Tall Bazi (also Tell Bazi), is an ancient Near East archaeological site in Raqqa Governorate of Syria in the same general area as Mari and Ebla. It is located on the east bank of Euphrates river in upper Syria, about 60 kilometers south of Turkey border. It is considered a twin site to the adjacent Tell Banat Complex. Both were occupied in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC with Banat being the focus in the early part and Bazi in the later. Tall Bazi has been proposed as the location of Armanum, known from texts of Sargon and Naram-Sin in the Akkadian period, during the reign of Naram-Sin of Akkad. Adelheid Otto, "Archeological Perspectives On The Localization Of Naram-Sin's Armanum", Journal of Cuneiform Studies vol. 58, pp. 1-26, 2006Nashat Alkhafaji and Gianni Marchesi, "Naram-Sin's War against Armanum and Ebla in a Newly-Discovered Inscription from Tulul al-Baqarat", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 79, no. 1, pp. 1-20, 2020Alfonso Archi, "In Search of Armi", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 63, 2011, pp. 5–34, 2011 It was occupied into the Mitanni period, with an occupational gap after c. 2300 BC, at which time it was destroyed. In the Roman Imperial Age, a large building was constructed at the top of the main mound, using the remaining Late Bronze Age fortification walls.
Location In ancient times, the site consisted of a large lower town and the high citadel. Also nearby, about one half a kilometer to the south, the large Tell Banat Complex was located on the lower ground. It consisted of several tells and the lower town. Around 1999, because of the construction of the Tishrin Dam nearby, the whole area was flooded, and only the Tall Bazi citadel still remains above water.Tall Bazi - Location and Description. The Institute of Near Eastern Archaeology -- uni-muenchen.de
History Early Bronze
Both Tall Bazi and Tall Banat were located along the Euphrates river. During the Early Bronze Age, a massive town wall protected this whole settlement area away from the river. This Banat-Bazi complex started about 2600 B.C., and continued during the Early Bronze Age III and IV. Otto, Adelheid, and Berthold Einwag, "Tell Bazi (Aleppo)", A History of Syria in One Hundred Sites, pp. 215-217, 2016
An Early Bronze palace was found beneath the Middle Bronze temple. The earlier occupation of the Citadel dates back to the Late Early Dynastic period and Akkadian period. Numerous clay bi-conical sling shots as well as leaf shaped flint arrowheads were found especially around a fortified wall gate.Anne Porter, "Victims of Violence: Healing Social Ills through Mesopotamian Mortuary Practice", Near Eastern Archaeology, vol. 78, no. 4, pp. 252–62, 2015Paz, Yitzhak, "The Existence of Archery in Early Bronze Age Southern Levant Warfare: A Note", Journal of Conflict Archaeology, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 3–11, 2018B. Einwag, "Fortified Citadels in the Early Bronze Age? New Evidence from Tall Bazi (Syria)", in: J. Cordoba (Hrsg.), Proceedings of the Fifth International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Madrid 2006, Madrid, pp. 741–53, 2008 The citadel, along with occupation on Tell Bannat, was destroyed c. 2300 BC and a gap in occupation ensued.
Middle Bronze The Northern Town of the lower area was occupied beginning in the Middle Bronze Age and was destroyed at the same time as the Western Town, in the Late Bronze Age. A geomagnetic prospection followed by excavation at four locations showed that the original portion was a grown settlement with later construction matching the planned houses of the Western Town.B. Einwag and A. Otto, "Tall Bazi 2000 und 2001 – Die Untersuchungen auf der Zitadelle und in der Nordstadt", DaM 15, pp. 105–130, 2006
The main mound has been dubbed the "Citadel". It contained a large (37.6 meter long by 15.8 meter wide) temple built in the Middle Bronze Age (on top of an Early Bronze Age palace) still in use when it was destroyed at the same time as the 200 meter by 250 meter lower town in the Late Bronze Age.Otto, Adelheid, "Archaeological Evidence for Collective Governance along the Upper Syrian Euphrates during the Late and Middle Bronze Age", Organization, Representation, and Symbols of Power in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 54th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Würzburg 20–25 Jul, edited by Gernot Wilhelm, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 87–100, 2012
In the Middle Bronze II, Tall Bazi would have been in between larger powers like Carchemish (north), Aleppo (west; Yamhad), and Mari (southeast).
Late Bronze (Mitanni Period) In this period the 18 hectare city was probably named Baṣīru. The two cuneiform tablets found at the site indicate that, in the Mittani period, the city did not have a king, but was governed by the city elders.
In the remains of the temple on the main mound were found evidence of significant production and ritual consumption of beer as well as two cuneiform land grant tablets of the Mitanni period one (Bz 51) sealed by ruler Saushtatar which gave the town of Baidali to the people of Baṣīru, one (Bz 50) by ruler Artatama I, and an Old Babylonian cylinder seal.Martino, Stefano de, "The Mittanian Cuneiform Documents: The Interplay between Content, Language, Material, Format, and Sealing Practices", The Ancient World Revisited: Material Dimensions of Written Artefacts, edited by Marilina Betrò, Michael Friedrich and Cécile Michel, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 207-220, 2024 Torrecilla, Eduardo, and Yoram Cohen, "A Mittani Letter Order from Azu (Had 8) and its Implications for the Chronology and History of the Middle Euphrates Region in the Late Bronze Age” Revue d’Assyriologie et d’archéologie Orientale, vol. 112, pp. 149–58, 2018 When the settlement was destroyed the temple was looted and equipment smashed, then burned like the lower town. More post destruction looting then occurred.
