Tell es-Sawwan — Samarran Mound and Fortified Village
Tell es-Sawwan · Mound of the Flints
Hassuna–Samarran, Ubaid (6000–4800 BCE)·Samarra culture·🇮🇶 Saladin Governorate, south of Samarra, left bank Tigris, Iraq
About
About Tell es-Sawwan — Samarran Mound and Fortified Village
Type mound for Samarran culture immediately south of Samarra on cliff overlooking Tigris floodplain, excavated by al-Adhami and Yasin (1964–69). Three main levels (I–V) revealed defended village with ditch, bastioned wall, courtyard houses with T-shaped plans, under-floor child burials in alabaster vessels and earliest evidence for irrigation channels in Mesopotamia. Rich painted Samarran pottery, mother-goddess figurines and flint sickle caches define Chalcolithic village economy. Now planned Samarra Archaeological Park satellite.
Why it mattersEarliest fortified village and irrigation in Mesopotamia; type site Samarra culture.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Water management chronology
Theories
- 01Fortifications suggest inter-village raiding at dawn of village agriculture
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. 6000–5500 BCE
- Period
- Hassuna–Samarran, Ubaid (6000–4800 BCE)
- Culture
- Samarra culture
- Purpose
- Defended early farming village on Tigris cliff mound with Hassuna–Samarran stratified village, earliest irrigation ditches and alabaster figurines
- Excavation
- Excavated
1964
Iraqi Directorate General first excavates Sawwan
1985
Incorporated into Samarra Heritage Park
On the ground
Structures & features
34.1211° N · 43.9050° E · 75 m · 2 mapped features
Cliff-edge defended village wall and ditch
enclosureDouble wall and bastioned ditch encircling oval village on cliff
34.1216° N · 43.9055° EAlabaster figurine burials stratum II
burialLevel II houses with subfloor child burials and mother-goddess figures
34.1206° N · 43.9045° E