Tell Haddad
Mê-Turran · Tell Haḍad
Early Bronze to Neo-Babylonian (c.3000–500 BCE; OB peak c.1800)·Sumerian → Old Babylonian → Kassite → Neo-Babylonian·🇮🇶 Diyala Governorate, Hamrin Basin, Iraq
About
About Tell Haddad
Twin-mound (with Tell al-Sib) on Diyala-Adhaim — ancient Mê-Turran/Turran cult city with Adad temple and ziggurat podium. Iraqi–Italian Hamrin Dam rescue excavations revealed OB–NB sequence and tablet archives; lower mound now partly under reservoir, threatened by water-table rise.
Why it mattersMê-Turran Adad cult city; Hamrin rescue type-site documenting Diyala–Hamrin chronology.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Which deity presided Adad podium originally?
- 02How much lost to Hamrin flooding?
Theories
- 01Adad frontier cult resilience (Miglus)
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.3000 BCE
- Period
- Early Bronze to Neo-Babylonian (c.3000–500 BCE; OB peak c.1800)
- Culture
- Sumerian → Old Babylonian → Kassite → Neo-Babylonian
- Builders
- Sumerian → Assyrian governors
- Purpose
- Settlement and ceremonial centre
- Abandoned
- c.500 BCE
- Rediscovered
- 1970s (Hamrin salvage)
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.3000 BCE
Sumerian Mê-Turran founded
c.1800 BCE
Old Babylonian Adad temple built
1979–1980
Hamrin Dam salvage excavations (Iraqi–Italian)
On the ground
Structures & features
33.8500° N · 44.8300° E · 50 m · 3 mapped features
- Adad Temple Ziggurat Podium (Mê-Turran)templeOld Babylonian ziggurat/platform of Adad temple, baked-brick facing and votive deposits33.8504° N · 44.8302° E
- Twin Mound Lower Town (Tell al-Sib sector)citySouthern mound with occupational terraces and tablet archive findspot33.8508° N · 44.8295° E
- Neo-Assyrian Reoccupation QuartersettlementNB–Assyrian houses and kilns over OB levels, pottery sequence33.8495° N · 44.8304° E