Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

TELL ARBID

SYRIA

HEATING PLACES AND OVENS OF THE
3RD MILLENNIUM BC IN SECTOR SD
ON TELL ARBID

Dorota Lawecka

Sector SD covers a stretch of flat ground on
the eastern slope of the main tell at Tell
Arbid. In the course of six seasons of
exploration between 1998 and 2006, 12
squares were investigated, uncovering an
area of almost 700 m2 (for preliminary
reports concerning this sector of the exca-
vations, cf. Bielihski 1999: 213-216; 2000:
281-284; 2004: 338-345; 2005: 477-485;
2007: 460-470; and above, in this volume;
also Lawecka 2006: 71-73). With the

exception of some burials from the Khabour
Ware period, the remains can be dated to
the 3rd millennium BC. The density of
uncovered urban architecture is a measure of
the presumed affluence of inhabitants in the
eastern district of the town. One category of
domestic heating and cooking installations
found in abundance in this sector are
hearths and ovens of the round and oval
kind. Most of these installations can be
dated to the Late Ninevite 5 period.1

HEARTHS

The simplest hearths are usually round,
0.60-0.80 m in diameter, and flat with no
encasing structure. They are set on a bed-
ding of fine gravel mixed with mud. In one
instance, the bedding consisted of a single
layer of mud bricks and the hearth was
more or less oval in shape with one short
side sectioned off [Fig. 1}. In all cases the
surface of the hearth was black, smooth and
hard.
Hearths of this kind are found inside
rooms, as well as in the house courtyards.
Cooking on these installations was
facilitated by andirons, fragments of which
have been found in the archaeological
record, although not immediately around
the structures. Pottery representing
cooking ware is surprisingly rare in the
relevant assemblages.


36/65, Loc. 40 (courtyard). Late
Ninevite 5 (Drawing Λί. Makowski,
digitizing M. Momot)

1 Apart from the hearths and ovens discussed in this article, there was also a much destroyed furnace believed to be a
pottery kiln, dating from the end of the 3rd millennium BC or the Khabour Ware period.

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