Tell Nebi Mend: Trench VIII

Abstract

Tell Nebi Mend is most famously known at the site of the battle between the Egyptians and the Hittites at Qadesh. However, its history goes back much further than this. Research at the site since the 1920s has uncovered a depth of occupation so far unrivalled in archaeological excavations in Western Syria. Thus the site is of great importance with regards to investigating the Orontes Valley and its relationship to surrounding regions, in particular during the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age phases, the majority of the evidence of which has been uncovered in Trench VIII, dug under the direction of Peter Parr.

Excavated in the 1980s, the results of the investigation at Tell Nebi Mend were never fully published. With very little other archaeology undertaken with a focus on this period, and without any other excavations demonstrating the depth of stratigraphy exhibited at Tell Nebi Mend, the publication of Trench VIII is of pressing importance as an excavation in itself and as a reference for future work in the region. As such, my work will concentrate on fully writing up the stratigraphy of Trench VIII, from the Late Chalcolithic reoccupation of the site through to the suggested transition to the Early Bronze phases. Furthermore, I will be studying the ceramics from these phases in order to consolidate the phasing from the site and in order to provide a regional comparison of the ceramics from Tell Nebi Mend with its immediate area and with settlements further away. This is intended to further 'place' Tell Nebi Mend within the region and to investigate the various cultural and technological influences on ceramics during the Late Chalcolithic-Early Bronze phases.

Hopefully this research will not only contribute to the final publication of the Trench VIII material from Tell Nebi Mend, but will also engage with a growing interest in the formerly somewhat under-studied Orontes Valley and its position in Western Syria.