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CategoriesTells
Mounds made of layer upon layer of settlement.
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
MBA through Classical · Canaanite MBA → Ugaritic Shuksi (LB) → Phoenician → Greek emporion
Syrian coastal harbour tell (Shuksi) with MBA to Greek emporion — MBA Canaanite, LB Mycenaean imports and Phoenician Euboean emporion, Danish 1958 dig.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
EBA through Iron Age; MBA peak · Yamhad (Aleppo) vassal; Syro-Hittite → Assyrian
MBA palace city (Zalwar?) with basalt lion gate, cuneiform archive and planned lower town — Yamhad-period vassal capital in Islahiye corridor.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Early Dynastic–Old Babylonian (c.2700–1700 BCE) · Sumerian → Amorite Kisurra kingdom
Twin mound Abu Hatab (Kisurra) in the Euphrates back-marshes: Isin-Larsa era kingdom squeezed between Isin and Larsa, palatial archives (EB Kisurra texts), and ED IIIb votive stone of King Ibaya.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Late Neolithic to Middle Bronze (c.6000–1500 BCE) · Hassuna-Halaf → Ninevite 5 → Akkadian → Khabur ware
Large Tigris terrace tell (320 × 280 m, 15 m high) in the Ilısu reservoir zone, excavated 2002–2011 by G. Kozbe and Halu...
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Neolithic Samarra (c.6300–5700 BCE) · Samarra → Ubaid
Ditch-moat village with 130 intramural graves: 130 adult Samarra graves beneath floors yielding alabaster “Sawwan” women – elongated skulls, bitumen-banded eyes – the largest Samarra figurine corpus.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Chalcolithic to Iron Age to Medieval · Anatolian Halaf-Ubaid → EBA → Hittite → Phrygian
Large stratified tell (Chalcolithic c.4000 BCE to Phrygian/Medieval, peak EBA–Iron) controlling Kanak Su pass between Kültepe and Hattusa.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Old Babylonian–Old Assyrian (c.1900–1700 BCE) to Middle Assyrian · Upper Mesopotamian Old Babylonian kingdom of Karana / Qattara
Upper Jazira fortified court city Karana (Tell al-Rimah) with massive temple Zigg followed by a double palace discovered by David Oates: palace with wall paintings, archive of 600 OB letters (Qattara…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient village
Neolithic Merimde culture (4800–4300 BCE) · Lower Egyptian Neolithic (Merimde)
Merimde Beni Salama is Egypt's largest Neolithic village, 4800–4300 BCE Merimde culture, 44 ha mound with 1.5 m stratigraphy, oval houses 5×3 m wattle-and-daub, burial in settlement, lithics,…
🇮🇷 Iran · Tell
Aceramic–Early Ceramic Neolithic (7100–5500 BCE) · Zagros Neolithic (Guran)
Aceramic–Early Ceramic Neolithic (7100–5500 BCE) Zagros Neolithic (Guran) tell at Lorestan Province, Hulailan Plain, Zagros – campsite-to-village neolithic sequence in zagros (dims Mound 8 m, Guran PHASES a–j).
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Chalcolithic (c.5500–4800 BCE) · Ubaid-related Central Anatolian Chalcolithic
Middle Chalcolithic tell (200 m diameter, 8 m high) on the Konya Plain’s southern apron, excavated by David French. Sequ...
🇺🇸 United States · Tell
Ancestral Puebloan (c.600-1300 CE) · Anasazi/Puebloan (Basketmaker to Pueblo III)
Keet Seel Cliff Dwelling — buried ancestral tell/village at Arizona.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Chalcolithic–Late Bronze (4500–1200 BCE) · North-Central Anatolian
Chalcolithic–Late Bronze (4500–1200 BCE) North-Central Anatolian tell at Sinop Province, Black Sea – fortified citadel controlling black sea–central anatolia route (dims Mound 20 m high, fortified plateau 1 ha).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Late Uruk to Old Babylonian (c.3300–1700 BCE; peak ED IIIa and Ur III 2600–2000 BCE) · Uruk → Jemdet Nasr → Early Dynastic → Akkadian → Ur III → Isin-Larsa
Pre-Sargonic scribal city of Ninhursag with earliest school tablets and ED drainage galleries.
