Step Trench B

The Settlement’s Prehistoric and Protohistoric Occupation Between the 7th and 4th millennia BC.

In the excavation trench located on the southern slope of the site, we documented a very long and continuous occupational sequence from the 7th to the 4th millennia BC which allows the exploration of the crucial transition in the Erbil Plain from Neolithic agricultural villages to the first urban structures in Northern Mesopotamia. The most ancient levels were reached in 2019 and belong to the Halaf period (end of 7th-6th millennia BC), when the Erbil plain underwent a demographic growth with groups of farmers and herders exploiting the available web of water canals. During this time frame, communities were well-connected and shared a number of similar cultural traits, such as fine painted pottery and circular dwellings, traits which are recurrent in a vast area ranging from Anatolia to Syria and in Northern Mesopotamia. At Helawa, the village was probably no larger than 2-3 hectares and different phases with associated pressed clay (pisé) structures were exposed together with installments made of ovoidal bricks, fireplaces, ovens for food preparation and a pebble floor. The pottery of this period (Late Halaf) features a polychromic decoration with geometric designs and the most popular shapes include small jars and cups with flaring walls. 

Area C

The 6th millennium village – Halaf and Ubaid phases at Helawa (Helawa II-III) 

At Helawa, the earliest occupational phases were unearthed on the southeastern slope of the mound. While the chronological sequence has been defined through the excavation of Step Trench B, the late Halaf settlement (5500-5300 BC) has been investigated on a still limited area (10 x 5 m) and is characterized by the presence of several circular buildings, the so-called tholoi-like structures, built in pisé (pressed clay) and with a diameter varying between one and four meters. These structures were equipped with hearths, furnaces, and various installations. This area had a residential function, and it was located on the southern limits of the prehistoric village, on the banks of the river where the first inhabitants settled during the Neolithic period. 

These phases are characterized by the presence of the typical Halaf painted pottery, with the most recurring shapes being bowls with rounded profiles and globular jars with flaring rims, usually manufactured from purified pinkish clay. Painted decorations are red, brown and black in color, and recur both on internal and external surfaces of the vessels, while designs encompass both geometric and naturalistic motifs. This type of ceramic production is found throughout northern Mesopotamia, with direct comparisons at sites in the Mosul area, such as Tepe Gawra and Tell Arpachiyah. 

In the following period, there was a complete change in the settlement organization, with the appearance of more complex rectangular domestic buildings built with the mudbrick technique. One of these was very well preserved and was excavated in Area C: it consisted of small square rooms and larger rectangular spaces, and is dated to the end of the 6th millennium BC (Ubaid period). Various installations were found in the rooms alongside numerous flint tools, pestles and stone implements, terracotta objects, and the characteristic clay “clay bullets” which were recovered from the filling layers above the floors. These objects are referred to as projectiles as they were initially interpreted as offensive weapons. However, since they are often found in the premises of fire installations, it has been proposed that they might have been used also as heat collectors. 

The pottery of this period is characterized by the typical green-grayish fabric with black painted geometric decorations which include horizontal and wavy bands, festoons, and triangles. The Ubaid horizon from Helawa finds precise comparisons throughout the eastern Tigris region, within neighboring sites in the Erbil and Mosul plains. More generally, it may also be inserted in the wider Ubaid interaction sphere documented ifrom the Iranian plateau to the Mediterranean Sea and from the Persian-Arabic Gulf to the Anatolian peninsula, in the area that from this moment on may be called “Greater Mesopotamia”.  

The discovery of the prehistoric village is of great interest for the reconstruction of the development of farming and herding communities in northern Mesopotamia. The stratigraphic sequence unearthed in Area C at Helawa and now exposed for the first time in an extensive manner in the Erbil Plain allows us t to investigate the changes in material culture and in the socio-economic organization of prehistoric communities in a diachronic perspective over the long term. 

Area B1

The Burnt Building on the Summit of the Settlement – An Administrative Building from the Early 4th millennium BC (Helawa IVB-C)

On the top of the mound, the enlargement of the stratigraphic trench in Area B allowed us to further investigate the latest occupational phase of the Late Chalcolithic period at Helawa. Excavations uncovered a tripartite building, composed of a central rectangular room and two side wings, located at the southern margins of the site on elevated terrain created through terracing operations at the end of the LC 2 phase above the previous levels. The structure was destroyed by a fire, as evidenced by the thick layers of ash in the collapse of the mudbrick structures. The walls were preserved to a maximum height of one and a half meters and were 60 cm thick, constructed with rows of rectangular bricks. 

The tripartite building covers an area of over 100 m2 and is oriented north-west/south-east. 

The southern wing consists of three rooms, the westernmost of which is internally divided, and is equipped with benches and fire installations. The central hall, which was accessed through transverse entrances, had a fireplace in the eastern area and two spaces created on the short eastern side through thin partitions which were built against the back wall of the room. The northern wing of the building, except for the squared north-eastern room with a fireplace, was severely damaged by the construction of a residence from the 2nd millennium BC and by a series of burials from the same phase. 

