Giacobbe Giusti, HALAF culture
The Gate of Nimrud (Metropolitan Museum)
From the gate of Nimrud. A human-headed winged bull and winged lion (lamassu), Neo-Assyrian from the reign of Ashurnasirpal II; 883–859 B.C. Mesopotamia, Nimrud (ancient Kalhu) Alabaster (gypsum); H. 10 ft. 3 1/2 in. (313.7 cm) Gift of John D. Rockefeller Jr., 1932 (32.143.1–.2) Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. From the 9th to the 7th century B.C., the kings of Assyria ruled over a vast empire centered in northern Iraq. The great Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883–859 B.C.) undertook a vast building program at Nimrud, ancient Kalhu. Until it became the capital city under Ashurnasirpal, Nimrud had been no more than a provincial town. The new capital occupied an area of about nine hundred acres, around which Ashurnasirpal constructed a mudbrick wall that was 120 feet thick, 42 feet high, and five miles long. In the southwest corner of this enclosure was the acropolis, where the temples, palaces, and administrative offices of the empire were located. In 879 B.C. Ashurnasirpal held a festival for 69,574 people to celebrate the construction of the new capital, and the event was documented by an inscription that read: « …the happy people of all the lands together with the people of Kalhu—for ten days I feasted, wined, bathed, and honored them and sent them back to their home in peace and joy. »
Giacobbe Giusti, HALAF culture
Bowl fragment from Halaf, circa 5600–5000 B.C., Ceramic Metropolitan Museum of Art
Giacobbe Giusti, HALAF culture
A reconstruction of a Halaf temple, now the facade of the National Museum of Aleppo
Giacobbe Giusti, HALAF culture
Tel Halaf terracotta fertility figurine, 5000-4000 BC. Walters Museum
As early as the 7th millennium BC, cultures in the Near East began to create organized settlements with well-developed religious and funerary practices. The Halaf culture of Anatolia (central Turkey) and northern Syria arose around 5000 BC and produced remarkable female figurines with distinctive fertility attributes. This statuette is seated with legs extended, her arms cradling her protruding breasts. Bands of pigment emphasize the full, rounded forms of her limbs and suggest facial features, a necklace, and loincloth.
Giacobbe Giusti, HALAF culture
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| Geographical range | Mesopotamia |
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| Period | Neolithic 3 – Pottery Neolithic (PN) |
| Dates | circa 6,100 B.C.E. — circa5,100 B.C.E. |
| Type site | Tell Halaf |
| Major sites | Tell Brak |
| Preceded by | Pre-Pottery Neolithic B |
| Followed by | Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period, Hassuna culture, Samarra culture |
The Halaf culture is a prehistoric period which lasted between about 6100 BCE and 5100 BCE.[1] The period is a continuous development out of the earlier Pottery Neolithic and is located primarily in south-eastern Turkey, Syria, and northern Iraq, although Halaf-influenced material is found throughout Greater Mesopotamia.
While the period is named after the site of Tell Halaf in north Syria, excavated by Max von Oppenheim between 1911 and 1927, the earliest Halaf period material was excavated by John Garstang in 1908 at the site of Sakce Gözü, then in Syria but now part of Turkey.[2] Small amounts of Halaf material were also excavated in 1913 by Leonard Woolleyat Carchemish, on the Turkish/Syrian border.[3] However, the most important site for the Halaf tradition was the site of Tell Arpachiyah, now located in the suburbs of Mosul, Iraq.[4]
The Halaf period was succeeded by the Halaf-Ubaid Transitional periodwhich comprised the late Halaf (c. 5400-5000 BC), and then by the Ubaid period.
Origin
Previously, the Syrian plains were not considered as the homeland of Halaf culture, and the Halafians were seen either as hill people who descended from the nearby mountains of southeastern Anatolia, or herdsmen from northern Iraq.[5] However, those views changed with the recent archaeology conducted since 1986 by Peter Akkermans, which have produced new insights and perspectives about the rise of Halaf culture.[6]A formerly unknown transitional culture between the pre-Halaf Neolithic‘s era and Halaf’s era was uncovered in the Balikh valley, at Tell Sabi Abyad(the Mound of the White Boy).