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
PPNB to Late Neolithic (c.8200–6000 BCE) · Damascus PPNB → Yarmukian Pottery Neolithic
Ghouta oasis PPNB–PN village (c.8200–6000 BCE, Ghouta farming) 35 km S Damascus.
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
Old Babylonian–Mittani (1900–1350 BCE) – Tabetu · Hurrian–Mittani
Old Babylonian–Mittani (1900–1350 BCE) – Tabetu Hurrian–Mittani tell at Al-Hasakah Governorate, Lower Khabur – city-state tabetu on khabur with cuneiform archive (dims 23 ha city with southern palace archive mound).
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Pottery Neolithic to Early Chalcolithic (c.6200–5500 BCE) · Çatalhöyük–related Konya Plain Neolithic
Low Konya Plain mound (150 m diameter, 6 m high) north of Çatalhöyük, part of the Çarşamba fan settlement cluster survey...
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient village
Aceramic Neolithic to Early Pottery Neolithic · Central/West Anatolian Neolithic
Aceramic Neolithic lakeside tell (c.7500–6500 BCE) on terrace of Lake Suğla near Karadağ, excavated 1965–71 by Jacques Bordaz.
🇮🇷 Iran · Ancient city
Early–Middle Bronze (2700–2100 BCE) · Halil Rud (Jiroft)
Early–Middle Bronze (2700–2100 BCE) Halil Rud (Jiroft) ancient city at Kerman Province, Jiroft plain, Halil River – northern citadel mound of jiroft twin city (dims North mound 13 m high; city 400 ha together).
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Early Bronze–Iron (2600–600 BCE) · Hurrian – Aramaean (Harran)
Early Bronze–Iron (2600–600 BCE) Hurrian – Aramaean (Harran) tell at Şanlıurfa Province, Harran Plain – 22-m tell controlling harran plain, cargo from carchemish (dims 22 m high, 1 km² lower town, EB palace).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient village
Protoneolithic (10500–9500 BCE) · Zarzian Epipalaeolithic–PPN
Protoneolithic (10500–9500 BCE) Zarzian Epipalaeolithic–PPN ancient village at Erbil Governorate, Greater Zab tributary – open-air forager base preceding first villages (dims Scatter 3000 m² with huts and ground stone).
🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Chalcolithic to Mitanni-Akkadian to Late Bronze · North Mesopotamian (Uruk → Akkadian → Hurrian)
Huge early city ('city without a state' per Oates) occupied 6000 BCE–1300 CE, peaking as Nagar kingdom (2600–2200 BCE) with Mitanni palace (1500 BCE) and Akkadian Naram-Sin palace.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Middle Bronze to Iron (c.1800–600 BCE) · Mitanni → Middle Assyrian → Neo-Assyrian
Middle Bronze to Iron Age mound (160 m diameter, 12 m high) on the Upper Tigris, salvage west of the Batman–Tigris confl...
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Late Neolithic to Early Chalcolithic · Burdur Lake Neolithic (Hacılar culture)
Pottery Neolithic to Chalcolithic tell (5700–3500 BCE) in the Burdur Lake District, where James Mellaart uncovered nine aceramic and ceramic Neolithic levels with lime-plaster floors and spectacular…
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient village
Protoneolithic (9800–8200 BCE) · Zarzian–PPN (Nemrikian)
Protoneolithic (9800–8200 BCE) Zarzian–PPN (Nemrikian) ancient village at Dohuk Governorate, Upper Tigris/Mosul Dam zone – ppn hamlet with stone sculpture and houses (dims Tell 0.8 ha, 8 PPN houses).
