Treść książki

Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
AnnaSmogorzewska
Above500mm
400
-
500mm
JebelAbdel-Aziz
TellBeydar
TellChagarBazar
TellMelebiya
HASSEKE
300
200
-
-
400mm
300mm
TellMozan
Khabur
TellBderi
TellRadShaqrah
TellBrak
TellArbid
QAMISHLI
0
TellBarri
TellHamidiya
TellLeilan
TellMuhammadDiyab
Below200mm
Southernlimitofrain-fedagriculture
JebelSinjar
TellHamoukar
100km
Tigris
Fig.1.2RainfallintheUpperKhaburregion
mountainrangesinthisregionaretheJebelAbd
al-AzizandtheJebelSinjar,withtheirtallestpeaks
reaching1400ma.s.l.Theslightlyrollingland-
scapeofJezirahisadditionallyinterspersedwith
PleistoceneandHolocenevolcanicpeaks,suchas
JebelKawkabsituatedeastofHasseke,andJebel
Mankhar1eastofRaqqa.Basaltlavaplateauscan
befoundsouthofJebelAbdal-AzizandnearJerab-
lus.Intermsofitsgeology,mostofJezirahisbuilt
ofyoungersedimentaryrocks,mainlylimestone,
sandstoneandmarlsthatweredepositedduring
theCretaceousandTertiaryeras(Wilkinson2003:
101).
Inthe3rdmillenniumBC,theJezirahland-
scapewasdominatedbytellsettlements.Inthe
westernUpperKhaburfewsmall,lowsiteswere
inhabitedatthetime,asopposedtootherperi-
ods(Wilkinson2002b).Mosttells,especially
thosefromtheBronzeAge,arelocatedonthe
broadplainswhichstretchalongwatercourses
(Menze,Ur2012).Ahighconcentrationoftells
alongwadisisobservableintheUpperKhabur
region(Deckers,Riehl2008:179).Watercourses
mayhaveconstitutedahazardforthesettlements
situatedonthem,duetothefloodswhichhap-
penedinrainyseasons.Theformationoftellsthat
madethesettlementhighermayhaveprotected
theinhabitantsagainstflooding(“livinghigher
meansdrier”)(Deckers,Riehl2008:180).Apart
fromtheproximitytowater,otherkeyfactorsalso
determinedthelocationschosenforsettlement,
andtheyincludedtheavailabilityofdeepculti-
vablesoils.Fertilesoilsarecommonlyfoundin
thewideagriculturalbasinsofnorthernJezirah
plainswhicharesomeofthelargestinthenorth-
ernFertileCrescent(Wilkinsonetal.2013:14-15,
Fig.2.5).Jezirahhascalcicxerosolsoilswhich,
overthecenturies,haveaccumulatedcalcium
carbonateconcretionswithinthesubsoilBhori-
zon(Wilkinson1997:70-71).Asdemonstratedby
archaeologicalsurveys,tellsarelocatedmainly
onsuchsoils(Wilkinsonetal.2013:15).
Intermsofclimate,theKhaburregionfeatures
hotanddrysummersalongsidecoolandrainywin-
ters.MostrainfallcomesbetweenOctoberand
April.Thevolumeofrainfallclearlydecreasesfrom
northtosouth:thereis400mmofrainfallinthe
northbutlessthan200mmonthesouthernedge
oftheKhaburregion[Fig.1.2].Themajorityof
theclimatedatasuggeststhatthefirsthalfofthe
3rdmillenniumBCmayhavebeenmorehumid
thantheremainingpartofthe3rdmillenniumBC
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PAMMonographSeries9