Yarim Tepe 2

Tell site near the Caspian Sea in northern Iraq occupied in the Halaf period. Many circular houses have been excavated and a rectangular building that may be a shrine. It was then abandoned and reoccupied in the late 4th millennium BC. Yarim 2 is mainly of the Middle Halaf period, with tholos architecture and painted pottery. Abandoned again in the early 2nd millennium BC, it was reoccupied in the Iron Age (late 1st millennium BC). The site was occupied into the late Parthian period, c 200 AD.

Two tell sites — labelled Yarim Tepe I and II respectively — 80 km west of Mosul in northern Iraq. Yarim Tepe I is the earlier of the two, with 13 levels of the Has- sun a culture of the 6th millennium be. Among the most interesting discoveries is evidence of metallurgy, including the smelting of both copper and lead. Pottery manufacture was also highly developed several large, domed pottery kilns have been found, in clearly marked-out manufacturing areas, suggesting a degree of craft specialization very rare at this period. The houses were of packed mud (pisé or tauf) covered in gypsum; they were mainly round and originally separate, but they were gradually added to, making a honeycomb of dwellings with restricted access, probably through the roofs. Some rectangular houses with many rooms were also found. The subsistence economy was based on mixed farming — the cultivation of wheat and barley and the rearing of sheep, goat, cattle and pigs, all domesticated. The later mound of Yarim Tepe II was occupied in the Halaf period. Many circular houses have been excavated and a rectangular building that may be a shrine.