Umm Dabaghiyah
أم دباغية · Umm Dabaghiyah, Iraq
Pottery Neolithic (c.6000–5800 BCE; single horizon)·Hassuna-related onager-hunting specialized·🇮🇶 Nineveh Governorate, Hatra steppe, Wadi Tharthar east, Iraq
About
About Umm Dabaghiyah
Small mound on the Hatra steppe east of Wadi Tharthar, excavated by Diana Kirkbride 1971–72. Four levels with painted walls (onager hunts), 4,000+ onager bones, Hassuna-Samarran pottery and obsidian — the only Pottery Neolithic specialized game drive camp in Mesopotamia.
Why it mattersSpecialized Pottery Neolithic onager-hunting camp with wall paintings and mass onager kill debris unique in Hassuna world.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Seasonal vs permanent — hunting camp or village?
Theories
- 01Kirkbride seasonal onager drive model vs Bader permanent village
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- Specialized camp c.6000 BCE
- Period
- Pottery Neolithic (c.6000–5800 BCE; single horizon)
- Culture
- Hassuna-related onager-hunting specialized
- Builders
- Hassuna-related onager-hunting specialized communities
- Purpose
- Seasonal onager-hunting camp with massive onager bone and painted plaster
- Rediscovered
- Modern archaeological survey/ rescue
- Excavation
- Excavated
c.6000 BCE
Hunting camp founded with painted walls
c.5900 BCE
Peak onager drive debris
c.5800 BCE
Abandonment
1971
Kirkbride British School excavation
On the ground
Structures & features
35.9500° N · 42.2500° E · 280 m · 3 mapped features
Umm Dabaghiyah — West workshop
dwellingKey sub-area of Umm Dabaghiyah (Pottery Neolithic) showing Hassuna-related onager-hunting specialized horizon
35.9492° N · 42.2498° EUmm Dabaghiyah — Ceremonial building
kilnKey sub-area of Umm Dabaghiyah (Pottery Neolithic) showing Hassuna-related onager-hunting specialized horizon
35.9500° N · 42.2504° EUmm Dabaghiyah — Storage quarter
granaryKey sub-area of Umm Dabaghiyah (Pottery Neolithic) showing Hassuna-related onager-hunting specialized horizon
35.9508° N · 42.2510° E