Excavation results 2002
A summary of the 2002 excavation results Please note: in order to get a full picture of the project, it is essential to take a look at the results of our previous campaigns, also available on this website. In 2002 we excavated for the thirteenth time on Tell Sabi Abyad in northern Syria. For more than two months - from August 10th to October 13th - the team of archaeologists from the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities continued the digging. This year the group of archaeologists, specialists in many different fields, as well as students consisted of 25 individuals from the Netherlands, Syria, Belgium, France, Japan and Sweden. On the spot the team was assisted by more than 60 local workmen. Most of these men from the village of Hammam et-Turkman have been involved in the project for many years and consequently they have considerable experience. The mound which we know as Tell Sabi Abyad (Arab for “Mound of the White Boy”) is approximately 5 hectares large and more than 14 metres high. The mound consists of occupational layers, together several metres thick, from two periods. First we see the series of successive prehistoric villages from the Late Neolithicum, currently dated to around 6500 - 5900 BC. So far these occupational layers have been barely investigated by archaeologists or not at all. The results are therefore no less than unique. After this, the mound seems to have been deserted for several thousand years. It was not until the late thirteenth century BC that people returned to the place and built a fortress. Especially in what is called the Middle Assyrian period, around 1200 BC, the fortress seems to have played a role of importance in the government and the protection of the far western boundary of the Assyrian kingdom. Here, an Assyrian garrison was quartered, a customs office on the road to the Assyrian capital Assur (in present-day northern Iraq) was established and the regional Assyrian administration had its seat. In addition the fortress functioned as a large landowner’s farm employing hundreds of men and women. Many craftsmen had settled here: smiths, potters, carpet weavers, and so on. The more than 360 clay tablets with cuneiform inscriptions which we have found so far show that the Assyrian fortress of Tell Sabi Abyad belonged to Ili-pada, one of the most powerful men in Assyria around 1200-1190 BC. Ili-pada was grand vizier of Assyria and entitled to call himself ‘King of Hanigalbat’. The fortress was Ili-pada’s property in the country. Here he made the fortune he needed to live in great state in the capital Assur, with its constant struggle for power. In 2002, as in the previous years, we have patiently continued to excavate the prehistoric settlements as well as the Assyrian fortress. Many hundreds of square metres have been investigated for remains of occupation from a period thousands of years in the past. Eventually we hope to form a more or less complete picture of the settlements. Because the various layers of occupation overlap only partly, simultaneous excavation is possible.
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2005