Tell Hazna I. Between the first and second urban revolutions in the Khabur steppe of North Mesopotamia

The urban way of life in the Khabur steppe of North Mesopotamia is boundup with the cultural influences from Sumer and has been recorded in the region sincethe beginning of the 4th mill. BC. For example, Tell Brak (ancient city of Nagar) hadreached a size of 130 ha by 3800 BC. The Tell Hazna I settlement is one of those locatednear Tell Brak. A monumental temple building dating from late 4th - early 3rd mill. BCinvestigated there evidences lively administrative activity. Despite the presence ofa number of signs of early statehood, the Tell Hazna I inhabitants did not use writtenlanguage - the key feature of civilization. Around the 27th c. BC the increasinglyarid climate made life at the settlement of Tell Hazna I and a number of other sitesin the southern part of the Khabur steppe impossible. The second period of progresstowards the formation of a state in the Khabur steppe dates back to the middle andsecond half of the 3rd mill. BC. It can be recognized thanks to the emergence of the wholerange of features characterizing civilization, including the use of a written language(from the 25th c. BC). A characteristic feature of the topography of the urban settlementsin North Mesopotamia at that time was the radial-concentric lay-out in the shape ofa crown. Settlements of this kind have gone down in archaeological literature underGerman term «Kranzhügel» (crown mounds)