Tell Shiukh Fawqani South Mound — Middle Euphrates
Tell Shiukh Fawqani · Shiukh Fawqani Lower Town · Tell Shiyukh Fawqani South
Late Chalcolithic to Iron Age (3500–600 BCE; peak MBA–Neo-Assyrian)·Uruk → EBA → Middle Assyrian → Neo-Assyrian Aramean (Bit-Adini)·🇸🇾 Aleppo Governorate, Middle Euphrates, Shiyukh plain, Syria
About
About Tell Shiukh Fawqani South Mound — Middle Euphrates
Shiukh Fawqani South Mound is the 2 ha southern annex of the 4.2 ha double tell excavated by Luc Bachelot (Paris) 1994–99 before Tishrin submergence. Sequence Chalcolithic to Iron: EBA 2500 BCE fortified town, 2nd millennium MBA town with 11 Neo-Assyrian tablets (Shiyukh Fawqani texts mention Burmarina), 6 m Neo-Assyrian Bit-Halupe palace exposure, and Iron Age cemetery with cremations.
Why it mattersImportant Aramaean town archive proving Bit-Adini geography and Neo-Assyrian province of Bit-Halupe.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Exact equivalence with Burmarina?
Theories
- 01Bachelot + Fales: Shiyukh = Burmarina provincial capital under Adad-nirari III
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.3500 BCE (Late Chalcolithic)
- Period
- Late Chalcolithic to Iron Age (3500–600 BCE; peak MBA–Neo-Assyrian)
- Culture
- Uruk → EBA → Middle Assyrian → Neo-Assyrian Aramean (Bit-Adini)
- Builders
- Uruk then EBA and Aramaean builders
- Purpose
- Ford town Burmarina (Assyrian) on Euphrates caravan to Emar
- Abandoned
- c.600 BCE (Neo-Babylonian)
- Rediscovered
- 1994 Bachelot Tishrin salvage
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
1994–1999
Bachelot PAI-CNRS salvage
c.725 BCE
11 tablets referencing Burmarina administrators
On the ground
Structures & features
36.4200° N · 38.0800° E · 350 m · 3 mapped features
Shiukh Fawqani Tablet Archive
archive11 Neo-Assyrian cuneiform tablets in burnt jar
36.4207° N · 38.0806° EShiukh Bit-Halupe Palace
palaceNeo-Assyrian courtyard palace with stone threshold
36.4193° N · 38.0808° EShiukh Iron Age Cremation Cemetery
cemetery50 cremation urns south slope
36.4210° N · 38.0795° E