HALAF, TALL

also spelled Tell Halaf, archaeological site of ancient Mesopotamia, on the headwaters of the Khabur River near modern Ra's al-'Ayn, northeastern Syria. It is the location of the first find of a Neolithic culture characterized by glazed pottery painted with geometric and animal designs. The pottery is sometimes called Halafian ware. The site was excavated by German archaeologists between 1899 and 1927. It was a flourishing city from about 5050 to about 4300 BC, sometimes referred to as the Halaf Period. The site was recorded (c. 894 BC) as the tributary city-state of Gozan by the Assyrian king Adad-nirari II. A short period of independence ended when, in 808 BC, the Assyrian queen-regent Sammu-ramat (Semiramis) and her son Adad-nirari III sacked the city and reduced the surrounding district to a province of the Assyrian empire. A group of Israelites were deported there in 722 after the capture of Samaria.