ALBERT RECKITT ARCHAEOLOGICAL LECTURE Archaeology in
Mesopotamia: Digging Deeper at Tell Brak Dr Joan Oates, The
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 27 April 2004,
5.30pm Tell Brak (ancient Nagar) is situated in the Khabur plain
of northeastern Syria and is one of the largest ancient sites in
Northern Mesopotamia. A small settlement existed here as early
as 6000 BC and by the beginning of the fourth millennium Brak
had become one of the earliest Near Eastern cities. One reason
for its importance was its strategic position, situated on a
major route from the Tigris Valley northwards to the mines of
Anatolia and westwards to the Euphrates and the Mediterranean.
Indeed cuneiform texts of third millennium date identify Nagar
as the major point of contact between the cities of the Levant
and those of northern Mesopotamia. At this time Brak was a major
commercial and administrative centre and a city noted for the
breeding of donkey-onager hybrids which commanded high prices in
the west and, until the int