Tell Beydar

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Archaeological site in Syria

title: "Tell Beydar" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["26th-century-bc-establishments", "populated-places-established-in-the-3rd-millennium-bc", "bronze-age-sites-in-syria", "former-populated-places-in-syria", "archaeological-sites-in-al-hasakah-governorate", "tells-(archaeology)", "early-dynastic-period-(mesopotamia)"] description: "Archaeological site in Syria" topic_path: "philosophy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell_Beydar" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Archaeological site in Syria ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox ancient site"]

FieldValue
nameTell Beydar
image
map_typeSyria
coordinates
locationAl-Hasakah Governorate, Syria
typeSettlement
built2600 BC
excavations1992–2010
archaeologistsMarc Lebeau, Antoine Suleiman
conditionIn ruins
website
::

|name = Tell Beydar |native_name = |alternate_name = |image = |alt = |caption = |map_type = Syria |map_alt = |coordinates = |location = Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria |region = |type = Settlement |part_of = |length = |width = |area = |height = |builder = |material = |built = 2600 BC |abandoned = |epochs = |cultures = |dependency_of = |occupants = |event = |excavations = 1992–2010 |archaeologists = Marc Lebeau, Antoine Suleiman |condition = In ruins |ownership = |management = |public_access = |website = |notes = Tell Beydar (also Tall Beydar and Tell Baydar) is an Ancient Near Eastern archaeological site along the Khabur river in the modern Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria about 30 kilometers north of the modern city of Hasake. It is connected by road to Al-Darbasiyah on the Turkish border in the north. In the mid-third millennium BC it was the city of Nabada which was a provincial center under the city of Nagar (Tell Brak). It is known to have contained 5 large temples (labeled A-E) in the city center (covering 16.5% of the area there) in that period. While it is not known with certainty what deities were worshiped in these temples, the god Šumugan has been suggested as one of them. In recent years domestic construction has been encroaching at the site.

History

Nabada was first settled during the Early Dynastic I Period circa 2800 BC. By around 2600 BC a medium-sized independent city-state had developed. At that point (c. 2450 BC), it became a provincial capital under the kingdom centered at Nagar, now Tell Brak and reached its maximum size. After the Jezirah region was conquered by the Akkadian empire, Nabada became an minor outpost of that empire. Radiocarbon dates for that transition ranged from 2420 BC to 2270 BC ± 10. The city was then abandoned until re-occupied for a time circa 1400 BC by the Hurrians (Mitanni) and again in the Neo-Assyrian and Hellenistic periods.

Archaeology

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Beydar_1.jpg" caption="Beydar 1"] ::

The site was first noted, and photographed, in 1929 by Antoine Poidebard during his aerial survey of the region. The central site of Tell Beydar covers about 22 hectares and has a height of about 27.5 meters above the plain. It has a circular walled central mound (7 hectares) with a circular walled lower town (Beydar I). This is referred to as a Kranzhügel or "cup-and-saucer" tell in archaeology. The inner wall has a diameter of 300 meters and the outer one a diameter of 600 meters. The outer wall was 5 meters thick and had four gates. In the early part of the 3rd millennium BC both sections were occupied but from the middle of the millennium on only the central mound was occupied. A much later 50 ha Hurrian and Neo-Assyrian occupation lies at the base of the tell (Beydar II). At the top of the tell there is a Hellenistic settlement. A kilometer to the south there is a small Late Chalcolithic tell (Beydar III). The top of the mound, which has around 20 meters of occupation remains, during the Early Dynastic period held a 50 meter by 60 meter white baked brick palace with 50 rooms with plastered wall and a large central courtyard. This ED IIIb palace used surviving portions of the original 18 room ED II palace. About 20 tombs at the site, some high status, were excavated. Grave goods varied depending on social status and included weapons (in one case a bronze ax), jewelry and pottery.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/First_Eblaite_Empire.png" caption="First Eblaite Empire"] ::

Tell Beydar was excavated for 17 seasons, beginning in 1992 and ending in 2010, by a joint Syrian and European team made up of the European Centre for Upper Mesopotamian Studies and the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums of Syria. There were also several restoration seasons. The team leads are Marc Lebeau and Antoine Suleiman. In 1997 and 1998 the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago performed an archaeological survey of the area in a 12 kilometer radius around Tell Beydar. This was later augmented by satellite imagery. University of Venice excavated at the north-eastern slope of the 3rd millennium inner city, just inside the inner town wall at a city gate.

