Tell Beydar
36.73972222222240.5875
Tell Beydar, ancient name Nabada, is a hill settlement in the Jazirah region in northeastern Syria.
The archaeological site is located in the historic region of northern Mesopotamia, north-west of Al-Hasakah and southeast of Ras al - Ain approximately in the middle between the two places. As I Beydar Tell a diameter of 600 meters and a height of up to 27 meters above the surrounding area is designated. Beydar II is a 50 -acre flat settlement in the west of the mound. Beydar III is a 0.5 hectare of prehistoric Tell about 1 km further south.
Excavations have been conducted since 1992 by a European- Syrian team, which is led by Marc Lebeau ( Brussels) and Antoine Suleiman (Damascus ). On the Tell ( Beydar I) extensive parts of a city of the Early Bronze Age were uncovered during the excavations.
The city was founded around 2900 BC. At the beginning of colonization Tell Beydar was a wreath hill of about 20 hectares with a central upper town and a ring lying about the Undercity. Even before the middle of the 3rd millennium, the lower city and the outer city wall was abandoned. The settlement was limited from now on about 7 acres of Upper Town, which received later than this date, a separate fortification wall. The former city wall fell into disrepair and became one today still visible in the terrain annular ramparts.
Their heyday was recorded in the 25./24. Century BC From this time two palaces, five temples, a number of farm buildings and houses are exposed. In the city center there was an acropolis, where the main public buildings were concentrated. The main entrance to the Acropolis is located on the edge of a with columns and niches richly structured course. Dating from around 2400 BC originates a wide Tontafelarchiv (about 230 sheets ). It contains predominantly administrative texts in Akkadian. During this time, the city's name Nabada. She pointed to a number of about 1800-2500 inhabitants and was a local administrative center of the kingdom of Nagar. In nearly simultaneously cuneiform texts from Ebla Nabada is mentioned as recipients of silver deliveries. All persons name (if understandable ) are Akkadian, for the presence of Hurrians there is no evidence.
In Akkadian period (ca. 2300 BC ) the site is reduced to a village of approximately 1.5 ha settlement areas: the palaces, most temples and the city wall be abandoned. A violent destruction of the place can not be proved. From this period dates a brick made of mud brick grave chamber in which a dead man with rich offerings (especially weapons) was laid down as " lateral stool". To 2100 BC Beydar I completely abandoned. A short resettlement took place in the Hellenistic period (2nd / 1st century BC). At this time there is an interpreted as a manor residential complex and a number of small houses and storage pits.
The flat settlement Beydar II has been studied only to a very limited extent. It has two layers of habitation dating in mittanische and Neo-Assyrian period. The small Tell Beydar III is a settlement from the late Ubaid period and the subsequent spätchalkolitischen time.