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29-453: There are other contemporary ancient sites in this area of upper Khabur River basin. For example, Chagar Bazar is 22 km south of Mozan. Tell Arbid is located 45 km south of Tell Mozan. Tell Brak is about 50 km to the south. Tell Leilan is located about 50 km to the east of Urkesh. Leilan, Brak and Urkesh were particularly prominent during the Akkadian period. Urkesh

58-417: A gallery of a shopping mall. Between 1983 and 1996, it was located in an old law court built in 1930. In 1996, the museum moved to its current location in a building that had been especially designed for the museum. The exhibition halls cover an area of 1,600 square metres (17,000 sq ft) and are arranged around a courtyard. The construction of the new museum was a joint Syrian–German operation. When

87-474: A more synthetic whole through the narrative of the archaeological record. Another focal point of research at the site is the application of conservation. The mud brick architecture which comprises the majority of the structures found to date has been preserved over the years though an innovative system. This system protects the monument while still allowing a detailed inspection of the primary document as originally unearthed. The same system affords an overview of

116-639: A river of importance, and Ammianus states that Julian the Apostate crossed it "per navalem Aborae pontem". Strabo describes it as near the town of Anthemusias . The river is fed by several smaller streams, the names of which are mentioned by the later classical writers. These are, the Scirtus (Procop. de Aedif. 2.7), the Cordes (Procop. de Aedif. 2.2), and the Mygdonius ( Julian . Or. i.). Ptolemy (5.18.6) mentions

145-507: A town called Chabora (Χαβώρα), on the Euphrates, which he places near Nicephorion , and which probably derives its name from the river, and Theophylact Simocatta mentions Ἀβορέων φρούριον, which is, as certainly, the same place. Since the 1930s, numerous archaeological excavations and surveys have been carried out in the Khabur Valley, indicating that the region has been occupied since

174-501: Is also the center for Syria's oil production. Deir ez-Zor Museum The Deir ez-Zor Museum ( Arabic : متحف دير الزور ) is a museum devoted to the archaeology and history of northeastern Syria , an area more commonly known as the Jezirah , or Upper Mesopotamia . The museum is located in Deir ez-Zor , the capital of Deir ez-Zor Governorate , Syria. It was founded in 1974 and housed in

203-417: Is automatically derived a complete depositional history of all elements in contact. The strata are conceived as segments of this continuum in which a single depositional moment can be reconstructed. The phases are periods that are culturally identifiable on the basis of typological and functional analysis. Horizons are the broad chronological subdivisions based on comparative material and as they can be linked to

232-618: Is represented with objects from the Classical site of Dura-Europos , which was once a border city of the Roman Empire . The collection is organized around five chronological themes: prehistory , ancient Syria (late fourth to first millennium BCE), the Classical period, the Islamic era and ethnography . It includes a number of life-size reconstructions of buildings from different periods, including

261-461: Is surrounded by a mudbrick city wall that was roughly 8 metres (26 ft) wide and 7 metres (23 ft) high. Important excavated structures include the royal palace of Tupkish, an associated necromantic underground structure (Abi), a monumental temple terrace with a plaza in front and a temple at the top, residential areas, burial areas, and the inner and outer city walls. Soundings at the site were first made by Max Mallowan during his survey of

290-671: Is the only third millennium site that can be securely associated with the Hurrians. Throughout the Bronze Age , the city was a major Hurrian center. Seal inscriptions give evidence for a city ruler with the Hurrian name of Tupkish, and his queen with the Akkadian name of Uqnitum. Tupkish, who ruled during the ascendancy of the Akkadian Empire , assumed the title of "king of Urkesh and Nagar ". The king

319-560: The German Archaeological Institute . The excavations at Tell Mozan are known for the project's interest in pursuing the uses of technology in an archaeological context. The main focus is on the 'Global Record', a method of documentation that combines journal entries into a hypertext based output. This system marries the advantages of both the database and prose type approaches, in that elements are individually linked across both stratigraphy and typology, and yet remain tied in

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348-576: The Lower Palaeolithic period. Important sites that have been excavated include Tell Halaf , Tell Brak , Tell Leilan , Tell Mashnaqa , Tell Mozan and Tell Barri . The region has given its name to a distinctive painted ware found in northern Mesopotamia and Syria in the early 2nd millennium BCE, called Khabur ware . The region of the Khabur River is also associated with the rise of the Kingdom of

377-769: The Mitanni that flourished c. 1500–1300 BC. The Khabur River is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible: " Tiglath-Pileser ... took the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh into exile. He took them to Halah, Habor (Khabur), Hara and the River Gozan, where they are to this day". The identification of the Khabur with the Habor is not contested. The ancient city of Corsote , visited by Cyrus

406-726: The Syrian Civil War since 2011. The site lies close to the Turkish border, and is protected by Kurdish troops and a team of local workers. The kings of the city were known by the title of endan , meaning king in Hurrian . The known kings of Urkesh include: Khabur (Euphrates) The Khabur River is the largest perennial tributary to the Euphrates in Syria . Although the Khabur originates in Turkey ,

435-493: The karstic springs around Ras al-Ayn are the river's main source of water. Several important wadis join the Khabur north of Al-Hasakah , together creating what is known as the Khabur Triangle, or Upper Khabur area. From north to south, annual rainfall in the Khabur basin decreases from over 400 mm to less than 200 mm. This has made the river a vital water source for agriculture throughout history. The Khabur joins

