Tell 'Acharneh, Syria
Tell 'Acharneh is an impressive 77-hectare mound situated in the Orontes Valley of Western Syria. The site was occupied for many centuries in antiquity, and is believed to be ancient Tunip, a city known from ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Hittite inscriptions. Its most impressive occupation was during the Iron Age in the 8th century BC, when the site was heavily fortified with an outer enclosure wall and sloping ramparts. The city was destroyed around 721 BC during the campaigns of the Assyrian king Sargon II. It remained abandoned until the time of the First Crusade at the beginning of the 12th century, when it appears to have served as a Frankish military garrison and observation station. Funded by SSHRC, the excavations at Tell 'Acharneh are being conducted by a joint Canadian expedition comprising team members from Laval University and the University of British Columbia.
Detailed Description: Tell 'Acharneh, is a large, 77-hectare site located in the fertile Orontes Valley of western Syria. It features an acropolis mound and smaller secondary tell as well as an expansive lower city, around which a high earth rampart was built. On the basis of the pottery recovered from the mound, as well as information provided by ancient inscriptions, we know that Tell 'Acharneh was occupied from around the mid-third millennium up to the 8th century BCE. The site could even have been inhabited earlier if we account for the recovery of a Palaeolithic hand axe in a secondary fill in the lower town (c. 300,000 bp!).
Around 720 BCE, in the aftermath of the conquest of western Syria by the Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II and his subsequent efforts to deport many of the country's inhabitants to other parts of the Assyrian empire, the site was abandoned. Except for a brief occupation during the Hellenistic period, Tell 'Acharneh remained uninhabited until AD 1109, just after the First Crusade. At this time, a military garrison, observation towers, and storage facilities were erected by Frankish soldiers, probably in their efforts to maintain a strong hold in the countryside south of Apamea. They also wished to keep a watchful eye on the comings and goings of their Arab opponents, many of whom were stationed at the nearby castle of Qalat Sheizar.
Excavations have been continuing at Tell 'Acharneh since 1998, under the direction of Professor Michel Fortin of Laval University. Dr. Elisabeth Cooper, of the University of British Columbia is the project's Assistant Director and Chief Ceramicist. To date, several graduate students from the Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies at UBC have been invited to partake in the challenging excavations of this fascinating site. The project is funded by a SSHRC research grant and two smaller archaeometric and geomatics grants from Laval University.
At present, our work continues to focus on excavations on the main acropolis mound, and on the classification and analysis of the artifacts, especially pottery, which have been recovered from our excavation trenches. Beginning in 2004, our project will expand to include an extensive topographical and archaeological survey of the landscape and settlement around Tell 'Acharneh. This component of our investigations will include state-of-the-art surveying equipment (eg. Total Stations and GPS) and Geographic Information Systems software.
