Pfälzner, Peter

Propylaeum-DOK

[ 
The Excavations at Tell Bderi 1986 
Peter Pf alzner 
The second season of excavations at Tell 
Bderi lasted from 20th of August to 8th of 
November 1986. The mission under the direction 
of Prof. Dr. H. Kuhne was again financed by the 
Free University of Berlin. Special thanks are due 
to the Director General of Antiquities and 
Museums, Dr Afif Bahnassi the Director, of 
Excavations, Dr. Adnan Bounni and the Direc­
tor of Surveys, Dr. Kassem Toueir for their 
generous support. We are also grateful to the 
Directors of Antiquities in Der ez-Zor and 
Hasaka, Mr. Assad Mahmoud and Mr. Jean-
Simone Lazare, for their friendly assistance. Par­
ticular acknowledgement is due to Dr. 
Mahmoud Heretani. Director of the Ethnog­
raphical Museum in Aleppo, for his support of 
the mission as Representative of the Directorate 
General. The members of the 1986 team were 
Heike Dohmann as site supervisor of the step 
trench, Nicole Vogtlin and Ulrike Hauswaldt as 
site assistants, Sabina Kulemann in charge of 
pottery and small finds, Martin Geiger as cook 
and Peter Pfalzner as field director. 
Like in the first campaign the excavation 
concentrated on two areas: the step trench on the 
southern slope and the area excavation on the 
norhtern plateau of the tell. Additionally a small 
sounding was made on one of the small mounds 
surrounding the tell at a distance of about 200m. 
The 1 by 10m trench was stopped after recogniz­
ing that the mound was natural and did not con­
tain any archaeological material. 
The step trench on the southern slope. 
After the complete stratigraphy of the tell 
from layer 1 to layer 25 had been established in 
1985, this year's aim was to dig down the succes­
sive architectural strata in the upper part. 
Respectiveley within prominent and most 
interesting layers the trench was enlarged to get a 
broader account of the ground plan of their 
architecture. Parallel to the work in the upper 
layers the bottom staratum 25, containing the 
large defensive-like wall, was excavated on a 
broad scale to clear up the extent and function of 
this large structure. 
In the upper part of the 5 meter wide step 
trench level 4 had been excavated at the end of 
the 1985 campaign. At the beginning of this years 
work the layer was removed in order to unearth 
layer 5 completely which had only been exca­
vated in its western part the year before. Level 5 
consists of the two rooms excavated in 1985 and a 
floor area east of the rooms, probably an open 
court, that is bound by an enclosure wall. 
Level 6 consists of one room with fairly well 
preserved walls, which had been founded into 
the more ancient levels 7 and 8. Walls and floorof 
this house had been ddepened into the earth of 
the former tell slope. The upper courses of the 
level 8 walls were destroyed partly during these 
later building activities. Both levels 5 and 6 can 
be attributed to the Hurri-mitannian period 
within the Late Bronze Age. 
•>f)2 
Originalveröffentlichung in: Les Annales Archeologiques Arabes Syriennes 36/37, 1986/1987, S. 292-303
LESANNALESARCHEOLOGIQIESARABESSYRIENNES 
Level 7 is the upmost layer of the Early 
Bronze Age. At this point the step trench was 
extended to a width of 23 m in order to excavate 
the very well preserved architectural plan of the 
underneath lying level 8 a broader scale. Both 
levels 7 and 8 seem to be structurally and 
cronologically connected, because some of the 
walls show a similiar layout. But in fact the large 
house plan of level 7 seems to represent a func­
tionally distinct building. Two neighboring 
rectangular rooms were provided with basin-like 
lime plastered floors. One room has a single shal­
low lime floor. The other roomis equipped withe 
several deeper basins of differing shapes. Two of 
them re connected with each other by a narrow 
lime canal. They might have been used for tan­
ning hides.Similar facilities can be seen in recent 
oriental houses, were hides* are tanned in the 
same kind of basins for several days in a water-
lime solution. 