Besides the architectural and pottery findings from the excavation, almost 250 early cuneiform tablets and fragments were recovered, dating from the Early Dynastic III period, roughly a generation before the fall of Ebla. About 220 tablets, found out of context, belong to a single archive. The tablets are agricultural records for the most part, but do establish some synchronisms with Tell Brak. A typical tablet reads "Sheep for plucking: The rams of Lushalim: one hundred; the ewes: one hundred and 85 (L e. 60+20-+5); 3 he-goats: the pastured lambs: 43. Month of the Sun-god.". The language used in the tablets is a variant of the Akkadian language and the personal names referred to were Semitic.https://www.beydar.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/bey_10_en.pdf Marc Lebeau and Antoine Suleiman, "Tell Beydar / Nabada - An Early Bronze Age City in the Syrian Jezirah: 10 Years of Research (1992–2002)", 2008 Small finds include a number of bronze (both tin and arsenical) objects. Over 1500 sealings, representing 215 different designs, were also recovered. Finds from Tell Beydar are on display in the Deir ez-Zor Museum.

As a result of the excavation a stratigraphy has been established for the site:

  • I - Early Dynastic I, Kranzhügel period, 2900-2750 BC
  • II - Early Dynastic II, area of 22 hectares, 2750-2560 BC
  • IIIa - Early Dynastic III, lower town abandoned, are reduced to 7 hectares, 2560-2430 BC
  • IIIb - Early Dynastic III, part of Kingdom of Nagar, 2430-2340 BC
  • IV - Proto-Imperial, Akkadian Empire, Post Akkad, 2340-2100 BC
  • Occupational hiatus
  • Mittani occupation, c. 1400 BC
  • Occupational hiatus
  • Neo-Assyrian occupation, c 700 BC
  • Occupational hiatus
  • Hellenistic occupation, c. c. 200 BC
  • Abandonment of site

