Tell Arbid
Encyclopedia
Ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia , ancient Egypt, ancient Iran The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia...
archaeological site in the Khabur River
Khabur River
The Khabur River , , , ) is the largest perennial tributary to the Euphrates in Syrian territory. Although the Khabur originates in Turkey, the karstic springs around Ra's al-'Ayn are the river's main source of water. Several important wadis join the Khabur north of Al-Hasakah, together creating...
Basin region of Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
near Tell Mozan, the site of ancient Urkesh
Urkesh
Urkesh or Urkish is a tell, or settlement mound, located in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains in Al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria...
.
History
Little is currently known about the history or identity of Tell Arbid. The site was heavily occupied during Early Dynastic times of the 3rd Millennium, primarily Ninevite 5 and Early Dynastic III periods, then sporadically in the Akkadian, MitanniMitanni
Mitanni or Hanigalbat was a loosely organized Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria and south-east Anatolia from ca. 1500 BC–1300 BC...
, Neo-Babylonian and the Hellenistic period.
Archaeology
The site comprises a large main tell and 4 smaller mounds, together covering about 38 hectares with a height of around 30 meters. The main tell consists primarily of Mittani, Akkadian, Early Dynastic, and Ninevite 5 layers with the later two including monumental buildings. The initial excavation of Tell Arbid was performed by a British MuseumBritish Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
team led by M.E.L. Mallowan
Max Mallowan
Sir Max Edgar Lucien Mallowan, CBE was a prominent British archaeologist, specialising in ancient Middle Eastern history, and the second husband of Dame Agatha Christie.-Life and work:...
. The operation ran from 1934 to 1936. Items collected during the excavations ended up in the British Museum, the Institute of Archaeology Collections at University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
, the Ashmolean Museum
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
in Oxford, and in Syria. A survey was done at the site in the 1990s by Bertille Lyonnet of the Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques in Paris. Since 1996, the site has been excavated by a Polish and Syrian team led by Piotr Bieliński from University of Warsaw
University of Warsaw
The University of Warsaw is the largest university in Poland and one of the most prestigious, ranked as best Polish university in 2010 and 2011...
's Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology and Dr. Ahmad Serriyeh from Damascus University.This work has continued through the 2010 season.
During 2000 they were assisted by an joint American/Austrian team from the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
and Archeos Inc.