The Tell Barri sequence of LBA levels: evolution trends within 2nd millennium ceramic culture

In light of recently acquired evidence, the development of the ceramic assemblage and the relation between traditional and new ceramic types can be explicated considering the political, socio-economic and cultural transformations affecting the Jazirah at the end of the Late Bronze Age. The investigation presented in this paper is primarily concerned with the pottery found in the Late Bronze Age levels of Tell Barri, site in the north-eastern Syrian plains, between the modern cities of Khamishly and al-Hassekeh and its interpretation. This ancient settlement has been continuously inhabited throughout the 2nd millennium BC. The excavations of the Area G (Plates 1 and 2a) on the south-eastern slope of the mound, carried out by Prof. P. E. Pecorella between 1998 and 2005, allow us to provide additional evidence to understand both the changes in ceramic manufacture and the transformation of the settlement that took place during this specific chronological period that encompasses the collapse of Mitannian political control in the region and Assyria’s rise to power.