Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

TELL ARBID

SYRIA

TELL ARBID
PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE
ELEVENTH SEASON OF POLISH-SYRIAN
EXPLORATIONS (2006)

Piotr Bielmski

It was the first campaign of our excavation on Arbid to be held in spring and not as usual
in the fall. It was at the same time one of the shortest field seasons in the history of our
expedition. Finally, the objectives were different than in all previous campaigns, the emphasis
being placed on documenting ceramic finds from the first ten seasons on Arbid. Excavations
were conducted too, but on a much smaller scale than usual.1 Research activities in the field
were concentrated this year on Ninevite 5 period layers in areas SD on the eastern slope of
the main tell and W on the southern side of the site.

1 The research strategy determined the composition of the staff for the 2006 season. The Polish team comprised
archeologists: Dr. Dorota Lawecka, Dr. Anna Smogorzewska, Agnieszka Pienkowska, Maciej Makowski and Eukasz
Rutkowski, all from the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw, Andrzej Reiche from the Warsaw
National Museum and myself. Joining us were six archaeology students from the University of Warsaw in the capacity
of draftspersons: Malgorzata Dziadosz, Marzena Markowska, Marta Mierzejewska, Ewelina Mizak, Marta Momot,
Lukasz Wojnarowicz, and Katarzyna Regulska, a student from the Poznan University. We were also joined by Matthias
Aigner, student from Vienna University, who was working on pottery from the trial pits dug in 1999 by our Austrian
colleagues. A large part of the ceramic material from the older seasons is now practically ready for publication.
The effective operation of our mission was possible thanks to the encouragement and assistance of the Direction General
of Antiquities and Museums of the Syrian Arab Republic. First of all, the warmest words of gratitude to Dr. Bassam
Jammous, Director General, and to Dr. Michel Al-Maqdissi, Director of Excavations, for their continuoust support and
friendly advice. Not the least was a substantial financial contribution to the costs of the 2006 season offered by the
DGAM. The mission is also indebted to Abdel Massih Bardo, Director of the Regional Department of Antiquities in
Hassake, who helped to solve many of the practical day-to-day problems.

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