Currently, eleven occupational layers have been unearthed in Sabi Abyad. Levels from 11 to 7 are considered pre-Halaf; from 6 to 4, transitional; and from 3 to 1, early Halaf. No hiatus in occupation is observed except between levels 11 and 10.[5] The new archaeology demonstrated that Halaf culture was not sudden and was not the result of foreign people, but rather a continuous process of indigenous cultural changes in northern Syria,[7]that spread to the other regions.[1]
Culture
Architecture
Giacobbe Giusti, HALAF culture
Although no Halaf settlement has been extensively excavated some buildings have been excavated: the tholoi of Tell Arpachiyah, circular domed structures approached through long rectangular anterooms. Only a few of these structures were ever excavated. They were constructed of mud-brick sometimes on stone foundations and may have been for ritual use (one contained a large number of female figurines). Other circular buildings were probably just houses.
Halaf pottery
Giacobbe Giusti, HALAF culture
The best known, most characteristic pottery of Tell Halaf, called Halaf ware, produced by specialist potters, can be painted, sometimes using more than two colors (called polychrome) with geometric and animal motifs. Other types of Halaf pottery are known, including unpainted, cooking ware and ware with burnished surfaces. There are many theories about why the distinctive pottery style developed.
The theory is that the pottery came about due to regional copying and that it was exchanged as a prestige item between local elites is now disputed. The polychrome painted Halaf pottery has been proposed to be a « trade pottery »—pottery produced for export—however, the predominance of locally produced painted pottery in all areas of Halaf sites including potters settlement questions that theory.
Halaf pottery has been found in other parts of northern Mesopotamia, such as at Nineveh and Tepe Gawra, Chagar Bazar and at many sites in Anatolia (Turkey) suggesting that it was widely used in the region. In addition, the Halaf communities made female figurines of partially baked clay and stone and stamp seals of stone, (see also Impression seal). The seals are thought to mark the development of concepts of personal property, as similar seals were used for this purpose in later times. The Halaf people used tools made of stone and clay. Copper was also known, but was not used for tools.
Economy
Giacobbe Giusti, HALAF culture
Dryland farming was practiced by the population. This type of farming was based on exploiting natural rainfall without the help of irrigation, in a similar practice to that still practiced today by the Hopi people of Arizona. Emmer wheat, two-rowed barley and flax were grown. They kept cattle, sheep and goats.
Halaf’s end (Northern Ubaid)
Halaf culture ended by 5000 BC after entering the so-called Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period.[8] Many Halafians settlements were abandoned, and the remaining ones showed Ubaidian characters.[9] The new period is named Northern Ubaid to distinguish it from the proper Ubaid in southern Mesopotamia,[10] and two explanations were presented for the transformation. The first maintain an invasion and a replacement of the Halafians by the Ubaidians, however, there is no hiatus between the Halaf and northern Ubaid which exclude the invasion theory.[9][11]The most plausible theory is a Halafian adoption of the Ubaid culture,[9] which is supported by most scholars including Oates, Breniquet and Akkermans.[10][11][12]
References
Citations
- ^ Jump up to:a b Mario Liverani (2013). The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy. p. 48.
- Jump up^ Castro Gessner, G. 2011. « A Brief Overview of the Halaf Tradition » in Steadman, S and McMahon, G (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Ancient anatolia. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 780
- Jump up^ Castro Gessner, G. 2011. « A Brief Overview of the Halaf Tradition » in Steadman, S and McMahon, G (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Ancient anatolia. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 781
- Jump up^ Campbell, S. 2000. « The Burnt House at Arpachiyah: A Reexamination » Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research no. 318. pp. 1
- ^ Jump up to:a b Maria Grazia Masetti-Rouault; Olivier Rouault; M. Wafler (2000). La Djéziré et l’Euphrate syriens de la protohistoire à la fin du second millénaire av. J.C, Tendances dans l’interprétation historique des données nouvelles, (Subartu) – Chapter : Old and New Perspectives on the Origins of the Halaf Culture by Peter Akkermans. pp. 43–44.
