Syria - Tell Aswad

Archaeological mission at Tell Haswad

Prehistory, Pre Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB)

The site

The prehistoric site of Tell Aswad is located at the far eastern side of the village of Jdeidet el Khâss, 30 km east by southeast of Damas. Discovered by H. de Contenson in 1967, Tell Aswad was the site of two survey campaigns (1971 and 1972) led by Contenson.

The topographic map shows that Tell Aswad is quite large (250/250m). On its borders, two large sections were removed to receive military batteries.

Scientific stakes

Once these projects were completed, Tell Aswad became a benchmark site for its lower levels. It was in fact the only site connected to the PPNA period (9500 to 8700 calibrated BC) for the entire intermediate zone separating the Mureybetian (to the north) and Sultanian (to the South), cultures that are well documented for this time period. Since the 1970s, no other site has been tied to the Aswadian culture, such that its very existence began posing a problem. Inconsistencies mainly began appearing with the technical examination of the lithic series, led by F. Abbès. At this point, it became crucial to perform a more wide-scale review of the site. Tell Aswad’s interest is not, however, strictly limited to the issue of the Aswadian culture. What about the site’s ancient PPNB (8700-8200 BC), also identified during the first excavations? Is that real too? And if it is, did it develop on-site or was it transmitted by immigrants from the Euphrates?

Finally, the middle PPNB (8200-7500 BC), which was identified in the upper layers of the site, is little known in this intermediary zone between the north and south of Levant. Does it belong to a local culture, indigenous to the area? Or rather to cultures from the north of Levant? Or perhaps to the south of Levant?

These were the main questions the team that returned to the Tell Aswad site were asking when they stood face to face with this huge Neolithic tell. Each of the questions is important and all prehistorians working on the region have expressed their interest in learning the answers.