Chagar Bazar (Akk. Ašnakkum;Šagir Bazar,Arabic: تل شاغربازار) is atell, or settlement mound, in northernAl-Hasakah Governorate,Syria. It is a short distance from the major ancient city of Nagar (Tell Brak). The site was occupied from theHalaf period (c. 6100 to 5100 BC) until the middle of the 2nd millennium BC.
Chagar Bazar is located inAl-Hasakah Governorate, approximately 35 kilometres (22 mi) north ofAl-Hasakah, on the Wadi Dara, a tributary to theKhabur River. The ancient site measures approximately 12 hectares (30 acres).
By the EarlyBronze Age, in the third millennium BC, Chagar Bazar had turned into a small town with the size of 12 hectares / 30 acres. The site appears to have been abandoned by the end of the third millennium BC.
In the Middle Bronze, it was resettled in the Old Babylonian period and it has been proposed asthe city of Ašnakkum though there is no epigraphic evidence for that.[2] The town was part of the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia underShamshi-Adad I and his sonYasmah-Adad.[3] Hurrians also occupied the city and fine examples of theKhabur ware pottery dating to this period have been discovered by the excavators.
Assuming it was indeed Ašnakkum then Chagar Bazar would have been part of the Ida-Maraṣ region along with Ašlakkā, Ilān-surā, Kahat, Susā, and Šunā.[4]
Sammetar (c. 1770 BC), king of Asnakkum during the time ofZimri-Lim of Mari.[5]
A pottery sherd. The fragment is painted with a design of wading birds. There is brown paint on creamy clay. From Chagar Bazar, Syria. Halaf period, 6000-5000 BCE. Excavated by Sir Mallowan in 1935
The site contains two mounds, a higher but smaller one to the south and a lower larger northern one. Occupation was Halaf at the northern end then at the southern end in the Late Chalcolithic period followed by full occupation in the 3rd millennium BC. The 2nd millennium BC occupation was restricted to the northern (5 hectare) mound. Chagar Bazar was excavated for three seasons by the British archaeologistMax Mallowan, with his wifeAgatha Christie, from 1935 to 1937.[6][7][8] Many of the artefacts discovered were brought to theBritish Museum. Besides pottery, a large number of Old Babylonian periodclay tablets written incuneiform script were discovered.[9][10][11] Work was resumed at the site in 1999 by an expedition from theBritish School of Archaeology in Iraq in cooperation withUniversity of Liège archaeologists and the SyrianDirectorate-General of Antiquities and Museums.[12][13][14] During these excavations, which ended in 2002, 214 cuneiform tablets were recovered.
C. J. Gadd, "Tablets from Chagar Bazar 1936",Iraq, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 178–185, 1937
C. J. Gadd, "Tablets from Chagar Bazar and Tell Brak 1937–38",Iraq, vol. 7, pp. 22–61, 1940
J. E. Curtis, "Some Axe-Heads from Chagar Bazar and Nimrud",Iraq, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 73–81, 1983
O. Tunca et al.,Chagar Bazar (Syrie) I: Les sondages prehistoriques (1999–2001), Peeters, 2006,ISBN90-429-1796-2
O. Tunca et al.,Chagar Bazar (Syrie) II: Les vestiges post-akkadiens du chantier D et etudes diverses, Peeters, 2007,ISBN90-429-1948-5
O. Tunca and A. Baghdo,Chagar Bazar (Syrie) III: Les trouvailles epigraphiques et sigillographiques du chantier I (2000–2002), Peeters, 2008,ISBN90-429-2089-0
Tunca, Ö., Bagdhou, a. und Léon, S., "Chagar Bazar (Syrie) IV. Les tombes ordinaires de l’âge du bronze ancien et moyen des chantiers D-f-H-I (1999−2011)", Étude archéologique, Peeters Publishers, 2018ISBN978-9042936331
J. Mas and O. Tunca, "Chagar Bazar (Syrie) V: Les tombes ordinaires de l'âge du Bronze ancien et moyen des chantiers D-F-H-I (1999-2011): La poterie", (Publications de la ... de L'Universite de), Peeters Publishers, 2018ISBN978-9042936348
S. Leon, "Chagar Bazar (Syrie) VI: Les tombes ordinaires de l'âge du Bronze ancien et moyen des chantiers D-F-H-I (1999-2011): Les objets", (Publications de la ... de L'Universite de), Peeters Publishers, 2018ISBN978-9042936355
R Ali and J-M Cordy, "Chagar Bazar (Syrie) VII: Les tombes ordinaires de l'âge du Bronze ancien et moyen des chantiers D-F-H-I (1999-2011): Les Ossements", (Publications de la ... de L'Universite de), Peeters Publishers, 2018ISBN978-9042936362
Tunca, Ö., Bagdhou, A, "Chagar Bazar (Syrie) VIII. Les tombes ordinaires de l’âge du bronze ancien et moyen des chantiers D-f-H-I (1999−2011): Études diverses", Étude archéologique, Peeters Publishers, 2018ISBN978-9042936379
^Jesper Eidem, with a contribution by Lauren Ristvet and Harvey Weiss, "The Royal Archives from Tell Leilan. Old Babylonian Letters and Treaties from the Lower Town Palace East", PIHANS 117, The Netherlands Institute for the Near East, Leiden, 2011
^"Ašnakkum". Old Babylonian Period (2003-1595 B.C.): Early Periods, Volume 4, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990, pp. 769-770.https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442678033-038
^M.E.L. Mallowan, Excavations at Chagar Bazar and an Archaeological Survey of the Habur Region of North Syria 1934-5, Iraq, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1–85, 1936
^M.E.L. Mallowan, Excavations at Tall Chagar Bazar and an Archaeological Survey of the Habur Region, Second Campaign 1936, Iraq, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 91–177, 1937
^M.E.L. Mallowan, Excavations at Brak and Chagar Bazar, Iraq, no. 9, pp. 1–259, 1947
^Philippe Talon, "Old Babylonian Texts From Chagar Bazar", FAGD/ASGD, 1997,ISBN90-90-10838-6
^Loretz, O., "Texte aus Chagar Bazar und Tell Brak, Teil 1", Alter Orient und Altes Testament 3. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Butzon & Bercker, 1969
^Snell, D., "The Old Babylonian Cuneiform Texts from Chagar Bazar in the Aleppo Museum", Annales archéologiques arabes syriennes 33:2, pp.217!241, 1983
^Augusta McMahon, Onhan Tunca, and Abdul-Massih Bagdo, New Excavations at Chagar Bazar 1999–2000, Iraq, vol. 63, pp. 201–222, 2001
^A.M. McMahon, C. Colantoni and M.J. Semple, British excavations at Chagar Bazar, 2001–2002, Iraq, vol. 67, no. 2, pp. 1–16, 2003
^McMahon, A., C. Colantoni, J. Frane, and A. Soltysiak, Once There Was A Place: Settlement Archaeology at Chagar Bazar 1999-2002, London, British Institute for the Study of Iraq, 2009ISBN978-0903472272
