Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (13.2001(2002))

TELL ARBID

SYRIA

3rd millennium BC and that of the 2nd in
this part of the site was longer than
elsewhere. Only some discarded fragments
of walls and floors, some of them sherd-
paved, have survived. It is still too early to
try to reconstruct the plans of houses,
which these walls could have been part of.
From this stratum comes a complete ter-
racotta figurine of a ram, which may have
been used as a toy (Fig. 12).
The top of a Ninevite 5 period stratum
was reached in the north end of area “D”,

below the Akkadian remains. It contained
fragments of a large (at least 7 m wide) mud
brick house, bordered on the north by
a narrow sherd-paved alley. The structure
was composed of at least four rooms. In
none of the rooms was a well preserved floor
level reached. The walls of yet another
Ninevite 5 dwelling, a larger part of which
had been unearthed in square 30/43 already
in 1999, were exposed in the same stratum,
but in the northeastern part of the area in
question.

SUMMARY

The sixth campaign of joint Polish-
Syrian excavations on the mound of Tell
Arbid has thrown new light on the
history of the site, especially during the
second half of the 3rd millennium BC and
in the Mitannian period. This season
brought several interesting discoveries,
such as the second richly furnished
Mitannian grave. Our hypothesis about

the special role of the huge architectural
complex provisionally called the “Public
Building” has also found confirmation in
newly uncovered evidence. Of equal
importance are the results of explorations
in the Khabour-ware period domestic
quarter in area “SR”, where the beginnings
of Khabour-period settlement on Arbid
can now be studied.

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