Kurdu Tepe
Kurdu Tepe · Kurt Tepesi · Kurdu Plain Settlement
Halaf–Ubaid (c.6000–3800 BCE)·Halaf → Ubaid (Amuq A–D)·🇹🇷 Hatay Province, Amik Plain south, Turkey
About
About Kurdu Tepe
Halaf–Ubaid village on south Amik lakebed, 0.6 ha, 6 m high. Classic Amuq A–D sequence (c.6000–3800 BCE) with Halaf geometric painted ware, Ubaid tripartite buildings, stamp seals, lithics and shell. Excavated small-scale by Braidwood 1938 (Amuq A) and Chicago–Hatay 2010, documents early sedentarisation on former Lake Antioch shore. Seasonal wetland camp → dense farming hamlet, core for dried-lake Neolithisation model; surrounded by seasonal plough zone.
Why it mattersAmuq Halaf type-cluster; documents wetland Neolithisation and lake-level change.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Were stamp seals administrative already in Halaf?
Theories
- 01Lake-shore micro-ecology model
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.6000 BCE Halaf hamlet
- Period
- Halaf–Ubaid (c.6000–3800 BCE)
- Culture
- Halaf → Ubaid (Amuq A–D)
- Builders
- Amik Halaf farmers
- Purpose
- Lake-margin farming and fowling hamlet
- Abandoned
- c.3800 BCE Late Chalcolithic
- Rediscovered
- 1938 Braidwood Amuq survey
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.6000 BCE
Halaf hamlet on lake margin
c.5000 BCE
Ubaid village expansion
c.3800 BCE
Abandoned with lake recession
On the ground
Structures & features
36.3300° N · 36.4500° E · 85 m · 3 mapped features
Kurdu Tepe — Halaf painted quarter
houseGeometric painted pottery houses, north mound
36.3305° N · 36.4505° EKurdu Tepe — Ubaid central building
buildingTripartite Ubaid building with bin and sealings
36.3300° N · 36.4500° EKurdu Tepe — Lake-edge midden
middenFish-bird bone and shell midden at paleo-shore
36.3295° N · 36.4495° E
Gallery