Tell Beydar is a village and ancient site along the Khabur river in the modern Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria about 30 kilometers north of the modern city of Hasake. It was the Ancient Near Eastern city of Nabada. It is connected by road to Al-Darbasiyah on the Turkish border in the north.

History

Nabada was first settled during the Early Dynastic Period circa 2600 BC. By around 2500 BC a medium-sized independent city-state had developed. At that point, it became a provincial capital under the kingdom centered at Nagar, now Tell Brak. After the Jezirah region was conquered by the Akkadians, Nabada became an outpost of that empire. The city was then abandoned until re-occupied for a time circa 1400 BC by the Hurrians (Mitanni) and again in the Neo-Assyrian and Hellenistic periods.

Archaeology

The central site of Tell Beydar covers about 22 hectares. It has a circular walled central mound (7 hectares) with a circular walled lower town (Beydar I). This is referred to as a Kranzhügel or "cup-and-saucer" tell in archaeology. In the early part of the 3rd millennium BC both sections were occupied but from the middle of the millennium on only the central mound was occupied. A much later 50 ha Hurrian/Neo-Assyrian site lies at the base of the tell (Beydar II). At the top of the tell there is a Hellenistic settlement. A kilometer to the south there is a small Late Chalcolithic tell (Beydar III). Tell Beydar was excavated for 17 seasons, beginning in 1992 and ending in 2010, by a joint Syrian and European team made up of the European Centre for Upper Mesopotamian Studies and the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums of Syria. There were also several restoration seasons. The team leads are Marc Lebeau and Antoine Suleiman. A number of other institutions, including the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago have also participated. Besides the architectural and pottery findings from the excavation, almost 250 early cuneiform tablets and fragments were recovered, dating from the Early Dynastic III period, roughly a generation before the fall of Ebla. The tablets are agricultural records for the most part, but do establish some synchronisms with Tell Brak. The language used in the tablets is a variant of the Akkadian language and the personal names referred to were Semitic. Small finds include a number of bronze (both tin and arsenical) objects. A number of clay sealings have also been recovered. Finds from Tell Beydar are on display in the Deir ez-Zor Museum.