1,720,995 research outputs found
The ‘grave of the Court Pit’, A rediscovered Bronze Age tomb from Carchemish
No full textThis paper examines the British Museum unpublished records related to an Early Bronze (EB) Age pithos burial
uncovered a century ago in the Inner Town at Carchemish. The grave, cursorily cited and variously dated (Chalcolithic,
EB or even LBA) in the final reports, was described in some detail by Hogarth and Thompson; a precise
dating is, however, possible today thanks to the information of paramount importance given by T. E. Lawrence
who identified and took a picture of the associated finds, which was recently rediscovered in the Carchemish
Archives. The pithos can be now ascribed to the third quarter of the third millennium BC and helps to
confirm the recent theory according to which the Inner Town of Carchemish, with its massive earthen
rampart, had already developed at the time of the second urbanisation in Syria and upper Mesopotamia.British Museum excavation
Tell Shiyukh Tahtani on the Euphrates. Highlights of the last excavation seasons
No full textIn recent years (2006-09) the University of Palermo Euphrates expedition has continued rescue excavations at Tell Shiyukh Tahtani (the “Lower Hill of Sheikhs”) as part of the Tishreen Dam Salvage Project. Located on the left bank of the River south of Jerablus, in the land that once was the Carchemish district, this small mound has revealed a long occupation sequence from around 3.000 B.C. to Byzantine and early Islamic times.
During the last three seasons we mainly concentrated in the investigation of the eastern slope of the upper tell (Area CD), where a continuous Bronze Age occupation has been detected. Apart from the later levels (EB IV, Middle and Late Bronze Age), one of the main goals has been the investigation of the EB I–III town, dating to the first half of the 3rd millennium, a period still obscure in the Upper Syrian Euphrates Valley. In a deep trench at the foot of the tell three main phases have been identified: (a) the earliest (incipient EB I), probably transitional with the Late Uruk culture, can be assigned to the flourishing “champagne-cup” culture of the Middle Euphrates and is characterized by fine mud-brick architecture, decorated with niches and buttresses, strongly reminiscent of contemporary buildings of Lower Mesopotamia. The second phase (EB Ib-II) shows a strong continuity, also marked by funerary rituals identical to the ones uncovered by the British Museum pioneer expedition on the citadel mound at Carchemish. The third level (EB III) marks an abandonment, characterized by some kind of squatters ́ occupation, with a complete change in town planning and material culture. These and other finds suggest that the small settlement of Shiyukh Tahtani played a relevant role in the history of the Middle Euphrates region and of North Syrian civilization as a whole
First Results of the Eastern Ḫabur Archaeological Survey in the Dohuk Region of Iraqi Kurdistan. The Season of 2013
No full textThe University of Tübingen began an archaeological survey in the westernmost part of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region of Iraq, in the province of Dohuk, in 2013. The survey area covers highly diverse ecological zones from the Tigris across the East-Tigridian plain to the high Zagros ranges along the border with Turkey. Historically, the region witnessed the expansion of Mesopotamian states since the 3rd mill. BC and was a border region between Assyria and Urartu in the 1st mill. BC
Tell Shiyukh Tahtani, Nord Siria. Relazione sull'attività della Missione Eufrate nell'anno 2008.
No full textSurvey and excavations in the Middle Euphrates Valley, Syria. 2008 Season
The Eastern Ḫabur Archaeological Survey in Iraq Kurdistan. A preliminary report on the 2014 Season
No full textThe Eastern Ḫabur Archaeological Survey in Iraq Kurdistan
Tell Shiyukh Tahtani, Syria Report of the 2006-09 Seasons
Full text linkThe Italian excavations at Shiyukh Tahtani have recently resumed, revealing
a long occupation sequence on the mound’s eastern slope (Area CD). In
Trench D23, on the summit, an Iron Age level II building contained a rich
array of pottery, sheep knuckle bones, clay ‘bobbins’ and an unstratified
Egyptian scarab of Menkheperre. An earlier massive building (LBA ?) was
also excavated below the Iron Age II occupation. Halfway down the slope
the lower level of a large burnt complex of Middle Bronze I date contained
rich finds and various burials characterized by peculiar rituals. Finally, in a
deep trench down below the slope, EB I-II remains included niched mud-brick
architecture of fine Mesopotamian tradition as well as many pot burials of the
Carchemish ‘champagne-cup culture’. All these finds enhance the knowledge
about the Bronze and Iron Age civilization of the Syrian Euphrates
Social Lives of Monumental Walls: Hunting along the Upper Tigris
No full textOn the left bank of the Tigris in northern Iraq, in an area today partially flooded by the Mosul Dam reservoir, lies an enigmatic monumental enclosure known in the literature as the “Tigris Wall.” Before its partial submersion under the waters of the modern lake, the large L-shaped embankment, about 4 × 4 km long, enclosed an area of ca. 1600 ha, overlooking the Tigris and its alluvial plain. By means of a holistic strategy that includes different levels of analysis (remote sensing, pedestrian and UAV photogrammetric surveys, excavation, and settlement pattern analysis), this paper addresses the structure, its context, and its environment. Relying on the results of this multi-disciplinary approach, we present an updated and detailed discussion of the structure’s possible functions and interpretations. Parallels from northern Mesopotamia and neighboring regions are used to suggest that the Tigris Wall may be the first archaeologically known hunting park in the region, probably dating to the Late Sasanian or Early Islamic epoch
65. Tell Shiyukh Tahtani
No full textThis volume presents the long history of Syria through a jouney of the most important and recently-excavated archaeological sites. The sites cover over 1.8 million years and all regions in Syria; 110 academics have contributed information on 103 excavations for this volume. Based on these contributions the volume offers a detailed summary of the history of Syria, a history as important as any in terms of the development of human society. It is hoped that this knowledge will offer not only an increased understanding of the country but also act as a deterrent to the destruction of Syrian cultural heritage and facilitate the protection of Syrian sites
Tell Shiyukh Tahtani. New light on the Bronze Age sequence
No full textThis report briefly describes the latest results of the Italian rescue excavations at
Shiyukh Tahtani on the Upper Syrian Euphrates. Fieldwork continued on the eastern
slope of the mound, aiming to further investigate the Bronze Age levels. A main operation,
halfway down the slope, focused upon the earliest MB I layers, where a group
of burials was unearthed, mostly consisting of adult interments in oval pits and child
pot burials. A most striking finding was the ‘Spinstress tomb’. At the foot of the slope,
the exploration of a mud-brick compound, dating back to the early third millennium
BC, continued. Here further remarkable evidence of massive domestic architecture in
a fine Mesopotamian tradition was unveiled: its associated finds and intra-mural burials
suggest a LC-EB transition showing that the site was quite active right after the collapse
of the Uruk ‘colonies’ on the Syrian Euphrates
Planning Punic cities: geophysical prospection and the built environment at Motya, Sicily
No full textThe urban plan of ancient Motya on the Isola di San Pantaleo on the west coast of Sicily and its relationship to developments in Phoenician and Punic societies have been investigated since the early 1960s. Data from geophysical surveys in the north-eastern quadrant of Motya show the regular organisation of urban insulae framed by two broad roads. These results, combined with data from previous nearby excavations, improve the modelling of Motya's layout, and contribute to the wider discussion of Phoenician/Punic and broader Mediterranean urban traditions between the sixth and fourth centuries BC
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