A History of Syria in One Hundred Sites

This volume presents the long history of Syria through a jouney of the most important and recently-excavated archaeological sites. The sites cover over 1.8 million years and all regions in Syria; 110 academics have contributed information on 103 excavations for this volume. Based on these contributions the volume offers a detailed summary of the history of Syria, a history as important as any in terms of the development of human society. It is hoped that this knowledge will offer not only an increased understanding of the country but also act as a deterrent to the destruction of Syrian cultural heritage and facilitate the protection of Syrian sites.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Significance of Syria in Human History – (Youssef Kanjou and Akira Tsuneki)

Chapter 1: Prehistory: 1. El Kowm Oasis (Homs) – (Reto Jagher, Dorota Wojtczak and Jean-Marie Le Tensorer)

2. Dederiyeh Cave (Afrin, Aleppo) – (Takeru Akazawa and Yoshihiro Nishiaki)

3. Wadi Mushkuna Rockshelter (Damascus) – (Nicholas J. Conard)

4. Baaz Rockshelter (Damascus) – (Nicholas J. Conard)

5. Kaus Kozah Cave (Damascus) – (Nicholas J. Conard)

6. Abu Hureyra (Raqqa) – (Andrew M. T. Moore)

7. Qarassa (Sweida) – (F. Braemer, J. J. Ibanez and X. Terradas)

8. Mureybet (Raqqa) – (Marie-Claire Cauvin and Danielle Stordeur)

9. Tell Qaramel (Aleppo) – (Youssef Kanjou)

10. Jerf el-Ahmar (Aleppo) – (Danielle Stordeur and George Willcox)

11. Dja’de el-Mughara (Aleppo) – (Eric Coqueugniot)

12. Tell Halula (Aleppo) – (Miquel Molist)

13. Tell Aswad (Damascus) – (Danielle Stordeur and Rima Khawam)

14. Tell el-Kerkh (Idlib) – (Akira Tsuneki)

15. Tell Sabi Abyad (Raqqa) – (Peter M. M. G. Akkermans)

16. Tell Seker el-Aheimar (Hassake) – (Yoshihiro Nishiaki)

17. Shir (Hama) – (Karin Bartl)

18. Tell Kosak Shamali (Aleppo) – (Yoshihiro Nishiaki)

19. Tell el-‘Abr (Aleppo) – (Yayoi Yamazaki and Hamido Hammade)

20. Chagar Bazar (Hassake) – (Walter Cruells and Anna Gomez Bach)

21. Tell Zeidan (Raqqa) – (Anas Al Khabour)

22. Tell Feres (Hassake) – (Régis Vallet and Johnny Samuele Baldi)

23. Tell Ziyadeh (Hassake) – (Frank Hole)

Chapter 2: Ancient Syria (Bronze and Iron Ages): 24. Tell Beydar / Nabada / Nabatium (Hassake) – (Marc Lebeau and †Antoine Suleiman)