Notes

References

  1. Mamo, Adnan Rashid, et al., "The impact of the Syrian conflict on archaeological sites in Al-Hasakah province", Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 43, 103486, 2022
  2. Lebeau, M., "Dating the Destructions of Ebla, Mari and Nagar from Radiocarbon with References to Egypt, Combined with Stratigraphy and Historical Data", in H. Baker, K. Kaniuth and A. Otto (eds.), Stories of Long Ago. Festschrift für Michael D. Roaf, Alter Orient und Altes Testament 397, Muster: Ugarit Verlag, pp. 301-323, 2012
  3. [https://lirias.kuleuven.be/retrieve/85059]Joachim Bretschneider, "Nabada: The Buried City", Scientific American, vol. 283, pp. 74–81, 2000
  4. Ur, Jason A., and Tony J. Wilkinson, "Settlement and economic landscapes of Tell Beydar and its hinterland", Subartu XXI, Brepols, pp. 305-327, 2008
  5. Smith, Stefan L., "The View from the Steppe: Using Remote Sensing to Investigate the Landscape of ‘Kranzhügel’ in Its Regional Context", New Agendas in Remote Sensing and Landscape Archaeology in the Near East: Studies in Honour of Tony J. Wilkinson, edited by Dan Lawrence et al., Archaeopress, pp. 109–23, 2020
  6. [https://iris.unive.it/bitstream/10278/14473/1/scans%20MESOPOTAMIA%2036.pdf]Milano, Lucio, and Elena Rova, "Preliminary report on the 1997 excavations of Ca'Foscari University of Venice at Tell Beydar (Syria)", Mesopotamia 36, pp. 49-87, 2001
  7. Weiss, Harvey, "Archaeology in Syria", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 101, no. 1, pp. 97–148, 1997
  8. [https://www.beydar.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Report-2004.pdf Euro-Syrian Excavations at Tell Beydar] Marc Lebeau and Antoine Suleiman, "Report on the Twelfth Season of Excavations at Tell Beydar", 2004
  9. [https://www.beydar.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Beydar-rapport-2005.pdf] Marc Lebeau and Antoine Suleiman, "Report on the 13th Season of Excavations and the 4th Season of Architectural Restoration at Tell Beydar", 2005
  10. [https://www.beydar.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Beydar-rapport-orig.-2006fr.pdf] Marc Lebeau and Antoine Suleiman, "Report on the 14th Season of Excavations and the 5th Season of Architectural Restoration at Tell Beydar", 2006
  11. [https://www.beydar.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Beydar_2008-en.pdf] Marc Lebeau and Antoine Suleiman, "Report on the 15th Season of Excavations and the 6th Season of Architectural Restoration at Tell Beydar", 2008
  12. [https://www.beydar.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/beydar-2009.pdf] Marc Lebeau and Antoine Suleiman, "Report on the 16th Season of Excavations at Tell Beydar ", 2009
  13. [https://www.beydar.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/beydar-2010.pdf] Marc Lebeau and Antoine Suleiman, "Report on the 17th Season of Excavations at Tell Beydar", 2010
  14. M. Lebeau, A. Suleiman , "Tell Beydar, Three Seasons of Excavations (1992-1994). A Preliminary Report",David Brown, 1997, {{ISBN. 2-503-50584-8
  15. M. Lebeau and A. Suleiman, "Tell Beydar: The 1995-1999 Seasons of Excavations: a Preliminary Report", Brepols Publishers, 2003, {{ISBN. 2-503-99117-3
  16. Marc Lebeau, Antoine Suleiman, "Tell Beydar, the 2000-2002 Seasons of Excavations, the 2003-2004 Seasons of Architectural Restoration", Brepols Publishers, 2007, {{ISBN. 2-503-51812-5
  17. Lebeau, Marc and Suleiman, Antoine (eds.), "Tell Beydar, The 2004/2–2009 Seasons of Excavations, The 2004/2–2009 Seasons of Architectural Restoration. A Preliminary Report", Subartu 29, Turnhout: Brepols, 2011
  18. Lebeau, Marc and Suleiman, Antoine (eds.), "Tell Beydar, The 2010 Season of Excavations and Architectural Restoration – A Preliminary Report", Subartu 34, Turnhout: Brepols, 2011
  19. Wilkinson, Tony J., and Emma Cunliffe, "The Archaeological Landscape of the Tell Beydar Region: An Update Using Satellite Imagery", The Ancient Near East, a Life! Festschrift Karel Van Lerberghe, pp. 665-679, 2012
  20. [https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/asiana/article/download/836/729]Milano, Lucio, and Elena Rova, "Five Seasons of Excavations (1997-2001) in Field I at Tell Beydar (Syria)", Asia Anteriore Antica. Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Cultures 2, pp. 169-179, 2020
  21. [https://www.academia.edu/download/37907745/Sallaberger_Pruss2015_labor_klein.pdf]Sallaberger, Walther, and Alexander Pruß, "Home and work in Early Bronze Age Mesopotamia:“ration lists” and “private houses” at Tell Beydar/Nabada" Labor in the ancient world,, pp. 69-136, 2015
  22. Sallaberger, Walther, "Grain accounts: personnel lists and expenditure documents", F. Ismail, W. Sallaberger, P. talon, and K. van Lerberghe (Eds.), Administrative documents from Tell Beydar (seasons 1993–1995), pp. 81-106, 1996
  23. [https://www.beydar.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/nabada-conf-en.pdf] Marc Lebeau and Antoine Suleiman, "Nabada (Tell Beydar), an Early Bronze Age City in the Syrian Jezirah", 2006
  24. De Ryck, I., A. Adriaens, and F. Adams, "Microanalytical metal technology study of ancient near eastern bronzes from Tell Beydar", Archaeometry 45.4, pp. 579-590, 2003
  25. G. Jans, J. Bretschneider, "Seals and Sealings from Tell Beydar/Nabada (Seasons 1995 - 2001). A Progress Report", Beydar Monographs, vol. 1, (Subartu XXVII), Brepols, Turnhout, 2012 {{ISBN. 978-2-503-53510-4
  26. Jans, Greta, and Joachim Bretschneider, "Seals and sealings of Tell Beydar/Nabada", Brepols, 2011 {{ISBN. 9782503535104
  27. (1998). ""Rivers and steppes. Cultural heritage and environment of the Syrian Jezireh. Catalogue to the Museum of Deir ez-Zor"". Ministry of Culture.

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26th-century-bc-establishmentspopulated-places-established-in-the-3rd-millennium-bcbronze-age-sites-in-syriaformer-populated-places-in-syriaarchaeological-sites-in-al-hasakah-governoratetells-(archaeology)early-dynastic-period-(mesopotamia)