Habuba Kabira
Encyclopedia
Habuba Kabira is the site of a Sumerian
colony
along the Euphrates River
in Syria
, founded during the later part of the Uruk period
. It was about 800 mi (1,300 km) from the city of Uruk
, where it had its roots.
The site is around 18 hectares in area, with the walled area encompasing 10 hectares.
Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft
team led by Ernst Heinrich and Eva Strommenger as part of the Tabqa Dam rescue excavation effort.
Sumer
Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
along the Euphrates River
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
in Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, founded during the later part of the Uruk period
Uruk period
The Uruk period existed from the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, following the Ubaid period and succeeded by the Jemdet Nasr period. Named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this period saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia. It was...
. It was about 800 mi (1,300 km) from the city of Uruk
Uruk
Uruk was an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates river, on the ancient dry former channel of the Euphrates River, some 30 km east of modern As-Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.Uruk gave its name to the Uruk...
, where it had its roots.
History
Habuba Kabira was built on a regular plain on virgin ground, with strong defensive walls, but was abandoned after a few generations and never inhabited again.The site is around 18 hectares in area, with the walled area encompasing 10 hectares.
Archaeology
The site was excavated for 9 seasons from 1969 to 1975 by aDeutsche Orient-Gesellschaft
Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft
The Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft is a Eingetragener Verein - a registered voluntary association - based at Berlin in Germany....
team led by Ernst Heinrich and Eva Strommenger as part of the Tabqa Dam rescue excavation effort.