Tell Sabi Abyad
| تل صبي أبيض | |
 Shown within Syria
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| Location | Syria |
|---|---|
| Region | Balikh River valley |
| Coordinates | 36°30′14″N 39°05′35″E / 36.504°N 39.093°E |
| Type | settlement |
| Area | 11 hectares (27 acres), 15–16 hectares (37–40 acres) (with city walls), 4 hectares (9.9 acres) (outer town) |
| Height | 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) |
| History | |
| Material | clay, limestone |
| Founded | c. 7550 BC |
| Abandoned | c. 1250 BC |
| Periods | Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, Neolithic, Transitional Neolithic-Halaf, Early Bronze Age-Halaf, Middle Assyrian period |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 2002–ongoing |
| Archaeologists | C. Castel, N. Awad, Peter Akkermans |
| Condition | ruins |
| Management | Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums |
| Public access | Yes |
Tell Sabi Abyad (Arabic: تل صبي أبيض) is an archaeological site in the Balikh River valley in northern Syria. The site consists of four prehistoric mounds that are numbered Tell Sabi Abyad I to IV. Since 1986, archaeologist Peter Akkermans has led extensive excavations at Tell Sabi Abyad I, II and III. Surveys were conducted at the fourth mound, but excavations were not possible because of its use as a local cemetery.
Tell Sabi Abyad I was first occupied between 5200 and 5100 BC during the Neolithic. It showed a later phase of occupation, termed "transitional" by Akkermans, between 5200 and 5100 BC, which was followed by an early Halaf period between 5100 and 5000 BC. Architecture of the 6th-millennium settlement featured multi-room rectangular buildings with round structures called tholoi that were suggested to have been used for storage.
Later remains of a massive structure called the "Fortress" were dated to the Middle Assyrian period (Late Bronze Age) between 1550 and 1250 BC. Domestic buildings were also found, suggesting that the settlement was an Assyrian border town where a garrison was stationed. The Fortress structure contained eight rooms with 2.5-metre-wide (8.2 ft) walls constructed of mud bricks and featured a staircase that led to a second floor.
In the Halaf period, Tell Sabi Abyad had a fully developed farming economy with animal domestication of predominantly goats, but also sheep, cattle and pigs. A small number of gazelle were also hunted, although evidence for hunting and fishing is not well attested at the site.
Trees that would have grown at the time included poplar, willow and ash.
Domesticated emmer wheat was the primary crop grown, along with domesticated einkorn, barley and flax. A low number of peas and lentils were found compared to similar sites.
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Wikipedia