Towards a Deefinition of the Late Chalcolithic Period in the Erbil Plain : The Contribution of the Helawa Pottery Sequence

Tell Helawa is a medium-sized site located in the south-western Erbil Plain with a substantial prehistoric occupation spanning from the Halaf to Late Chalcolithic periods. The excavation of a long step trench along the southern slope of the high mound brought to light a thick stratigraphic sequence featuring well-preserved Late Chalcolithic structures with abundant in-situ finds. The seriation of stratified pottery has yielded a site-specific ceramic sequence that enables an initial assessment of regional ceramic chronology to be made. In this chapter the Late Chalcolithic pottery finds are described and discussed, focusing on the developments and local trajectories in the Erbil Plain and in the Trans-Tigris area between the Upper and Lower Zab. The evidence from Helawa is evaluated within the wider northern Mesopotamian geographical context and compared with results from recent investigations in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, as well as well-known data from the Syrian and Iraqi Jazirah.