Tell Kosak Shamali
تل قوساق الشمالي · Kosak Shamali · Tell Kosak
Ubaid to Uruk (c.5500–3200 BCE; Uruk station c.3700–3200 BCE)·Ubaid → Late Chalcolithic Uruk expansion·🇸🇾 Raqqa Governorate, Upper Euphrates, Uruk frontier, Syria
About
About Tell Kosak Shamali
Small mound on Upper Euphrates terrace north of Raqqa, excavated by Nishiaki (Tokyo) 1994–98. Ubaid layers under Late Chalcolithic Uruk tripartite compound with bevel-rim ware, cylinder sealings and tokens — textbook Uruk enclave 800 km from the Uruk heartland.
Why it mattersNorthernmost Uruk administrative station showing Late Chalcolithic Uruk trade diaspora 800 km from Uruk.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Uruk personnel — colonists vs local emulation?
Theories
- 01Nishiaki hybrid local-Uruk model
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- Ubaid hamlet c.5500 BCE; Uruk administrative station c.3700 BCE
- Period
- Ubaid to Uruk (c.5500–3200 BCE; Uruk station c.3700–3200 BCE)
- Culture
- Ubaid → Late Chalcolithic Uruk expansion
- Builders
- Ubaid communities
- Purpose
- Uruk riverside administrative station on Upper Euphrates trade artery
- Rediscovered
- Modern archaeological survey/ rescue
- Excavation
- Excavated
c.5500 BCE
Ubaid hamlet
c.3700 BCE
Uruk administrative compound built
c.3200 BCE
Abandonment at Uruk collapse
1994
Nishiaki Tokyo excavation
On the ground
Structures & features
36.5500° N · 38.7800° E · 340 m · 3 mapped features
Tell Kosak Shamali — Cemetery area
cemeteryKey sub-area of Tell Kosak Shamali (Ubaid to Uruk) showing Ubaid horizon
36.5494° N · 38.7796° ETell Kosak Shamali — Kiln field
templeKey sub-area of Tell Kosak Shamali (Ubaid to Uruk) showing Ubaid horizon
36.5502° N · 38.7802° ETell Kosak Shamali — Palatial compound
fortificationKey sub-area of Tell Kosak Shamali (Ubaid to Uruk) showing Ubaid horizon
36.5510° N · 38.7808° E
Gallery