Level 8 plan 2 is so far the best preserved 
architectural layer within the step trench. Its 
wallsarestandingtoaheightof 1 to 1.5m. Fourof 
the rooms contain a very rich inventory of 
ceramics. The floors were nearly completely 
covered by broken pottery. Probably the major­
ity of the pots can be restored from the sherds. 
Additionally a cylinder seal, a clay jar sealing 
with seal impression, stone pearls and a large 
bronze sickle complete the inventory of the 
rooms. From all these finds it will be possible to 
reconstruct the functions of rooms and houses. 
Two house units can be distinguished architec­
turally. The eastern unit consists of two con­
nected rooms, one rectangular (3 by 2m) and one 
square (3 by 3m). They are flanked on their east­
ern side by an open court or working place. Pro­
vided with a small and shallow lime basin and a 
circular hard-baked lime container, both 
deepened into the mud floor. Northeast of these 
installations is a 'tenur'. The rooms themselves 
contain low benches and podiums made of mud 
and mudbricks and obviously used as working 
platforms (tig. 2). A fire-place is situated at the 
western wall of the square room. The house mftst 
have extended further to the north and east. A 
door in the northern side of the rectangular room 
is either an entrance to the house or a connection 
with other norhtern rooms. 
The western house unit of level 8 was exca­
vated on a larger area. It is built wall by wall with 
the eastern unit. At least three building phases 
can be distinguished within this house. The old­
est part is a rather large (3 by 4m) rectangular 
room, later reduced by an inner wall into a 
square room. Its floor is lime plastered in the 
southern half of the room in the way, that it forms 
a shallow basin. On its one side, it is bordered by 
three diagonally laid bricks on the floor. A work-
ng podiumon the opposite side of the basin con­
tains three narrow lime canals which lead down 
into the basin. This installation was used for arti-
sanal or domestic working activities obviously 
concerned with liquids but of a kind not yet to be 
determined. 
In the second building phase the western 
rooms were added, seperated from the first room 
by a double wall. The easternmost of the new 
rooms ist rectangular (ca. 2 by 4 m) and serves as 
kind of a central room. It gives access to adjoin­
ing rooms of the house by doorways on three 
sides, in its eastern, southern and western (later 
blocked) walls. The entire northern half of the 
same room is flanked on all three sides by a lime-
plastered bench. A low rectangular platform in 
between served as fireplace. In the southeastern 
corner of the room stood a 'hubb' or water-
pithos. The room probably was a meeting- or si* 
ting-place. 
293 
THE EXCAVATIONS AT TELL BDERI1986 
The westernmost rooms of the house are 
square (2 by 2 m) and have lime plastered floors. 
North of them is a large room or courtyard con­
taining a broken big pithos. The connection bet­
ween this group of rooms and the central room is 
not yet clear. A small chambr to the north ist 
taken up nearly completely by a big "tenur". The 
row of two or three rooms in the southern part of 
the house was constructed in a third building 
phase. The houses of level 8 represent a section 
of a densely built area of the ancient town. It can 
be dated by the pottery to the late Early Dynastic 
111 or the Akkade Period. 
At the bottom of the step trench on the 
south slope of the tell level 25 was excavated on 
an area of 17 by 10 m (Fig.3). The large wall, 
which was already partly unearthed last year 
could be cleared over the total width of the 
trench. It is now sure that it is the defence wall of 
the town. The wall is at least 2.80m thick, but its 
inner face has not yet been reached. In its west­
ern half there are two broad recesses or distur­
bances from the wall's rear side. The bricks are 
rather small, at the average 20 by 20cm in size. 
