Connecting cultures, dividing countries: a preliminary assessment of the Khabur Warefrom Girnavaz Höyük, Southeastern Turkey

Abstract

Girnavaz Höyük is a key site for better understanding the cultural and economic relationship between northern Mesopotamia and the Upper Tigris region between the third and the first millennia BC. The site is located in the liminal zone of the northern Jazirah at the start of the Tur ‘Abdin mountains, in a spot that most likely allowed it to play an important role in financial, cultural, and social exchange during the end of the third and the beginning of the second millennium BC when Assyrian merchants began engaging in long-distance trade with Anatolian settlements. During this period, the Khabur Ware (within the Upper Khabur river valley) and other types of Band Painted Wares (from other neighbouring regions) became clear archaeological correlates of this temporal phase. In this paper, I will focus on a preliminary analysis of the Khabur Ware from Girnavaz Höyük in order to define the similarities and differences between contemporary pottery assemblages discovered in the region as well as in other neighbouring areas. The aim will be to provide an initial definition of a relative inner chronology for this specific ceramic assemblage at the site that has never been previously published.Girnavaz Höyük is a key site for better understanding the cultural and economic relationship between northern Mesopotamia and the Upper Tigris region between the third and the first millennia BC. The site is located in the liminal zone of the northern Jazirah at the start of the Tur ‘Abdin mountains, in a spot that most likely allowed it to play an important role in financial, cultural, and social exchange during the end of the third and the beginning of the second millennium BC when Assyrian merchants began engaging in long-distance trade with Anatolian settlements. During this period, the Khabur Ware (within the Upper Khabur river valley) and other types of Band Painted Wares (from other neighbouring regions) became clear archaeological correlates of this temporal phase. In this paper, I will focus on a preliminary analysis of the Khabur Ware from Girnavaz Höyük in order to define the similarities and differences between contemporary pottery assemblages discovered in the region as well as in other neighbouring areas. The aim will be to provide an initial definition of a relative inner chronology for this specific ceramic assemblage at the site that has never been previously published.