Halaf-village

The
Halaf village

a prehistoric warehouse

Shortly after the destruction of the 'Burnt Village' the inhabitants of Tell Sabi Abyad built a large, complex building on the top of the mound. The building was situated next to a large, central and partly walled square.

The house had a surface area of more than 18 by 12 metres, and had two separate wings. It consisted of about 22 small square rooms. Many of these small rooms had no doors. Probably they were accessible from the roof.

In most rooms there were no domestic utensils. Almost certainly they were used for storing goods. Was the building perhaps a central warehouse for the village?

Possibly these buttresses were functional and served to give the building enough support for an upper storey. It is also possible that they were ornamental or symbolic.

On the slopes, next to the large rectangular building, there were a number of round structures, the tholoi, and a number of rectangular annexes.

The tholoi were probably areas for living. Some had a diameter of as much as 3 metres. Some had walls that curved inwardly so that the tholos was shaped like a beehive. Others again probably had a flat roof.

The finds from this occupational layer show that this village may be dated to a phase very early in the Halaf culture, around 5900 BC