Location | Raqqa Governorate, Syria |
---|---|
Coordinates | 36°25′38.3″N38°16′35.4″E / 36.427306°N 38.276500°E |
Type | settlement |
History | |
Founded | c. 2400 BC |
Abandoned | 1200 BC |
Periods | Bronze Age |
Cultures | Mitanni, Early Dynastic |
Site notes | |
Excavation dates | 1993-2010 |
Archaeologists | B. Einwag, A. Otto |
Condition | Ruined |
Ownership | Public |
Public access | Yes |
Tall Bazi, is an ancient Near East archaeological site in Raqqa Governorate of Syria in the same general area as Mari and Ebla. It is located on the Euphrates river in upper Syria, about 60 kilometers south of Turkey near the abandoned town of Tall Banat. Tall Bazi has been proposed as the location of Armanum, known from texts of Sargon and Naram-Sin in the Akkadian period, during the reign of Naram-Sin of Akkad. [1] [2] [3] It was occupied into the Mitanni period at which time it was destroyed. In the Late Roman Empire a large building was constructed at the top of the main mound, using the remaining Late Bronze Age fortification walls. The modern village of Tell Banat is adjacent to the site.
An Early Bronze palace was found beneath the Middle Bronze temple. The earlier occupation of the Citadel dates back to the Late Early Dynastic period and Akkadian period. Numerous clay bi-conical sling shots were found especially around a fortified wall gate. [4]
The Northern Town of the lower area was occupied beginning in the Middle Bronze Age and was destroyed at the same time as the Western Town, in the Late Bronze Age. A geomagnetic prospection followed by excavation at four locations showed that the original portion was a grown settlement with later construction matching the planned houses of the Western Town. [5]
The main mound has been dubbed the "Citadel". It contained a large (37.6 meter long by 15.8 meter wide) temple built in the Middle Bronze Age (on top of an Early Bronze Age palace) still in use when it was destroyed at the same time as the 200 meter by 250 meter lower town in the Late Bronze Age. [6]
In the Middle Bronze II, Tall Bazi would have been in between larger powers like Carchemish (north), Aleppo (west; Yamhad), and Mari (southeast).
In this period the city was named Baṣīru. In the remains of the temple on the main mound were found evidence of significant production and ritual consumption of beer as well as two cuneiform land grant tablets of the Mitanni period one (Bz 51) sealed by ruler Saushtatar which gave the town of Baidali to the people of Baṣīru, one (Bz 50) by ruler Artatama I, and an Old Babylonian cylinder seal. [7] [8] When the settlement was destroyed the temple was looted and equipment smashed, then burned like the lower town. More post destruction looting then occurred.
The Western Town (1 hectare) is a single period area of the Late Bronze Age which lasted up to a century before it was violently destroyed. It contain about 100 houses with a central market area and planned 6 meter wide main roads with spurs into residential areas. Houses were built to a standard design with little variation. [9] Destruction appears to have come quickly as most material was still in place. Each house had its own oven for baking and vats for the production of beer. The Northern Town and Citadel were destroyed at the same time. [10] No human remains were found. [11] [12] Due to the sketchy nature of radiocarbon dating for this period dates radiocarbon samples have reported dates ranging from 1400 BC down to 1200 BC for the destruction layer. A Mitanni period cylinder seal was found. [13] [14]
As a result of the Syrian Civil War the top of the mound was turned into a military emplacement with much of the remains, including the temple, being destroyed by bulldozer activity. Archaeological finds still being held at the site were robbed away by ISIS. [15] [16] [17]
Tall Bazi is adjacent to (about one half a kilometer to the south) and was possibly part of the Tell Banat Settlement Complex (Tell Banat, Tell Banat North, and Tell Kabir) excavated as part of the Euphrates Salvage Project. The site of Tell Saghir, adjacent to the north, was not excavated. Some differences in dating between excavators of Tall Bazi and the Complex cause difficulty in aligning them chronologically. [18] [19] [20] [21]
Four periods of occupation are defined for the Tell Banat Complex: [29]
The fortified main mound rises 60 meters above the plain with the unfortified lower town portion, to the west, being only 7 meters high. The fortification walls around the main mound were constructed of large limestone block. The lower town area is divided into a Western Town and Northern Town. The site was excavated by German archaeologists in 1993–1997, in 1999, in 2001–2005, and then in 2007–2009. At this point local conditions became too difficult to continue work. The excavations were under the auspices of the German Research Foundation and later the Institute of Near Eastern Archaeology. [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36]
Due to the Tishrin Dam construction the lower town is now under water. The main mound is still above water. The adjacent third millennium BC archaeological complex at Tall Banat was also flooded. [37]
The Hurrians were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria, upper Mesopotamia and southeastern Anatolia.
Mitanni, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat in Assyrian records, or Naharin in Egyptian texts, was a Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria and southeast Anatolia with Indo-Aryan linguistic and political influences. Since no histories, royal annals or chronicles have yet been found in its excavated sites, knowledge about Mitanni is sparse compared to the other powers in the area, and dependent on what its neighbours commented in their texts.
