Jerablus Tahtani (formerly Tell Alawiyeh) is a small tell on the right bank of the Euphrates River four kilometers south of Carchemish in present-day Syria.
  Shown within Syria | |
| Location | Syria |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 36°48′00″N 38°01′00″E / 36.80000°N 38.01667°E |
| Type | settlement |
| History | |
| Founded | 3rd millennium BC |
| Periods | Bronze Age, Iron Age |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 1992-1999 |
| Archaeologists | E. Peltenburg |
| Condition | Ruined |
| Ownership | Public |
| Public access | Yes |
Archaeology
editThe mound has an area of 1 hectare with a surrounding lower town covering about 12 hectares.[1] A fort, built on the ashes of a burnt village, stood on the mound. The defensive wall exceeded 12 meters in height, including the glacis. A number of monumental tombs were found.[2] One tomb (Tomb 302) contained a large number of "champagne vessels" and animal bones which were interpreted as evidence of mortuary feasting.[3]
The site was first noted by Leonard Woolley early the 1920s while he was excavating at nearby Carchemish.[4] It was excavated from 1992 to 2000 by the British as part of the Syrian government's Tishrin Dam rescue project. As of 2000 the site was still not underwater.[5][6][7][8][9] This project successively developed into the Land of Carchemish project.
History
editThe site was occupied from the late Uruk period through the middle 3rd Millennium BC. Then, after a hiatus, it was occupied from the Iron Age through the Islamic period. Specifically, there were 5 occupation periods:[10]
- Period 1 - Late Chalcolithic
- Period 2 - Early Bronze Age
- Period 3 - Iron Age
- Period 4 - Roman
- Period 5 - Islamic
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Ur, Jason A., "Cycles of Civilization in Northern Mesopotamia, 4400—2000 BC", Journal of Archaeological Research, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 387–431, 2010
- ^ Peltenburg, Edgar, "Conflict and Exclusivity in Early Bronze Age Societies of the Middle Euphrates Valley", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 72, no. 2, 2013, pp. 233–52, 2013
- ^ [1] Calabrese, Agata Maria Catena, "The ancestor worship in the third millennium BCE", EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2020
- ^ Woolley, C.L., "Carchemish II: The Town Defences", British Museum: London, 1921
- ^ E. Peltenburg, Jerablus-Tahtani, American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 98, pp. 106-7, 1994
- ^ E. Peltenburg, S. Campbell, P. Croft, D. Lunt, M. Murray & M. Watt, Jerablus-Tahtani, Syria, 1992-4: Preliminary Report, Levant, vol. 27, pp. 1-28, 1995
- ^ E. Peltenburg, D. Bolger, S. Campbell, M. Murray and R. Tipping, Jerablus-Tahtani, Syria, 1995: Preliminary Report, Levant, vol. 28, pp. 1-25, 1996
- ^ E. Peltenburg, Report on Jerablus Tahtani 1998, Levant, vol. 31, pp. 315-316, 1999
- ^ Peltenburg, E. et al., "Jerablustahton, Syria, 1998-99: Preliminary Report", Levant, XXXII, pp. 53-76, 2000
- ^ [2] Ceren Kabukcu, "Early Agriculture in Northern Syria: Botanical Remains from Jerablus Tahtani", Masters Thesis, Trent University, May 2012
Further reading
edit- E. Peltenburg, "Jerablus-Tahtani", American Journal of Archaeology 101, pp. 122–123, 1997
- E. Peltenburg, "Tell Jerablus Tahtani, Syria, I. Mortuary Practices at an Early Bronze Age Fort on the Euphrates River", Oxford: Oxbow Books, Levant Supplementary Series 17, 2015 ISBN 9781785701436
- Peltenburg, E., "Tell Jerablus Tahtani 1992-1996: A summary", In del Olmo Lete, G., and Montero Fenollos, J.-L. (eds.), Archaeology of the Upper Syrian Euphrates: The Tishrin Dam Area, Editorial Ausa, Barcelona, pp. 97–105, 1999
- Peltenburg, E., "The living and the ancestors: Early Bronze Age mortuary practices at Jerablus Tahtani", In del Olmo Lete, G., and Montero Fenollos, J.-L. (eds.), Archaeology of the Upper Syrian Euphrates: The Tishrin Dam Area, Editorial Ausa, Barcelona, pp. 427–442, 1999
- [3][permanent dead link]Edgar Peltenburg, "Diverse Settlement Pattern Changes in the Middle Euphrates Valley in the Later Third Millennium BC: The Contribution of Jerablus Tahtani", in Sociétés humaines, ed. Kuzucuoğlu and Marro, pp. 254–55, 2007
- [4] Sang, Li, "Burial practices of the third millennium BCE in the Middle Euphrates Region: an interpretation of funerary rituals", Unpublished PhD. Thesis, Tübingen, 2010
- Andrew J. Shortland, "An Antimony Bead from Jerablus Tahtani", Journal of the Historical Metallurgy Society 36/1, pp. 1–5, 2002
- Wilkinson, T. J., Peltenburg, E., McCarthy, A., Wilkinson, E., and Brown, M., "Archaeology in the land of Carchemish: Landscape surveys in the area of Jerablus Tahtani, 2006", Levant 39, pp. 213–247, 2007
External links
edit- British Excavations at Jerablus Tahtani, Syria Archived 2016-08-19 at the Wayback Machine