Tepe Gawra [key] [Kurdish,=great mound], locality in N Iraq, 15 mi (24 km) NE of Mosul. In 1927 the archaeologist Ephraim Speiser discovered it to be the site of ancient settlements. In all, 24 levels and sublevels were unearthed; they date from the 5th millennium b.c. to the 2d millennium b.c. The levels are numbered from top to bottom. The upper levels were not very distinctive; they show a type of civilization less advanced than that found in the lower levels. In the lower levels the chronological sequence of the Halafian (c.5000 b.c.), Al Ubaid (c.4100–3500 b.c.), and Jemdet Nasr (3500–3000 b.c.) periods is well represented (see Mesopotamia). The number of architectural remains from these early periods at Tepe Gawra makes it one of the most important sites of N Mesopotamia. The three monumental temple remains on an acropolis of the 13th level represent the finest architecture at the site.
See E. A. Speiser et al., Excavations at Tepe Gawra (2 vol., 1935–50).
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