- Jump up^ Peter M. M. G. Akkermans, Glenn M. Schwartz (2003). The Archaeology of Syria: From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies (c.16,000-300 BC). p. 101.
- Jump up^ Peter M. M. G. Akkermans, Glenn M. Schwartz (2003). The Archaeology of Syria: From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies (c.16,000-300 BC). p. 116.
- Jump up^ John L. Brooke (2014). Climate Change and the Course of Global History: A Rough Journey. p. 204.
- ^ Jump up to:a b c Georges Roux (1992). Ancient Iraq. p. 101.
- ^ Jump up to:a b Susan Pollock; Reinhard Bernbeck (2009). Archaeologies of the Middle East: Critical Perspectives. p. 190.
- ^ Jump up to:a b Peter M. M. G. Akkermans, Glenn M. Schwartz (2003). The Archaeology of Syria: From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies (c.16,000-300 BC). p. 157.
- Jump up^ Robert J. Speakman; Hector Neff (2005). Laser Ablation ICP-MS in Archaeological Research. p. 128.
Bibliography
- Akkermans, Peter M. M. G.; Schwartz, Glenn M. (2003). The Archaeology of Syria: From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies (c.16,000-300 BC). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-52179-666-8.
- Liverani, Mario (2013). The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-75091-7.
- Masetti-Rouault, Maria Grazia; Rouault, Olivier; Wafler, Markus (2000). La Djéziré et l’Euphrate syriens de la protohistoire à la fin du second millénaire av. J.C, Tendances dans l’interprétation historique des données nouvelles, (Subartu). Brepols. ISBN 978-2-50351-063-7.
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 Location in Manhattan
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| Established | April 13, 1870[1][2][3] |
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| Location | 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028 |
| Visitors | 6,692,909 (2017)[4] |
| Director | Max Hollein |
| Public transit access | Subway:     to 86th StreetBus: M1, M2, M3, M4, M79, M86 SBS |
| Website | www.metmuseum.org |
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Elevation by Simon Fieldhouse
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| Built | 1874 |
| Architect | Richard Morris Hunt; also Calvert Vaux; Jacob Wrey Mould |
| Architectural style | Beaux-Arts |
| NRHP reference # | 86003556 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | January 29, 1972[5] |
| Designated NHL | June 24, 1986[6] |
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, colloquially « the Met,« [a] is the largest art museum in the United States. With 7.06 million visitors in 2016, it was the third most visited art museum in the world, and the fifth most visited museum of any kind. [8] Its permanent collection contains over two million works,[9] divided among seventeen curatorial departments. The main building, on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan’s Museum Mile, is by area one of the world’s largest art galleries. A much smaller second location, The Cloistersat Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains an extensive collection of art, architecture, and artifacts from Medieval Europe. On March 18, 2016, the museum opened the Met Breuermuseum at Madison Avenue in the Upper East Side; it extends the museum’s modern and contemporary art program.
The permanent collection consists of works of art from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt, paintings, and sculptures from nearly all the Europeanmasters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. The Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The museum is home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes, and accessories, and antique weapons and armor from around the world. Several notable interiors, ranging from first-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 for the purpose of opening a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. It opened on February 20, 1872, and was originally located at 681 Fifth Avenue.
The main entrance, a temple gateway from the Iron Age Neo-Hittite settlement of Tell Halaf
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Location in Aleppo
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| Established | 1931 |
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| Location | Baron Street, Aleppo, Syria |
| Coordinates | 36.203754°N 37.150607°E |
| Type | Archaeological |
The National Museum of Aleppo(Arabic: متحف حلب الوطني) is the largest museum in the city of Aleppo, Syria, and was founded in 1931. It is located in the heart of the northern city on Baron Street, adjacent to the famous Baron Hotel and near the Bab al-FarajClock Tower. The majority of the museum’s exhibitions are devoted to the archaeology of Syria, with most of the finds coming from archaeological sites of the northern part of the country.
