohuk and Kiziltepe ...... 16 Fig. 3 Marked Upper Khabur and Middle Khabur Regions within Syria ...... 17 Fig. 4 A map of southeastern Syria; an area called Upper and Middle Khabur Region, with Khabur River and some of the important wadis, marked (made with Google Earth) ...... 18 Fig. 5 Upper and Middle Khabur Basin (Tell Brak online) ...... 19 Fig. 6 Map of Syro-Mesopotamia, 2600-2000 BC (after Weiss 1993, 995) ...... 24 Fig. 7 An example of a cist burial from Tell Raqa'i (two mud brick enclosures, discussed further below in this thesis). (Curvers and Schwartz 1990, 15) ...... 25 Fig. 8 An example of a possible shaft tomb or chamber tomb from Tell Mohammed Arab (a chamber and a shaft are separated by a partition wall, the burial is discussed further below in this thesis). (Bolt and Green 2003, 545) ...... 26 Fig. 9 A map of Upper Khabur Region (done with Google Earth) ...... 28 Fig. 10 A map of Upper Khabur Region with marked settlements discussed in this thesis ...... 28 Fig. 11 Tell Arbid, reed impression of a basket serving as a container of an infant burial. (Bieliński 1999, 216) ...... 30 Fig. 12 Tell Arbid, grave goods from a burial of a child with the toy rattle. (Bieliński 2004, 338) ..... 31 Fig. 13 Tell Arbid, a burial of a child and the accompanying goods. (Bieliński 2010, 543) ...... 31

Fig. 14 Tell Hijaira, some of the jewelery found within burials of infants buried into mud brick enclosures. (Lutz & Tietze 1992, 258) ...... 38 Fig. 15 A map of Middle Khabur Region...... 46 Fig. 16 A map of Upper Khabur Region with marked settlements discussed in this thesis ...... 46 Fig. 17 Tell Mashnaqa, a burial of an infant in a mudbrick box together with two miniature vessels. (Monchambert 1985, 229) ...... 48 Fig. 18 Tell Rad Shaqrah, a burial of a child buried in a cist grave with stone walls. (Bieliński 1992, 84) ...... 49 Fig. 19 Tell Rad Shaqrah, three perforated pendants from a burial of a child. (Bieliński 1994, 160) .. 50 Fig. 20 Tell Raqa'i, a burial of a child in a rectangular mud brick box located within the Rounded building. (Curvers and Schwartz 1990, 13) ...... 52 Fig. 21 Tell Raqa'i, burials of two infants in rectangular mud brick enclosures were covered with a vaulted brick. (Curvers and Schwartz 1990, 15) ...... 53 Fig. 22 A map of Eski Mosul Region ...... 58 Fig. 23 A map of Eski Mosul Region with marked settlements discussed in this thesis ...... 58 Fig. 24 Tell Jikan, some of the beads from the grave. (Hiroyuki 2003, 59) ...... 59 Fig. 25 Tell Karrana 3, a burial of a child with painted Ninevite 5 vessel. (Bolt and Green 2003, 558) ...... 60 Fig. 26 Tell Mohamed Arab, a grave of 3 months old infant. (Bolt and Green 2003, 545) ...... 61 Fig. 27 Tell Mohamed Arab, a grave of an infant with two miniature jars. (Bolt and Green 2003, 551) ...... 61

15 LIST OF TABLES Tab 1 Upper Khabur region burials of infants and children ...... 40 Tab 2 Middle Khabur region burials of infants and children ...... 54 Tab 3 Eski Mosul region burials of infants and children ...... 62 Tab 4 Burials of children and infants in the Upper Khabur region separated into chronological categories 1-5 after the period of historical development ...... 66 Tab 5 Burials of children and infants in the Middle Khabur region separated into chronological categories 1-5 after the period of historical development ...... 66 Tab 6 Burials of children and infants in the Eski Mosul region separated into chronological categories 1-5 after the period of historical development ...... 67

16 LIST OF GRAPHS Graph 1 Burials in regions separated into chronological categories ...... 69 Graph 2 Number of burials in regions of interest by grave goods assemblage ...... 70 Graph 3 Number of burials in regions of interest by grave goods assemblage in chronological categories. UKR – Upper Khabur region, MKR – Middle Khabur region, EMR – Eski Mosul region 71 Graph 4 Burials in the Upper Khabur region separated into chronological categories ...... 72 Graph 5 Burials of infants and children at Tell Arbid ...... 72 Graph 6 Burials of infants and children at Tell Barri ...... 73 Graph 8 Burials of infants and children at Chagar Bazar ...... 73 Graph 9 Burials of infants and children at Tell Abu Hafur ...... 74 Graph 10 Burials of infants and children at Tell Hamoukar ...... 74 Graph 11 Burials of infants and children at Tell Leilan ...... 75 Graph 12 Grave goods assemblage in burials of children and infants in the Upper Khabur region by chronological periods ...... 75 Graph 13 Burials in the Middle Khabur region separated into chronological categories ...... 77

Graph 14 Burials of infants and children at Tell Rad Shaqrah ...... 78 Graph 15 Burials of infants and children at Tell Raqa'i ...... 79 Graph 16 Grave goods assemblage in burials of children and infants in the Middle Khabur region by chronological periods ...... 79 Graph 17 Burials in the Eski Mosul region separated into chronological categories ...... 81 Graph 18 Burials of infants and children at Tell Mohammed Arab ...... 82 Graph 19 Grave goods assemblage in burials of children and infants in the Eski Mosul region by chronological periods ...... 82