25. Tell Banat (Aleppo) – (Thomas L. McClellan and Anne Porter)

26. Tell Mozan/Urkesh (Hassake) – (Giorgio Buccellati and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati)

27. Tell Leilan (Hassake) – (Harvey Weiss)

28. Tell Sheikh Hamad/Dur-Katlimmu/Magdalu (Deir ez-Zor) – (Hartmut Kühne)

29. Umm el-Marra (Aleppo) – (Glenn M. Schwartz)

30. Tell Jerablus Tahtani (Aleppo) – (Edgar Peltenburg)

31. Tell Al-Rawda (Hama) - (Corinne Castel and Nazir Awad)

32. Tell Munbāqa (Raqqa) – (Dittmar Machule)

33. Tell el-Abd (Raqqa) – (Uwe Finkbeiner)

34. Tell Ali al-Hajj, Rumeilah (Aleppo) – (Kazuya Shimogama)

35. Mishrifeh / Qatna (Homs) – (Daniele Morandi Bonacossi)

36. Mishirfeh/Qatna, Syrian Excavations (Homs) – (Michel Al-Maqdissi and Massoud Badawi)

37. Tell Mastuma (Idlib) – (Hidetoshi Tsumoto)

38. Tell Sakka (Damascus) – (Ahmad Ferzat-Taraqji)

39. Tell Iris (Lattakia) – (Antoine Souleiman and Michel Al-Maqdissi)

40. Tell Toueini (Lattakia) – (Michel Al-Maqdissi, Massoud Badawi and Eva Ishaq)

41. Tell Sianu (Lattakia) – (Michel Al-Maqdissi)

42. Tell Taban (Hassake) – (Hirotoshi Numoto)

43. Tell Hammam el-Turkman (Raqqa) – (Diederik J.W. Meijer)

44. Tell Selenkahiye (Aleppo) – (Diederik J.W. Meijer)

45. Tell Mohammed Diyab (Hassake) – (Christophe Nicolle)

46. Tell Tuqan (Idlib) – (Francesca Baffi)

47. Khirbet Al-Umbashi, Khirbet Dabab and Hebariye (Sweida) – (Frank Braemer and Ahmed Taraqji)

48. Tell Masaikh and the Region around Terqa (Deir ez-Zor) – (Maria Grazia Masetti-Rouault)

49. Tell Ashara/ Terqa (Deir ez-Zor) – (Olivier Rouault)

50. Tell Bazi (Aleppo) – (Adelheid Otto and Berthold Einwag)

51. Tell Afis (Idlib) – (Stefania Mazzoni)

52. Tell Fekheriye (Hassake) – (Dominik Bonatz)

53. Mari (Deir ez-Zor) – (Pascal Butterlin)

54. Tell Nebi Mend (Homs) – (Peter Parr)

55. Qala’at Halwanji (Aleppo) – (Jesper Eidem)

56. Tell Ahmar/Til Barsib (Aleppo) – (Guy Bunnens)

57. Chagar Bazar/Ashnakkum (Hassake) – (Onhan Tunca)

58. Tell Humeida (Deir ez-Zor) – (Juan-Luis Montero Fenollós and Yaroob al-Abdallah)

59. Tell Qabr Abu al-‘Atiq (Deir ez-Zor) – (Juan-Luis Montero Fenollós and Shaker al-Shbib)

60. Tulul el-Far, Tell Taouil and Tell el-Kharaze (Damascus) – (Sophie Cluzan and Ahmad Ferzat-Taraqji)

61. Tell Massin and Tell al-Nasriyah (Hama) – (Dominique Parayre)

62. Tell Arbid (Hassake) – (Piotr Bieliński)

63. Tell Halaf (Hassake) – (Lutz Martin)

64. Halawa (Raqqa) – (Jan-Waalke Meyer and Winfried Orthmann)

65. Tell Shiyukh Tahtani (Aleppo) – (Gioacchino Falsone and Paola Sconzo)

66. Ras Shamra/Ugarit (Lattakia) – (Valérie Matoïan and Khozama al-Bahloul)

67. Tell Chuera (Raqqa) – (Jan-Waalke Meyer)

68. Amrith/Marathos (Tartous) – (Michel Al-Maqdissi and Eva Ishaq)

69. Arslan Tash (Aleppo) – (Anas Al Khabour)

70. Tell Meskene/Emar (Aleppo) – (Ferhan Sakal)

71. Tell Barri/Kahat (al Hassake) – (Raffaella Pierobon Benoit)

72. Tell Kazel/Sumur – (Leila Badre)

73. Tell Qumluq (Aleppo) – (Youssef Kanjou and Andrew Jamieson)

74. The Cemetery of Abu Hamad (Raqqa) – (Jan-Waalke Meyer)

75. The cemeteries of Wreide, Tawi and Shameseddin (Raqqa) – (Jan-Waalke Meyer andWinfried Orthmann)

76. Tell Ajaja (Hassake) – (Asa’d Mahmoud and Hartmut Kühne)

77. Tell Bderi (Hassake) – (Hartmut Kühne)

Chapter 3: Syria in the Classic World (Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine): 78. Jebel Khalid, (Aleppo) – (Graeme Clarke and Heather Jackson)

79. Palmyra, Years of Syro-German/Austrian Archaeological Research (Homs) – (Andreas Schmidt-Colinet, Khaled al- As‘ad and Waleed al-As‘ad)

80. Palmyra, Japanese Archaeological Research (Homs) – (Saito, Kiyihide)

81. Palmyrena. The Northern Hinterland of Palmyra (Homs) – (Jørgen Christian Meyer, Nils Anfinset and Torbjørn Preus Schou)

82. Palmyra/Tadmor (Homs) – (Michal Gawlikowski)

83. Cyrrhus/Nebi Houri (Aleppo) – (Jeanine Abdul Massih and Shaker Al Shbib)

84. Tell As-Sin (Deir ez-Zor) – (Shaker al-Shbib and Juan-Luis Montero Fenollós)

85. Gindaros (Aleppo) – (Ammar Abdulrahman)

86. El-Iss/Qinnasrin (Aleppo) – (Marie-Odile Rousset and Youssef Kanjou)

87. Resafa/Sergiopolis (Raqqa) – (Anas Al Khabour)

88. Resafa/Sergiupolis /Rusafat Hisham (Raqqa) – (Dorothée Sack and Martin Gussone)

89. Zenobia – Halabiya (Deir Ezzor) – (Sylvie Blétry)

90. Sergilla, Ruweiha and El Bâra (Idlib) – (Maamoun Abdulkarim and Gérard Charpentier)

91. Musaytbeh-Jableh (Lattakia) – (Massoud Badawi)

92. Deir Qinnsrin-Jarabulus (Aleppo) – (Mohamad Fakhro)

93. Tell el-Kasra (Deir ez-Zor) – (Yaroob al-Abdallah)

94. Syriac Inscriptions of Syria – (Françoise Briquel Chatonnet)

95. Sura (Raqqa) – (Ali Othman)

97. Tell Shayzar (Hama) – (Matthias Grawehr and Abdulsalam Albachkami)

Chapter 4: Islamic Archaeology in Syria: 97. The Citadel of Shayzar (Hama) – (Cristina Tonghini)

98. Qalaat Al Mudiq/Apamean Citadel (Hama) – (Shaker al Shbib and Mathilde Gelin)

99. Tell Tuneinir (Hassake) – (Michael Fuller and Neathery Fuller)

100. Aleppo Castle (Aleppo) – (Assad Yusof and Youssef Kanjou)

101. Madinat el-Far/Hisn Maslama (Raqqa) – (Claus-Peter Haase)

102. Kharab Sayyar (Raqqa) – (Jan-Waalke Meyer)

103. Tell Damir (Raqqa) – (Anas Al Khabour)

Synthesis: Syrian Archaeology in the Past, Present and Future – (Youssef Kanjou and Akira Tsuneki)