Built against the outer face of the wall is a broad 
and sloping glacis. The glacis is 1.70 to 2m wide 
and made of mud without the use of bricks. A 
special technique of pise is applied. Partitions of 
mud - 0,5 to 1 m wide and sometimes more than 1 
m lont - are set side by side in several ayers. As 
different clays are used the partitions differ 
sometimes in color from each other. In the east­
ern part of the wal the glacis seems to be renewed 
and broadened once or even twice. A city-gate 
leads trough wall and glacis. The gate is three 
meters wide and its passage is lined on both sides 
by orthostats (Fig. 4). They are roughly dressed, 
unsmoothed stone slabs, about 20 cms thick. The 
orthostat at the eastern side is still standing 
upright. Its height is 1.25 m high. The one from 
the western side is fallen down and broken in sev­
eral large pieces lying in the passage of the gate. 
At the outside the gate is flanked on its west­
ern side by a tower. It is only 1.80 by 1.80 m large 
and built of brick debris and mud within a fram­
ing of upright standing mudbricks. The tower 
(Fig. 3) is a later and rather careless addition 
inserted into and on the glacis. A way marked by 
pebbles leads awy from the gate in southern 
direction. The way is flanked on both sides by a 
mudbrick wall over a distance of 4 meters. Both 
walls turn inside shortly in front of the town 
defence inorder to form two antae at the width of 
the gate's passage. This rendering seems to have 
no defensive function, but is rather an opticl 
extension of the gateway, perhaps for represen­
tative reasons. Like the tower it is a later adition 
to the gate. 
Judging from the pottery found in the pas­
sage of the gate the defences are dated tenta­
tively to the beginning of the Early Bronze Age, 
i.e. The Early Dynastic I or II period. If this dat­
ing proves to be correct, it could be the earliest 
example of a defensive system including a glacis 
and an orthostat gate in Syria. 
The area excavation on the northern 
plateau (Fig. 5) 
The aim of the excavations in this place is to 
uncover the upmost preserved architectural 
level on a broad scale. While in the first com-
paign an Early Bronze Age layer with a well pre­
served inventory was discovered slightly t the 
slope of the plateau, in the beginning of this 
year's campaign it proved that a Late Bronze 
Age occupation is covering this Iyer at the top of 
the northern plateau. The wals of this architec­
tural layer are rising only to a height of some 30 to 
50 cms, lying densely below the surface of the 
tell. The ground plan of the architecture however 
294 
L E S A N N A L E S A R C H E O L O G I Q U E S A R A B E S S Y R I E N N E S 
is well preserved and nearly undisturbed plan. It 
proved to belong to one building, which was 
excavated on an area of about 25 by 25 ms. 
The dating of the building is provided by the 
pottery associated with the sinlge rooms and 
floors. It can be attributed to the Hurri-Mitan-
nian period, i.e. the 15th to 14th century B.C. 
There are several examples of painted Nuzi-
sherds and quantities of equally caracteristic 
common wares. A cylinder seal made of white 
fayence and engraved in Mitannian Common 
Style. Which was found on the floor of one of the 
rooms ensures the dating. Several building 
phases can be distinguished within the structure. 
The original layout of the building (level 5) was 
only slightly modified during a second main using 
phase (level 4), connected with new floors. 
Architectural changes were made during a suc­
ceeding using phase (level 3). The function of the 
buildingprobablychangedin thistime, as several 
'tenanir' or breadovens point to an ordinary 
dweelling house character. Another later using 
phase (level 2) is attested by the abandonment of 
parts of the original building. While the remain­
ing rooms were provided with new floors. 
The Mitanni-building rises on a platform of 
unbaked mudbricks (Fig. 6). Its function is to 
provide a plain surface for the construction of the 
building by terracing the area. The height of the 
terrace does not exceed one meter and its exten­
sion is at least 25 by 25 meters. The northern, 
western and southern parts of the terrace have 
been excavated. The platform is eroded of these 
three sides because it occupies the whole of the 
northern plateau of the tell. 
