Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (10.1998(1999))

TELL ARBID

SYRIA

tied or the already existing settlement at
the base of the "citadel" was enlarged,
a series of such pise retaining walls follow-
ing the ground contours was erected in
places where the sliding slope could have
constituted a danger for new buildings
below. Some of these walls may have been
used for terracing purposes as well.
To finish with trench 36/59-60, the
third Khabour-period stratum should be
mentioned at this point. It yielded small
fragments of two parallel mudbrick walls
running southward in the southeastern
part of the trench. The walls were set less
than 1 m apart; between them and already
in the trench wall, some larger bones were
noticed.
To sum up, it is important to note that
trench 36/59-60 is the first place on Arbid
where an accumulation of Khabour ware-
period occupational layers has been identi-
fied. Among the interesting small finds
from this trench there is a slightly dam-
aged cylinder seal of the Early Dynastic
period. This small stone cylinder decorated
with typical Piedmont-style floral motifs
was found in the subsurface layer, meaning
that a clear stratigraphic context was miss-
ing. The same has to be said of the three
cylinder seal impressions on bullae found
practically on the surface and presumably
displaced by erosion. The poorly preserved
impressions were also of 3rd mill. BC date.
Finally, the third area, where a larger frag-
ment of structures representing early 2nd
mill. BC occupation on Tell Arbid was
uncovered during the present campaign, is
situated immediately to the east of the
above-described trench. It consisted of two
neighboring trenches designated 36/61
and 36/62. As the remains belong to a sin-
gle architectural unit, the two trenches
will be treated here together. All of the
walls were erected on a level much lower
(ca 1.8 m) than the Khabour period struc-

tures uncovered in trench 36/59-60. In our
opinion, this again confirms the hypothesis
that some sort of terracing had taken place
on the eastern slope of the site during the
Khabour ware times, the objective being
to separate the steep mass of the so-called
"citadel" from the more extensive terrace at
its base where the "Khabourians" thus
gained more space for their new buildings.
The structures unearthed in trenches 36/61
and 36/62 were built in this new space
which we shall refer to as the "upper city"
to distinguish it from the mound proper
called the "citadel".
The mudbrick walls found inside the
limits of trenches 36/61-62 consist of rem-
nants belonging to at least four separate
architectural units. With one exception,
the walls follow an orientation according
to the cardinal points. The largest of the
units was designated as House 1. It was at
least 17 m long and not less than 5.1 m
wide. The full plan has yet to be revealed.
Nevertheless, what has been explored of
the south end together with outer wall per-
mitted some conclusions concerning the
general layout. It originally consisted of at
least three rooms, one of which was later
partitioned into two smaller compart-
ments. The largest of the rooms measured
about 4 x 3.5 m and it can be assumed that
the latter figure constituted a standard
width for all the rooms in this building.
The walls were finely built of square bricks
measuring 36 x 36 cm and "half-bricks"
measuring 36 x 18 cm. They were general-
ly two bricks wide and regularly bonded in
every brick layer and at the corners.
Doorways usually 0.6 m wide of rooms
lying in line along the southern external
wall of House 1 were pierced in the divid-
ing walls. Two were found in relatively
good condition. All the other structures
were erected taking advantage of the walls
of House 1. Attached to the western wall

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