This tripartite architectural type is very common in northern Mesopotamian and Syro-Iraqi Jezirah sites (Tell Brak, Hamoukar, Grai Resh, Gawra, Qalinj Agha) and the materials found inside suggest an administrative-economic function. 

In the quadrangular room located in the south-eastern corner, numerous objects were found, including a series of cretulae with stamped seal impressions. This room was utilized as a storage area where various products were kept in different containers (vessels, sacks, baskets), which were closed and sealed using cretulae, according to a system that was controlled and centralized. Along with about twenty sealings, the material recovered from the room includes various stone tools, flint and obsidian blades, an obsidian core for the production of blades (indicating that the volcanic glass was locally knapped after being imported from eastern Anatolia), spindle whorls, and a calcite tile. 

Additional sealings were found in the central room and scattered in the more ruined northern wing, along with a fragment of a steatite stamped seal, indicating that activities related to redistribution were not limited to the storage room. 

The seals were circular or lenticular in shape and featured images of quadrupeds in various compositions, schematic plant motifs, and geometric designs. The glyptic art of Helawa is similar to that of the period VIII of Tepe Gawra, but comparisons can also be made with Hamoukar in north-eastern Syria and Hacinebi in south-eastern Turkey. This is a discovery of great importance, as there are still very few Late Chalcolithic sites in northern Mesopotamia where  cretulae have been found. 

Area A

A Late Bronze Age residential building atop the mound at Helawa (Halawa VI) 

Excavations carried out in the upper part of the mound have led to the identification of a large building dating back to the Early Late Bronze Age, built around 1600 BC after almost two millennia of site abandonment. Two sectors of this structure have been excavated: one consists of four rooms, delimited by mudbrick walls, while the other includes a large open courtyard paved with beaten earth which housed artisanal installations and a water drainage system, as well as ovens for food preparation. The building, perhaps the residence of a high-ranking figure, has at least three phases of use and was built by removing part of the earlier Late Chalcolithic levels. A large amount of dispersed pottery in the levels above the floors testifies to the typical ceramic repertoire of this period in northern Mesopotamia. Several vessels have been reconstructed, including a globular bottle with a narrow neck, a flared rim cup, a large basin decorated with incised wavy motifs, and several cylindrical elements known in literature as “piecrust pot-stands”. These are characterized by an expanded rim and a hand-pinch base forming a kind of corolla. They have been interpreted as supports for vases or baskets, but certainly had a different function as well, since they were found positioned to form conduits for the flow of water or for air circulation within domestic buildings. 

The ceramic repertoire from this context can be compared to the materials found in nearby sites (Kurd Qaburstan), Yorgan Tepe/Nuzi, and in the Middle Tigris area sites (Bassetki, Kemune, Nemrik). 

Three burials, one of an adult and two of sub-adults, were identified beneath the floor levels of the residential building. In addition to the traditional ceramic shapes, finely finished cups and bone pins, the body of a woman approximately 35 years old was adorned with two pairs of crescent-shaped silver earrings and a necklace with glass paste, carnelian, agate, and lapis lazuli beads. The richness of this jewelry indicates a relatively high social position of the deceased. Therefore, the settlement of the mid-second millennium BC was characterized by internal differentiation and had a significant role in the socio-economic context of the Erbil plain region. 

Area D

A Production and Residential Complex from the Middle of the 2nd Millennium B.C.

This operation was opened on top of a raised area located north-east of the main mound. mound. Excavations in this sector provide the occupational sequence of the site in this area. Just below the sub-surface, a compelling phase dating to the mid 2nd millennium BC emerged, characterised by three different building sub-phases. The last 2nd millennium occupation before the site was abandoned consisted of partially preserved domestic installations like floors, hearths, and razed walls associated with eroded layers. The floors featured small canals for water drainage which were covered by pebbles and re-utilized pottery sherds. These structures lied directly over a building discovered in the north-eastern side of the trench, which was characterized by mudbrick walls, ca. 70 cm thick, by small-size squared rooms, and by a mudbrick paved courtyard. The oldest subphase relates to domestic structures and to a wide production complex dating to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. This structure features storage rooms, ovens for food preparation and underwent various re-building phases and restoration operations. Such a discovery is extremely significant since the beginning of the Late Bronze Age is poorly documented in Northern Mesopotamia, and especially, in the Trans-Tigridian area.  

The pottery from this period is for the most part achromatic, its fabrics range in color between beige and light pink and recurring types include carinated bowls, basins and jars with modified rims. In addition to common ware, Grey Ware and painted “Late Khabur” ware, which are both popular in Northern Mesopotamia and in the Syro-Iraqi Jazira, are also attested. The analyses of the fills from the kitchen installations and of the strata covering the floors have provided interesting data on fuels and on the types of plants which were consumed at the time, suggesting that barley, spelled and other cereals were among the most utilized. The identified animal remains from the period mainly belong to domestic species (goats, cattle and pigs), but traces of gazelle and hare are also present. Beneath the early Late Bronze Age building a thick layer rich with Late Chalcolithic 3 materials demonstrates that the site was abandoned between the 4th and the 2nd millennia BC, confirming the occupational sequence hypothesized after analyzing the materials collected during the survey.