Tell Sheikh Hamad (Syria)
Hartmut Kühne
Apr 01, 1978 — Mar 31, 2013
Excavation at Tell Sheikh Hamad (Syria) On September 13, 1977, the accidental discovery of Middle Assyrian cuneiform tablets at Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad (Syria) during an archaeological field survey conducted by the “Tübingen Atlas of the Near East” (TAVO) on the lower reaches of the Habur, it was discovered that the modern site was very likely identical to the lost Assyrian city of “Dur-Katlimmu” (13th–7th century BCE). In this area, which had not been archaeologically explored until then, the project “Excavation at Tall Schech Hamad” was launched, which confirmed this identification and further established that the city of Dur-Katlimmu bore the Aramaic secondary name Magdalu from the 7th century BCE onward; this name, slightly modified to Magdala, was retained during the Parthian-Roman period until the settlement was abandoned in the 3rd century CE. Funded by the DFG, this interdisciplinary long-term project conducted, from 1978 to 2010, basic research in cultural history and landscape archaeology throughout the entire lower Habur River basin (Syria), in addition to its primary excavation work. The results have been published in 17 volumes of the series “Reports on the Excavation at Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad / Dūr-Katlimmu” (as of 2026) which are available with open access . Further volumes are in preparation. The analog research data from the excavation project are currently being digitized and will be made available successively for the already published volumes of the series “Reports on the Excavation of Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad / Dūr-Katlimmu” in the “Refubium” repository. Director: Prof. Dr. Hartmut Kühne, Freie Universität Berlin (retired; currently serving in an honorary capacity as head of the Lower Habur Archaeological Project Archive and Collection)
