The archaeological hill of Hasaka ... a site that embraced the ruins of three great civilizations

Hasaka-Sana

In the city center of Al-Hasakah, on the left bank of the Al-Khabur River, and after 1,700 meters from the confluence of the Khabur and Al-Jagjeg rivers, there is an ancient hill that is one of the largest in the governorate in terms of size.

Through years of systematic excavation, the national archaeological mission worked in the Department of Antiquities of Al-Hasakah to find out the role the site played during 2000 BC and the subsequent centuries, and to confirm the hypothesis that this hill contains the Assyrian city of Makrizi, which was mentioned in the cuneiform number discovered in “Durkatlemu” now known as Tell Sheikh Hamad in Deir Ezzor.

The archaeological researcher, Dr. Abd al-Masih Baghdou, who worked as director of al-Hasakah archeology during the successive seasons of excavations at the site between 2008 and 2011, explained that three levels were discovered, the first dating back to the period of the Arab-Islamic civilization 700-1500 AD, and the second level dating back to the period of Byzantine civilization 400-700 In my AD, where a cathedral was found whose architecture dates back to the early Christian period and continued to be used during the Umayyad and Abbasid eras. As for the Assyrian level, the corner of a building of significance dating back to the modern Assyrian era was revealed in it.

According to Baghdou, the archaeological team working at the site found that the cathedral was built of basalt stone and is covered and coated with plaster, 31 meters long and 18 meters wide. Some of the discovered parts of its walls reached a height of 2.10 meters and consisted of three sections. The first is the courtyard consisting of three galleries and a floor paved with grilled milk In the form of tiles that included various geometric shapes, the three galleries are separated from each other by bases of columns made of basalt stone with stucco capitals decorated with ornaments and crosses.

As for the second section of the cathedral, the "Holy of Holies", it consists of the temple located in the center and to the south of it is the baptism room and contains a well preserved font. Above it was found an ammunition box containing the "bones of martyrs" killed during the Roman persecution within a wall energy and to the north of it is the room of deacons. Within it were found two dozen pottery, a lamp made of bronze and a stone seal.

Baghdou stated that the archaeological team found in the third section of the cathedral two presses for converting grapes into wine, dating back to two different periods, while on the southern side, a hall was found that contained a chair made of basalt plastered stones believed to be dedicated to the bishop.

Returning to the details of the “baptism font and the ammunition box” studies showed that the drum was made of hard limestone and placed on a bench adjacent to the eastern wall of the baptismal room with a height of 85 cm, a width of 80 cm, and a diameter of 62 cm of the opening of the drum.

As for the cover of the "Maqam of the Martyrs" box, it is made of marble stone, its height is 37 cm, its length is 41 cm, its width is 32 cm, and the depth from the inside is 16 cm. Inside it was found on human bones and on the cover there were holes overlooking the baptismal font, and it is likely that oil was placed in the box from the top. And it passes through the bones of the martyrs, then goes down by the chest hole to the baptismal font for visitors to the cathedral.

According to Baghdou, the cathedral is part of a religious complex that also included a church and cemetery that was built in the fourth century AD and continued in use until the eleventh century AD.