Chagar Bazar

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Chagar Bazar is an ancient site in northern Syria, occupied from the sixth to the second millennium BC. It is situated by the small river Dara, a tributary to the Khabur River. Alternative spellings are Tell Chagar Bazar, or Šagir Bazar.

Chagar Bazar was already settled in the Neolithic. Excavations revealed pottery belonging to the Tell Halaf culture. By the Early Bronze Age, in the third millennium BC, Chagar Bazar 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. It was resettled by Hurrians in the Middle Bronze Age. Fine examples of the Khabur ware pottery dating to this period have been discovered by the excavators.

The ancient site was excavated by the British archaeologist Max Mallowan 1935-37. Many of the artefacts discovered were brought to the British Museum. Except pottery a large number of clay tablets written in cuneiform script were discovered. Work was resumed at the site in 1999 by an expedition from the University of Cambridge in cooperation with Belgian archaeologists and the Syrian Department of Antiquities.