Traces of Halaf culture discovered by Spanish, Kurdish archeologists in north Erbil

SORAN, Kurdistan Region - On a hilltop north of Erbil province traces of life dating back to the Halaf prehistoric period were discovered by Kurdish and Spanish archeologists who have been excavating the important site for months now.

Bana Helk is a Neolithic village and is considered part of a good trade network. Archaeologists have found evidence of impressive architectural skills and an extensive trade network of the Halaf culture in the area.

The Halaf culture is a prehistoric period that lasted between about 6100 BC and 5100 BC. The period had been a continued development out of the earlier Pottery Neolithic and located primarily in southeastern Turkey, Syria, and northern Iraq, according to The Ancient Near East book by Mario Liverani.

The teams digging the hill are from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Erbil’s Salahaddin University.

"The discovered pieces will be joined together in an academic and scientific way, using important substances," Nariman Khana Rahim, a lecturer at the Salahaddin University told Rudaw’s Bakhtiyar Qadir on Tuesday.

Previously numerous potteries featuring human, animal, engineering, and astronomical carvings had been discovered at the site by the very same teams.