History of the museum
In 1931, under the decision of the Syrian authorities, a small Ottomanpalace was designated to become the National Museum in the city of Aleppo. After three decades, the building became too small to host the growing number of exhibited items. Therefore, it was decided in 1966 to demolish the old building and replace it with a larger, more modern structure. New building was built after the project of Yugoslav architects Zdravko Bregovac and Vjenceslav Richter who won the first price for their competition entry.[1]
In July 2016 the museum was hit by numerous missiles and mortar shells fired by rebel forces. This caused extensive damage to the roof and structure of the building. Most of the collection had already been evacuated but concerns have been expressed regarding items which could not be moved.[2][3][4]
Collections
Giacobbe Giusti, National Museum of Aleppo
Arabic: متحف حلب الوطني
Items from all historical periods are exhibited in the museum. However, the largest sections of the museum are devoted to the Iron Age and the Islamic period. The entrance to the museum is a temple gateway with a female sphinx from the Iron Age (9th century BC) Neo-Hittite settlement of Tell Halaf.
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North Charles Street original main entrance
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| Former name | The Walters Art Gallery |
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| Established | 1934 |
| Location | Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Type | Art museum |
| Director | Julia Marciari-Alexander (2016)[1] |
| Public transit access |
Hunt Valley–BWI Marshall
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| Website | Official website |
The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The Museum’s collection was amassed substantially by major American art and sculpture collectors, a father and son: William Thompson Walters, (1819–1894), who began serious collecting when he moved to Paris as a nominal Southern/Confederate sympathizer at the outbreak of the American Civil Warin 1861; and Henry Walters (1848–1931), who refined the collection and made arrangements for the construction of a later landmark building to rehouse it. After allowing the Baltimore public to occasionally view his father’s and his growing added collections at his West Mount Vernon Place townhouse/mansion during the late 1800s, he arranged for an elaborate stone palazzo-styled structure built for that purpose in 1905–1909. Located across the back alley, a block south of the Walters mansion on West Monument Street/Mount Vernon Place, on the northwest corner of North Charles Street at West Centre Street.
The mansion and gallery were also just south and west of the landmark Washington Monument in the Mount Vernon-Belvedere neighborhood, just north of the downtown business district and northeast of Cathedral Hill. Upon his 1931 death, Henry Walters bequeathed the entire collection of then more than 22,000 works, the original Charles Street Gallery building, and his adjacent townhouse/mansion just across the alley to the north on West Mount Vernon Place to the City of Baltimore, « for the benefit of the public. » The collection includes masterworks of ancient Egypt, Greek sculpture and Roman sarcophagi, medieval ivories, illuminated manuscripts, Renaissance bronzes, Old Master European and 19th-century paintings, Chinese ceramics and bronzes, Art Deco jewelry, and ancient Near East, Mesopotamian, or ancient Middle East items.
In 2000, « The Walters Art Gallery » changed its long-time name to « The Walters Art Museum »[1] to reflect its image as a large public institution and eliminate confusion among some of the increasing out-of-state visitors. The following year, « The Walters » (as it is often known in the city) reopened its original main building after a dramatic three-year physical renovation and replacement of internal utilities and infrastructure. The Archimedes Palimpsest was on loan to the Walters Art Museum from a private collector for conservation and spectral imaging studies.
Starting on October 1, 2006, the museum began having free admission year-round as a result of substantial grants given by Baltimore City and the surrounding suburban Baltimore County arts agencies and authorities.[2] In 2012, « The Walters » released nearly 20,000 of its own images of its collections on a Creative Commons license, and collaborated in their upload to the world-wide web and the internet on Wikimedia Commons.[3] This was one of the largest and most comprehensive such releases made by any museum.[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halaf_culture
| www.metmuseum.org |
Giacobbe Giusti 