464-543: The Chebar or Kebar, the location of Tel Abib and setting of several important scenes of the Book of Ezekiel . However, recent scholarship identifies the Chebar as the ka-ba-ru waterway mentioned among the 5th century BCE Murushu archives from Nippur , close to Nippur and the Shatt el-Nil, a silted up canal toward the east of Babylon. The Khabur River Project, begun in the 1960s, involved

493-754: The Elder called it the Chaboras ( Ancient Greek : Χαβώρας ), Procopius called it the Chabura , Strabo , Zosimus , and Ammianus Marcellinus called it the Aborrhas (Ἀβόρρας), and Isidore of Charax called it the Aburas (Ἀβούρας). It was described as a large river of Mesopotamia which rose in Mons Masius , about 40 miles (64 km) from Nisibis , and flowed into the Euphrates at Circesium (Kerkesiah). Procopius speaks of it as

522-575: The Euphrates near the town of Busayrah . The course of the Khabur can be divided into two distinct zones: the Upper Khabur area or Khabur Triangle north of Al-Hasakah, and the Middle and Lower Khabur between Al-Hasakah and Busayrah. The tributaries to the Khabur are listed from east to west. Most of these wadis only carry water for part of the year. The river was well noted by ancient writers, with various names used by various writers: Ptolemy and Pliny

551-564: The Younger on his ill-fated expedition against the Persians as told by Xenophon , was located at the confluence of the Khabur River, known by them as the 'Mascas', and the Euphrates according to Robin Waterfield . Other authors have been circumspect upon the precise location of Corsote due to the changing names and courses of the rivers since that time. The Khabur river was sometimes identified with

580-403: The architectural volumes as perceived by the ancients. A sizeable lab in the field research facility allows the conservators to give the best possible on-site care while interacting with the excavations. Special emphasis is placed on documenting the concrete types of contact which are observed in the ground. This is done with great detail at the level of each individual feature. From this evidence

609-399: The area. Agatha Christie , his wife, wrote that they chose not to continue at the site because it seemed to have Roman material. No trace of Roman occupation levels have been found in later excavations, however. Mallowan went on to excavate Chagar Bazar , another site to the south of Mozan/Urkesh. Excavations at Tell Mozan began in 1984 and have been conducted for at least 17 seasons up to

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638-610: The construction of a series of dams and canals . Three dams were built in the Khabur Basin as part of a large irrigation scheme that also includes the Tabqa Dam on the Euphrates. The section of the Khabur River within Tell Tamer Subdistrict are home to a self-governing Assyrian enclave. Two dams, Hasakah West and Hasakah East, have been constructed on tributaries to the Khabur between Ra's al-'Ayn and Al-Hasakah. The capacity of

667-451: The general historical understanding. One of the most important fixed points of reference for chronology are impressions on door sealings of the seal of Tar'am-Agade, the daughter of Naram-Sin, which because of stratigraphy can be firmly linked to phase 3 of the AP palace occupation. Finds from the excavations at Tell Mozan are on display in the Deir ez-Zor Museum . Excavations are on hold during

696-435: The millennium, Tell Mozan was the location of a Mitanni religious site. The city appears to have been largely abandoned circa 1350 BC, although the reason for this is unknown to archaeologists at this time. The entire site covers around 135 hectares (330 acres), mostly made up of the outer city. The high mound covers about 18 hectares (44 acres) and rises to a height of 25 metres (82 ft), with 5 sub-mounds. The high mound

725-625: The museum was founded in 1974, its collection consisted of only 140 objects, donated by the National Museum of Damascus and the National Museum of Aleppo . The current collection consists of some 25,000 objects, including the majority of the clay tablets found at Mari . The museum also holds many objects found by international teams of archaeologists at sites in the Upper Khabur area, such as Tell Beydar , Tell Brak , Tell Leilan and Tell Mozan . The Euphrates Valley southeast of Deir ez-Zor

754-483: The present time. The work has been led by Giorgio Buccellati of UCLA and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati of California State University, Los Angeles . The 2007 season was primarily dedicated to working on publication material, primarily excavation units A16, J1, J3 and J4. A small sounding was done in J1 to clarify the transition between Mittani and Khabur . The excavations have been assisted at various times by other groups including

783-505: The reservoir of Hasakah West is 0.09 km , and is also the southeastern end of the Assyrian enclave. The capacity of Hasakah East is 0.2 km . A third dam, Hassakeh South, was constructed on the Khabur 25 km south of Al-Hasakah. The reservoir of this dam has a capacity of 0.7 km . The Khabur Valley, which now has about four million acres (16,000 km ) of farmland, is Syria's main wheat -cultivation area. The northeastern part

812-411: The south. The king of Urkesh became a vassal (and apparently an appointee) of Mari. The people of Urkesh evidently resented this, as the royal archives at Mari provide evidence of their strong resistance; in one letter, the king of Mari tells his Urkesh counterpart that "I did not know that the sons of your city hate you on my account. But you are mine, even if the city of Urkesh is not." In the middle of

841-420: Was known by the title of endan , meaning king in Hurrian . Urkesh was an ally of the Akkadian Empire through what is believed to have been a dynastic marriage tradition. Tar'am-Agade, the daughter of the Akkadian king, Naram-Sin , is believed to have been married to the king of Urkesh. During the early second millennium BC the city passed into the hands of the rulers of Mari , a city a few hundred miles to

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