In archaeology a tell is an artificial topographical feature, a mound consisting of the accumulated and stratified debris of a succession of consecutive settlements at the same site, the refuse of generations of people who built and inhabited them and natural sediment. When transliterating a Hebrew toponym, the English spelling is tel, as opposed to conversion from Arabic, when the word is written 'tell'.
Shuttarna II was a king of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni in the early 14th century BC.
Alalakh is an ancient archaeological site approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of Antakya in what is now Turkey's Hatay Province. It flourished, as an urban settlement, in the Middle and Late Bronze Age, c. 2000-1200 BC. The city contained palaces, temples, private houses and fortifications. The remains of Alalakh have formed an extensive mound covering around 22 hectares. In Late Bronze Age, Alalakh was the capital of the local kingdom of Mukiš.
Washukanni was the capital of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni, from around 1500 BC to the 13th century BC.
Mari was an ancient Semitic city-state in modern-day Syria. Its remains form a tell 11 kilometers north-west of Abu Kamal on the Euphrates River western bank, some 120 kilometers southeast of Deir ez-Zor. It flourished as a trade center and hegemonic state between 2900 BC and 1759 BC. The city was built in the middle of the Euphrates trade routes between Sumer in the south and the Eblaite kingdom and the Levant in the west.
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Šauštatar was the King of Mitanni in the fifteenth century BC. He significantly expanded the Mitanni Empire to include Assyria and Nuzi in the east to Alalakh and Kizzuwatna in the west. He was in conflict with Thutmose III competing for territory in Syria.
Tell Fekheriye is an ancient site in the Khabur river basin in al-Hasakah Governorate of northern Syria. It is securely identified as the site of Sikkan, attested since c. 2000 BC. While under an Assyrian governor c. 1000 BC it was called Sikani. Sikkan was part of the Syro-Hittite state of Bit Bahiani in the early 1st millennium BC. In the area, several mounds, called tells, can be found in close proximity: Tell Fekheriye, Ras al-Ayn, and 2.5 kilometers east of Tell Halaf, site of the Aramean and Neo-Assyrian city of Guzana. During the excavation, the Tell Fekheriye bilingual inscription was discovered at the site, which provides the source of information about Hadad-yith'i.
Artatama I was a king of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni in the late fifteenth century BC. His reign coincided with the reigns of Egyptian pharaohs Amenhotep II and Thutmose IV. He is believed to be the son of earlier Mitanni king Shaushtatar.
Terqa is the name of an ancient city discovered at the site of Tell Ashara on the banks of the middle Euphrates in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Syria, approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) from the modern border with Iraq and 64 kilometres (40 mi) north of the ancient site of Mari, Syria. Its name had become Sirqu by Neo-Assyrian times.
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Tall Munbāqa or Mumbaqat, the site of the Late Bronze Age city of Ekalte, is a 5,000-year-old town complex in northern Syria now lying in ruins. The ruins are located on a steep slope on the east bank of the upper course of the Euphrates. In the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC the city was an important city-state in the region. Due to the establishment of the Tabqa Dam at Al-Thawrah, 35 kilometers west of Raqqa, the city ruins are partially flooded today by Lake Assad. Situated high above the steep drop of the eastern shore, Tall Munbāqa is still preserved. The Bronze Age site of Tell Hadidi (Azu) lies 5 kilometers to the north. The city-god of Ekalte was Baʿlaka. There are known to have been four temples in the city, three on the high ground by the Euphrates and one at a city gate.
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Tell Hadidi, ancient Azu, is an ancient Near East archaeological site in Syria about 30 kilometers north of Emar and 5 kilometers north of Ekalte. It lies on the west bank of the Euphrates River on the opposite bank from Tell es-Sweyhat. It is thought to be a paired city with Tell es-Sweyhat controlling a Euphrates river crossing. There are prominent hollow ways between the site and Tell es-Sweyhat, Tell Othman, and Tell Jouweif. The site was occupied from the Early Bronze Age period to the Late Bronze Age and again to a lesser extent in Roman times. It was one of several rescue excavations sparked by the construction of the Tabqa Dam and the resulting Lake Assad. The town's primary god was Dagan.
Kurd Qaburstan, is an ancient Near East archaeological site in the Erbil Governorate, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, 22 kilometers southwest of Erbil. It is considered one of the most important archaeological sites in the region. The site is strategically located between the Upper and Lower Zab rivers. The modern village of Yedi Kizlar is adjacent to and covers a portion of the southeastern lower town. The site is primarily a single-period site dating to the early 2nd millennium BC, the Middle Bronze Age. There is also a compact Late Bronze Age occupation on the high mound. Kurd Qaburstan has been proposed as the location of the ancient city of Qabra. The site is located near Tell Halawa, Tell Aliawa, Tell Baqrta, and Qasr Shemamok (Kilizi), other prominent sites on the Erbil plain.