Search places, or jump to a section
CategoriesTells
Mounds made of layer upon layer of settlement.
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
Early Jezirah I–III (c.3000–2200 BCE) · Ninevite-5 → Early Dynastic Jezirah
30-ha EB town with nine-phase Ninevite-5 through ED III defensive wall, gate with corbel vault, “Animal House” kitchen with fauna scatters, eye-idol temple and Soviet-Polish plan 7 stratified ED…
🇷🇸 Serbia · Ancient village
Early Neolithic Starčevo-Körös-Criș · Starčevo (SE Neolithic)
Type-site of the Starčevo culture (6200–5400 BCE), the first Neolithic farmers to colonize Southeast Europe from Anatolia, bridging Anatolian Neolithic to Vinča and Linearbandkeramik.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Ubaid to Persian (c.3800 BCE–300 BCE; Early Dynastic/Ur III peak 2600–2000 BCE) · Sumerian / Akkadian / Babylonian / Persian
Sumerian city-state of the moon god Nanna (Sîn), Ur famous for Woolley's excavations 1922–34: Ziggurat of Ur-Nammu (2112 BCE) best-preserved ziggurat, Royal Cemetery with Standard of Ur, Pu-abi's…
🇮🇷 Iran · Ancient city
Ubaid to Islamic (c.4200 BCE–1300 CE; peak Elamite–Achaemenid) · Susa I–II → Elamite → Achaemenid → Parthian–Sasanian → Islamic
Elamite and Achaemenid acropolis (14 ha, 25 m high) at Susa, capital of Elam and Darius I winter capital. French excavat...
🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city
MB II–LB I (c.1850–1550 BCE) · Canaanite MB II with Aegean influence → Phoenician
Palatial MB II Canaanite centre (32 ha) with Minoan-style painted plaster palace (c.1850–1550 BCE), excavated by Aharon...
🇸🇾 Syria · Pyramid
Early Dynastic III, c.2600–2350 BCE · Kish civilization / Nagar
Acropolis temple staircase at Tell Beydar (ancient Nabada, c.2600–2350 BCE, Early Dynastic).
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
Ubaid–Early Jezirah III (c.5000–2300 BCE) · Ubaid → Ninevite-5
Trilogy Kashkashok I–III on Jaghjagh mid-reach: Ubaid hut with Samarra pre-contact, Late Chalcolithic double-temple mound, and ED II dense granaries with Halaf-to-Ninevite transition; Matsutani &…
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
Early–Middle Bronze Age (c.2700–1600 BCE) · Syrian EBA–MBA (Qatna–Qadesh sphere)
Homs hinterland EB–MB tell 9 m high (MB glacis, Qatna corridor satellite) east of Qadesh.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
EBA-Iron Age (c.3000-700 BCE) · Amuq/Syro-Hittite (Amuq A-J to Iron Age Patina)
İmamoğlu Höyük — buried eba-iron tell/village at Gaziantep Province.
🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city
Late Natufian (c.12000–9600 BCE) · Natufian
Natufian open-air hamlet (c.12000–9600 BCE) at the Hula lake edge, excavated by Jean Perrot. Over 50 round semi-subterra...
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Old Babylonian to Middle Assyrian, c.2000–1350 BCE · Old Babylonian / Assyrian (Qatara/Karana)
Tell al-Rimah (ancient Qatara/Karana) high temple mound with Old Babylonian temple and casemate ziggurat-mimic platform (c.2000–1600 BCE).
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Chalcolithic-EBA (c.5000-2500 BCE) · Kura-Araxes / Early Transcaucasian (Karaz-Pulur)
Tilki Tepe — buried chalcolithic-eba tell/village at Van Province.
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
Halaf–Early Dynastic (c.5700–2500 BCE) · Halaf → Ubaid → Ninevite 5
Jaghjagh tell 10 m high (Halaf–ED, Ninevite 5 silos) north of Tell Hawa.
🇮🇷 Iran · Tell
Urartian (8th–6th c. BCE; Argishti/Rusa) · Urartu
Small but classic Urartu hydraulic fortress damming a karstic spring valley NW of Khoy: cyclopean dam wall, rectangular fort, storage pithoi, Haldi-temple pebble mosaic, with red polish Urartu ware…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Predynastic to Early Dynastic (4000–2686 BCE) · Naqada culture (Egyptian Predynastic)
Predynastic town south of Naqada with copper-axe cemetery.
🇮🇷 Iran · Pyramid
Neolithic to Early Bronze Age, c.7000–800 BCE (massif c.3200 BCE) · Halaf / Ubaid / Uruk / Kura-Araxes
Central high mound at Chogha Gavaneh (7th–6th millennium BCE Neolithic to Bronze Age high platform, 15 m high, 80 m diameter).
🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city
Lower Palaeolithic Acheulean (c.780 ka) · Acheulean Homo erectus/heidelbergensis
Acheulean lakeside camp (c.780,000 BCE) on the paleo-Hula shore, earliest habitations with controlled fire. Excavated by...
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
Middle Bronze to Iron Age (c.2000–500 BCE; floruit LBA-Iron) · Canaanite / Ugaritic periphery → Phoenician → Neo-Assyrian
Coastal capital of Siyannu kingdom (2000–500 BCE) between Ugarit and Amurru at Jableh.
🇮🇷 Iran · Tell
Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Tepe Sarab ware (c.7000–5000 BCE) · Zagros Neolithic (Sarab culture)
Small but culturally seminal tell near Kermanshah at Sarab pass with Braidwood 1947 type-site red-painted Sarab ware, proto-domestic goat bones, and pisé hamlets preceding Jarmo and Hassuna…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Halaf to Middle Ages (c.5800 BCE–1200 CE; Halaf-Ubaid transition type) · Halaf → Ubaid → Uruk → Early Bronze → Medieval
Altınova Halaf-Ubaid type mound (5800 BCE) 1 km from Norşuntepe, now under Keban Lake.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Chalcolithic to Medieval (peak EB III–Urartian) · Ubaid → Kura-Araxes → EBA Keban → Urartian → Medieval
Keban Dam salvage tell on the Euphrates (Karasu) near Baskil, excavated 1970s by Veli Sevin. Famed for EB III royal cist...
🇱🇧 Lebanon · Ancient city
EB IV to Iron II (c.2400–800 BCE; peak LB Egyptian) · Amorite → Egyptian–Canaanite (Kumidi) → Hittite → Phoenician
Bronze–Iron town (4 ha, 15 m high) at the Litani–Bekaa margin, German excavations by Arnulf Kuschke and Rolf Hachmann, i...
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
EBA-Iron Age (c.3000-700 BCE) · Amuq/Syro-Hittite (Amuq A-J to Iron Age Patina)
Tell Kurdu — buried eba-iron tell/village at Hatay Province.
🇸🇾 Syria · Pyramid
Mid 3rd to 2nd Millennium, c.2500–1350 BCE · Hurrian (Urkesh), Mitanni
Temple BA terraced mound at Tell Mozan, ancient Urkesh (Hurrian capital, c.2500–1300 BCE). Buccellati & Kelly-Buccellati 1984-onwards excavated 135-ha city wall, Temple BA high terrace 20 m high with…