The Western Town (Weststadt, 1 hectare) is a single period area of the Late Bronze Age. It represents a later expansion of the city, and it lasted up to a century before being violently destroyed. It contained about 100 houses with a central market area and planned 6 meter wide main roads with spurs into residential areas. Houses were built to a standard design with little variation.Adelheid Otto, "The Organization of Residential Space in the Mittani Kingdom as a Mirror of Different Models of Governance", in: Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Nicole Brisch and Jesper Eidem (Eds.), Constituent, Confederate, and Conquered Space in Upper Mesopotamia. The Emergence of the Mitanni State, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 33–60, 2014 Destruction appears to have come quickly as most material was still in place. Each house had its own oven for baking and vats for the production of beer.Paulette, Tate, "Archaeological perspectives on beer in Mesopotamia: Brewing ingredients", After the harvest: Storage practices and food processing in Bronze Age Mesopotamia (= Subartu 43), pp. 65-89, 2020 Most houses had a table-like installation on the short wall opposite the door associated with vessels, bones, and other objects leading the excavator to consider them to be for domestic cult practices.Schmitt, Rüdiger, "Elements of Domestic Cult in Ancient Israel", Family and Household Religion in Ancient Israel and the Levant, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 57-219, 2012 In one house a large number of weight stones belonging to different weight systems were found, suggesting it was an office of merchants.Zaccagnini, Carlo, "Capital Investment, Weight Standards and Overland Trade at Emar", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 108, no. 1, pp. 43-62, 2018 The Northern Town and Citadel were destroyed at the same time. A. Otto, "Defining and transgressing the boundaries between ritual commensality and daily commensal practices: the case of late bronze age Tall Bazi.", eTopoi - Journal for Ancient Studies, Special Volume 2, pp. 179–195, 2012 No human remains were found.B. Einwag and A. Otto, "Tall Bazi 1998 und 1999 - Die letzten Untersuchungen in der Weststadt", DaM 13, pp. 65–88, 2001A. Otto, "Alltag und Gesellschaft zur Spätbronzezeit: Eine Fallstudie aus Tall Bazi (Syrien)", Subartu 19, Turnhout 2006 Due to the sketchy nature of radiocarbon dating for this period dates radiocarbon samples have reported dates ranging from 1400 BC down to 1200 BC for the destruction layer. A Mitanni period cylinder seal was found.A. Otto, "The Late Bronze Age Pottery of the Weststadt of Tall Bazi (North Syria)", in: M. Luciani, A. Hausleitner (Eds.), Recent Trends in the Study of Late Bronze Age Ceramics in Syro-Mesopotamia and Neighbouring Regions. Proceedings of the International Workshop in Berlin, 2 – 5 November 2006, OrA 32, Rahden/Westf., pp. 85-117, 2014 B. Einwag and A. Otto, "The Late Bronze Age at Tall Bazi: The Evidence of the Pottery and the Challenges of Radiocarbon Dating", in: From Pottery to Chronology: The Middle Euphrates Region in Late Bronze Age Syria. Proceedings of a Workshop in Mainz (Germany), May 5–7, 2012. MAAO 1, Gladbeck, pp. 149–176, 2018 A few geometrically-shaped faience tokens, generally called "gaming tokens" were found as well beads and pendants fashioned from ostrich shells.Puljiz, Ivana, "Faience for the empire: A Study of Standardized Production in the Middle Assyrian State", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 111, no. 1, pp. 100-122, 2021Herles, M., "Nachtrag zum Vogel Strauß unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Kudurrus", SB 25. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft 141, pp. 97–115, 2009
Roman period During the Roman Empire, a fortified sanctuary was built on Tall Bazi, which can be dated to the late 1st or 2nd century AD.Schloder, Katharina (2019). Tall Bazi I. Die römerzeitliche Bebauung von Tall Bazi im syrischen Euphrattal. Ein befestigtes einheimisches Heiligtum im Vorfeld der römischen Provinz Syria [Tall Bazi I. The Roman-era buildings at Tall Bazi in the Syrian Euphrates Valley. A fortified indigenous sanctuary on the outskirts of the Roman province of Syria]. Münchener Abhandlungen zum Alten Orient, vol. 5. Gladbeck: PeWe, .
Modern times As a result of the Syrian Civil War the top of the mound was turned into a military emplacement with much of the remains, including the temple, being destroyed by bulldozer activity. Archaeological finds still being held at the site were robbed away by ISIS. B. Einwag and Adelheid Otto 2019. The inventory of the temple at Tall Bazi, in Evans, J.M. & Roßberger, E. (ed.), "Ancient Near Eastern temple inventories in the third and second millennia BCE: integrating archaeological, textual, and visual sources", Proceedings of a conference held at the LMU Centre for Advanced Studies, November 14–15, pp. 159–74, 2016Berthold Einwag and Adelheid Otto, Die Torlöwen an Tempel 1 von Tall Bazi und ihre Stellung in der Reihe steinerner Löwenorthostaten, in: Heather Baker, Kai Kaniuth und Adelheid Otto (ed.), Stories of long ago. Festschrift für Michael D. Roaf, AOAT 397, Münster, pp. 91–115, 2012 C. Coppini, "Tell Bazi: the Middle and Late Bronze Age pottery from the Citadel's Nordhang.", In From pottery to chronology: The Middle Euphrates region in Late Bronze Age Syria. Proceedings of the international workshop in Mainz (Germany), pp. 177-193, (2012, May)
Tell Banat Complex