Tell Halaf

Tell Halaf
تل حلف
Part of the excavated ruins of Tell Halaf in 2009
Shown within Near East
Tell Halaf (Syria)
LocationAl-Hasakah, Syria
Coordinates36°49′36″N 40°02′23″E / 36.8266°N 40.0396°E / 36.8266; 40.0396
Typesettlement
History
Foundedc.6100 BCE
Abandonedc.5400 BCE
PeriodsNeolithic
CulturesHalaf culture
Site notes
Discovered19 November 1899
Excavation dates1911-1913, 1929
2006-present
ArchaeologistsMax von Oppenheim
Lutz Martin
Abd al-Masih Bagdo
OwnershipPublic
Public accessYes

Tell Halaf (Arabic: تل حلف) is an archaeological site in Al-Hasakah in northeastern Syria, a few kilometers from the city of Ras al-Ayn near the Syria–Turkey border. The site, which dates to the sixth millennium BCE, was the first to be excavated from a Neolithic culture, later called the Halaf culture, characterized by glazed pottery painted with geometric and animal designs.

It is thought to have been historically named Guzana, i.e. the Biblical Gozan.