Tell Halula South — Euphrates Pre-Pottery Annex
Tell Halula · Tell Halula Lower Terrace · Haloulá South
PPNA to PPNB (7800–5400 BCE; main 7600–6000 BCE)·PPNB Mureybetian → PPNB (Euphrates)·🇸🇾 Aleppo Governorate, Euphrates valley, Halula plain, Syria
About
About Tell Halula South — Euphrates Pre-Pottery Annex
Halula South is the 2 ha PPNB southern extension of the 8 ha PPN tell excavated by Miquel Molist (Autonomous University Barcelona, 1991–2005) before Tishrin dam? Actually preserved. Early PPNB 7600 BCE 14-phase village with plastered communal buildings, skull burials, obsidian exchange, and early farming fauna. Largest Pre-Pottery Neolithic B village on Syrian Euphrates with systematic bioarchaeology.
Why it mattersMost continuous PPNB sequence on Euphrates revealing Neolithic demographic growth and mortuary transition.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why shift from skull cult to communal building after 7300 BCE?
Theories
- 01Molist: growing hierarchical community before Halaf
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.7800 BCE (PPNA late)
- Period
- PPNA to PPNB (7800–5400 BCE; main 7600–6000 BCE)
- Culture
- PPNB Mureybetian → PPNB (Euphrates)
- Builders
- PPNB farmers
- Purpose
- Large early farming community with communal buildings
- Abandoned
- c.5400 BCE (Pottery Neolithic transition)
- Rediscovered
- 1986 Spanish–Syrian survey; 1991 UAB excavations
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1991–2005
Molist 14 seasons; house 4F communal building
c.7500 BCE
Plastered skull cache building
On the ground
Structures & features
36.4100° N · 38.1700° E · 350 m · 3 mapped features
Halula South House 4F
habitationPisé communal building with red plaster floor and skull niches
36.4107° N · 38.1706° EHalula South Obsidian Cache
workshop500 Obsidian Göllüdağ blades store
36.4094° N · 38.1708° EHalula PPNB Skull Cache
shrinePlastered skulls in wall niches
36.4110° N · 38.1694° E