Archaeological Research at Tell Feheriye/Syria

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Dominik Bonatz
• Subject Area: Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Term: from 2009 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 118291544

The importance of the Late Bronze Age settlement at Tell Fekheriye as central placein the Khabur headwater region has been discussed since the 1920ies. However, only during the excavations from 2006 to 2010 large areas of the Late Bronze Age occupation were exposed at the western slope of the Tell. With the evidence of these excavations the answer to the main question of the historical identification of this site with the Mittani capital Washshukanni and the Middle Assyrian provincial center Ashshukanni respectively becomes archaeologically tangible. And although the ongoing political crisis in Syria has hindered the planned field research after 2010, the achieved excavation results enabled answers to the questions of the local settlement history and the supra-regional geopolitical and cultural historic position of the site. The abrupt end of the fieldwork at Tell Fekheriye demanded the reorganization of the working program which now is immediately directed toward the final publication of the excavation results. The publications will appear in English language in the series "Tell Fekheriye Excavation Reports" and prepared by several authors who cover the following subjects: (1) The Occupational Sequence and Late Second Millennium Architecture at Tell Fekheriye; (2) Tell Fekheriye: The Late Bronze Age Pottery. Ceramic Assemblages; (3) The Middle Assyrian Seals and Seal Impressions from Tell Fekheriye (with a contribution on the Mittani period seal impressions); (4) The Burials at Tell Fekheriye; (5) Tell Fekheriye Through the Ages. Collected Essays on the Cultural and Historic Development

• DFG Programme: Research Grants