🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Tell Ahmar
Middle Bronze Age to Roman (c.1800 BCE–200 CE), peak Iron Age–Assyrian · Hittite → Neo-Hittite Luwian → Neo-Assyrian
Euphrates terrace city 35 ha (Hittite Masuwari → Assyrian Til Barsip, D-shaped walls, Hypogeum).
🇮🇱 Israel · Tell
Tel Dan
Neolithic to Iron Age/Crusader (peak Middle Bronze to Iron II, 2000–733 BCE) · Canaanite (Sidonian) → Israelite (Dan tribe) → Aramaean → Israelite kingdom → Assyrian
Bubbling Jordan spring tell with world's oldest intact triple mudbrick arch (1750 BCE) and House of David stele.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Tilbeşar Lower Town
Early Bronze to Crusader (3000 BCE–1300 CE) · Syrian EBA → Hittite → Neo-Assyrian → Crusader County of Edessa
Tilbeşar Lower Town sprawls below the 15-m fortress mound of Turbessel — Crusader capital of the County of Edessa.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Sirkeli Höyük
Chalcolithic through Byzantine; Hittite–Syro-Hittite peak · Cilician EBA → Hittite Empire (Kizzuwatna/Que) → Syro-Hittite Que
Cilician bend tell with Hittite imperial rock relief of Muwatalli II opposite mound — Chalcolithic to Syro-Hittite harbour town on Ceyhan.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Uşaklı Höyük
MBA → LBA Hittite → Iron → Byzantine (2000 BCE–1400 CE) · Hittite (Kizzuwatna?) → Phrygian → Byzantine
Hittite Zippalanda candidate (LB) — 10 ha lower town, monumental Temple B with tablet, Florentine project.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Assur
Early Dynastic to Neo-Assyrian to Parthian · Assyrian (Akkadian dialect)
First capital and holy city of Assyria (c.2600 BCE–614 BCE, 70 ha on Tigris bend) — temple of god Assur (Ashur) whose city and god name are one.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Girsu (Tello)
Ubaid to Old Babylonian (c.5000–1700 BCE; peak ED IIIb–Lagash II) · Ubaid → Sumerian (Lagash) → Akkadian → Ur III → Isin-Larsa → Babylonian
Lagash state capital with Gudea statues, 50,000 tablets and newly CT-mapped canal temple.
🇯🇴 Jordan · Tell
Tall Jalul
EBA through Mamluk; Iron II peak · Moabite/Ammonite frontier → Persian Yehud fringe → Byzantine
Madaba Plains giant tell (18 ha) — Iron Ammonite pillared building, 9th c. destruction and Persian reoccupation, largest in Jordan’s Madaba Plains.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Zincirli
Iron Age (c.1000–676 BCE) plus Bronze substrate · Aramaean–Neo-Hittite Samʾal
Iron Age Samʾal 40 ha triple-walled (Kuttamuwa Stele, lion orthostats) in Islahiye valley.
🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city
Hazor
Early Bronze to Hellenistic · Canaanite → Israelite → Assyrian
Largest Canaanite and Israelite tell in Israel (100 ha total: 12 ha upper acropolis + 70 ha lower city) — 'head of all those kingdoms' (Joshua 11:10) — with Middle Bronze earthen ramparts, Late…
🇯🇴 Jordan · Tell
Tall al-‘Umayri (Tell el-Umeiri)
EB through Persian; LB-Iron I transition key · Ammonite frontier; EB Canaanite → LB Canaanite/Ammonite
Ammonite wadi fortress with earliest Levantine four-room house (13th c. BCE) — LB-Iron citadel, casemate-rampart and Persian farm in Madaba Plains.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Alacahöyük
Chalcolithic to Phrygian (c.4500–700 BCE; peak EB III and Hittite Empire) · Hattian → Hittite (Nesite) → Phrygian
Hattian–Hittite fortified city with Sphinx Gate and Early Bronze royal tombs rich in solar-disk bronzes.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Çadır Höyük
Chalcolithic to Byzantine (5200 BCE–1200 CE; peak Hittite and Phrygian) · Central Anatolian Chalcolithic → Hattian → Hittite → Phrygian → Roman
Yozgat tell with 5200 BCE-to-Byzantine sequence bridging central plateau and Hittite north.
🇮🇷 Iran · Tell
Chogha Golan
Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Chalcolithic (c.11700–3600 BCE) · PPNA → PPNB → Early Chalcolithic (Seimareh Neolithic)
Seimareh 10kyr Neolithic tell 8 m (c.11.7–3.6 ka, 12000 plant samples, pisé) near Seimareh valley.
🇮🇷 Iran · Tell
Sang-e Chakhmaq
Neolithic–Transitional Chalcolithic (c.7500–4500 BCE) · Jeitun-related → Cheshmeh Ali (Northeast Iran Neolithic)
Shahroud two-mound Neolithic tell (c.7500–4500 BCE, West PPN timber, East painted, 1400 m) at Shahrud.
🇸🇾 Syria · Tell
Tell Sakka
Early Bronze Age III–IV (c.2600–2000 BCE) · Southern Syria EB (Ghouta palace culture)
Ghouta EB palace 8 ha (c.2600–2000 BCE, wall paintings, double enceinte) 18 km SE Damascus.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Aşıklı Höyük
Aceramic Neolithic (PPNB equivalent) · Central Anatolian Neolithic
Pre-Pottery Neolithic tell (c.8200–7400 BCE) on the Melendiz in Cappadocia, earliest village with brain surgery (trepanation) and animal pen dung layers showing caprine management toward…
🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Tell Mozan (Urkesh)
Early Bronze to Mitanni (Hurrian Urkesh) · Hurrian
Hurrian capital Urkesh (c.3000–1350 BCE) attributed to the god Kumarbi, with monumental Royal Palace of Tupkish (c.2250 BCE) and underground stone Abi (nekromanteion — pit to summon underworld…
🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Emar
Bronze Age (c.2000–1187 BCE), peak Late Bronze 1500–1187 BCE · Amorite → Mittanian → Hittite viceregal
Euphrates LB city 10 ha (1200 tablets, Baal/Astarte twin temples) on Lake Assad shore.
🇸🇾 Syria · Ancient city
Tell Umm al-Marra
Early Bronze Age III–IV (c.2700–2000 BCE) · Syrian EBA (Ebla–Marra corridor)
Jabbul EB walled town 20 ha (c.2700–2000 BCE, shaft tombs with equid teams, gold jewellery).
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient village
Tepecik-Çiftlik Höyük
Aceramic Neolithic to Late Neolithic–Early Chalcolithic · Central Anatolian (Aşıklı → Çatalhöyük related)
Major Aceramic to Chalcolithic tell (c.7500–5500 BCE) on Çiftlik Plain at Göllü Dağ obsidian source — Cappadocian Neolith obsidian factory.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Carchemish Outer Town
Neo-Hittite Iron I–II (1200–717 BCE) over Late Bronze · Neo-Hittite / Aramaean
Carchemish Outer Town in Gaziantep Province, Euphrates ford, Turkey is a Neo-Hittite Iron I–II (1200–717 BCE) over Late Bronze ancient city attributed to Neo-Hittite / Aramaean.
🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city
Gezer
Early Bronze to Iron Age · Canaanite → Egyptian → Israelite
Hilltop Canaanite tel (c.3500–586 BCE) with the Gezer Calendar (10th c. BCE, earliest Hebrew inscription — agricultural almanac) and bronze-age standing-stone alignment: 10 monolithic massebot (up to…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell
Tilmen Höyük (Tilmen Hoyuk)
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.