Kifrin
Materials and history
The funerary customs that emerge from the evidence found in Kifrin are those typical of the Syro-Mesopotamian area, although several types of tombs were observed. In addition to several Neo-Assyrian double-jar tombs (Doppeltopf), the excavations in Kifrin have produced findings of underground chambers dug in the rock (funerary chambers dug in the rock and studied by an Iraqi mission in the nearby cemetery of Majwal were especially numerous), burials in graves and in underground chambers.
The pottery, the few terracotta figurines, the stucco fragments and the Aramaic inscriptions (especially Hatrene) are all ascribable to a typically local context. The brittle ware and those products that are more easily ascribable to the Roman presence are very similar to artefacts found in other strongholds such as Dura and Ain Sinu.
The structures in Kifrin are generally dated to the Severian period
(3rd century A.D.). In this period, the Kifrin stronghold was probably
militarily reinforced with the construction of the citadel and the enlargement
(or rebuilding) of the walls; these structures, however, were built on
top of a previous settlement whose economic, strategic and commercial
importance lasted into the Parthian period (2nd century A.D.).
The approximately
60 coins produced by the excavation date for the most part between Septimiius
Severus and Gordian III, although a significant number (approximately
one third) date back to the 2nd century. The coins seem to simultaneously
suggest the previous existence of a 2nd century settlement and the increased
importance of Kifrin, especially in military and strategic terms, from
the Severian period, when the border’s advancement saw the staging of
a series of forts and checkpoints along the ‘Ana river corridor (which
up to that time was probably run by the Palmyrenes).