Entrance to the building is given from its 
northwestern corner. A corridor leads over the 
platform to the interior of the building. The cor­
ridor gives, in its central axis, ccess to a circular 
room (Fig 7). This roomis reached by a monu-' 
mental threshold built of two large roughly cut 
stone slabs. The tholos is well built with a heavy 
stone foundation carrying a mudbrick wall. The 
interior of the round sCr'^ ture of » diameter of 
3.3 meters is empty and there is no other door 
within the room. The function of the tholos giv­
ing a rather representative impression can not be 
determined at the moment. The structure is out­
standing, because the tholos-type had so far been 
completely unattested in Late Bronze Age 
architecture. 
A person entering the interior of the build­
ing had to turn left at the end of the corridor to 
reach - via a small entrance-room - a public room 
or court, which is situated beside the tholos. This 
room or court gives access to a very large room on 
the east side and a succession of long rectangular 
rooms on its southern side. Another smaller door 
on the south side leads to a stone step into the 
sot uheastern room of the building. 
The succession of rooms to the south starts 
with a door room (3 by 2ms large). Judging from 
the hingestones still in situ two successive doors 
in the same axis can be reconstructed. The first 
must have been a double-winged door with a 
mudbrick-threshold nd the southern one a single 
large door. The following, eqyally small room 
(3.5 by 2m) obviously served only as a passage-
room. Within it the axis of succeeding rooms 
turnes in a right angle to the east. Through a later 
biockd door in the eastern wall of this room 
access is given to a large representative room (5 
by 3 ms, Fig. 8). It has markedly thick walls on all 
sides, three to three and a .half bricks in width. 
The floor is covered by lime plaster. A fragment 
of a cuneiform tablet was found here. 
295 
THE EXCAVATIONS AT TELL BDERI1986 
An even larger roomfollows to the east, 
reached by a door in the same general axis. The 
room seems to be L-shaped, but is not yet com­
pletely excavated in its southern part. This room 
has equally thick walls and kept remnants of a 
lime plastered floor. The above mentioned cylin­
der seal was found on it. North of the room a 
large courtyard is situated, paved with an uneven 
mud floor. Lots of pottery and several metal-
tools like a needle, a knife and an arrowhead 
were found within this area. A mudbrick buttress 
projects into the court on its south on wall. It 
might have served either as an optical subdivi­
sion or s a statically necessary reinforcement. A 
further entrance to the building from the north 
side of the courtyard is expected but not yet 
c+eared. 
The original function of the Mitanni-build-
ingcan noty yet be determined. The large layout, 
the solid building technique with heavy stone 
foundations, the thick walls, the mudbrick plat­
form and finds like the fragment of a cuneiform 
tablet and a cylinder seal - and perhaps even the 
tholos - point to a building of major importance. 
It might have been either a very representative 
dwelling house or a medium-sized public build­
ing of administrative functions. 
Literature: 
F. von Luschan, Ausgrabungen in Sendschirli Bd. 2Tf. 24-27; Bd. 4. Abb. 175 
F. Naumann, Architeklur Kleinasiens, 2. Aufl., Abb. 553 auf p. 419 
E. Heinrich, Palaste imaltenMesopotamien. 1984.167 f. Abb 103 
296 
297 
Fig. 1: Southern slope area, level 8-architecture as seen from the east. 
29S 
Fig. 2: Southern slope area, level 8, room N with a bench and broken inventory, as seen from the north. 
299 
Fig. 3: Southern slope area as seen from the south, level 25 with the town wall in the foreground. 
Fig. 4: Southern slope area, town wall-gate, level 25, as seen from the south. 
Fig. 5: Norhtern top. the mitaimuin building as seen from the cast. 
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Fig. 6: Northern top. mud-brick terraceol the mitannian building. 
Fig. 7: Northern top, circular (tholos) with its entrance-threshhold within the mitannian building as seen from the 
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Fig. 8; Northern top. mitannian building, room I, assecn from the cast 
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The excavations at Tell Bderi 1986

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The excavations at Tell Bderi 1986

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