Tell Sabi Abyad

Tell Sabi Abyad

تل صبي أبيض
Excavations at Tell Sabi Abyad.
Shown within Near East Show map of Near East Tell Sabi Abyad (Syria) Show map of Syria
Location	Syria
Region	Balikh River valley
Coordinates	36°30′14″N 39°05′35″E / 36.504°N 39.093°E / 36.504; 39.093
Type	settlement
Area	11 hectares (27 acres), 15–16 hectares (37–40 acres) (with city walls), 4 hectares (9.9 acres) (outer town)
Height	2 metres (6 ft 7 in)
History
Material	clay, limestone
Founded	c. 7550 BC
Abandoned	c. 1250 BC
Periods	Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, Neolithic, Transitional Neolithic-Halaf, Early Bronze Age-Halaf, Middle Assyrian period
Site notes
Excavation dates	2002–ongoing
Archaeologists	C. Castel, N. Awad, Peter Akkermans
Condition	ruins
Management	Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums
Public access	Yes

Tell Sabi Abyad (Arabic: تل صبي أبيض) is an archaeological site in the Balikh River valley in northern Syria. It lies about 2 kilometers south of Tell Hammam et-Turkman.The site consists of four prehistoric mounds that are numbered Tell Sabi Abyad I to IV. Extensive excavations showed that these sites were inhabited already around 7500 to 5500 BC, although not always at the same time; the settlement shifted back and forth among these four sites.^[1]

The earliest pottery of Syria was discovered here; it dates at ca. 6900-6800 BC, and consists of mineral-tempered, and sometimes painted wares.