It takes its name from a more recent village located about 4 miles (6.4 km) from Nineveh.

Tepe Gawra is also a contemporary Neolithic site located in the Mosul region.

After being scouted by Reginald Campbell Thompson in 1928, it was excavated by Max Mallowan and John Cruikshank Rose of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, along with Agatha Christie, in 1933.

An array of Halaf pottery and sealings were also found, along with an Ubaid cemetery containing 50 graves.

The pottery recovered there forms the basis for the internal chronology of the Halaf period.