Til Barsip

The site has been identified as the ancient city of Tip Barsip, the capital of the Aramaean kingdom of Bit Adini. 

The tell is well known for the extensive excavations undertaken there by French archaeologists (directed by F. Thureau-Dangin) in the 1930s. One of their major findings was an extraordinary Early Bronze Age (third millennium BC) stone built hypogeum (subterranean tomb) which yielded huge amounts of pottery belonging to the central Syrian repertoire, dating to around 2,500BC.

The importance of this fact is that it shows the influence of the central Syrian, as opposed to the Mesopotamian cultural zone in this region at this early date. 

Recent excavations show that the situation in the Iron Age was reversed, with Mesopotamian domination of this region. The excavators have defined parts of the Assyrian city wall of the 8th century BC, and the associated Assyrian period palace.