Tell Brak: a stratigraphic summary, 1976–1993

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide a brief stratigraphic summary of the 14 seasons of excavations at Tell Brak from 1976 to 1993, under the auspices of the Institute of Archaeology, University of London, and more recently, the McDonald Institute of the University of Cambridge. These excavations cover four millennia and have been carried out at a number of different parts of the site which, owing both to distance and site morphology it has not been possible to connect physically. In the course of fourteen seasons initial interpretations have inevitably changed; a major purpose of the article, therefore, is to provide an up-to-date framework within which the detail of the earlier reports can be read. Three final volumes are envisaged. The first, on the second millennium materials, is nearing completion and will be followed by one on the Akkadian and later third millennium occupation of Brak, with a third volume devoted to the prehistory of the site. This article thus constitutes an interim measure, to clarify the contexts of already published material; views presented here supersede those in all previous reports, including the previously published summary articles in Hamidiya 2 (1990). A full bibliography of preliminary reports is appended.