Tell Ta'yinat is a low-lying ancient tell on the east bank at the bend of the

Orontes River The Orontes (; from Ancient Greek , ) or Asi ( ar, العاصي, , ; tr, Asi) is a river with a length of in Western Asia that begins in Lebanon, flowing northwards through Syria before entering the Mediterranean Sea near Samandağ in Turkey. A ...

where it flows through the

Amuq valley The Amik Valley ( tr, Amik Ovası; ar, ٱلْأَعْمَاق, al-ʾAʿmāq) is located in the Hatay Province, close to the city of Antakya (Antioch on the Orontes River) in the southern part of Turkey. Along with Dabiq in northwestern Syria, i ...

, in the

Hatay Hatay Province ( tr, Hatay ili, ) is the southernmost province of Turkey. It is situated almost entirely outside Anatolia, along the eastern coast of the Levantine Sea. The province borders Syria to its south and east, the Turkish province ...

province of southeastern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

about 25 kilometers south east of

Antakya Antakya (), historically known as Antioch ( el, Ἀντιόχεια; hy, Անտիոք, Andiok), is the capital of Hatay Province, the southernmost province of Turkey. The city is located in a well-watered and fertile valley on the Orontes River, ...

(ancient

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

), and lies near Tell Atchana, the site of the ancient city of Alalakh. Tell Ta'yinat has been proposed as the site of Alalaḫu, inhabited in late 3rd millennium BC, mentioned in Ebla's Palace G archive; and in later times as Kinalua, the capital city of an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

Neo-Hittite kingdom.

Identification

Archaeologist Timothy Harrison, the dig director for many years starting in 2004, supports the identification of the site with Kinalua, the capital of a

Neo-Hittite The states that are called Syro-Hittite, Neo-Hittite (in older literature), or Luwian-Aramean (in modern scholarly works), were Luwian and Aramean regional polities of the Iron Age, situated in southeastern parts of modern Turkey and northwester ...

Aramean The Arameans ( oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; syc, ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. The Aramean ...

Iron Age kingdom. In the period of Neo-Assyrian control it was the center of the Unqi province. It is a possible site of the city of

Calneh Calneh () was a city founded by Nimrod, mentioned twice in the Hebrew Bible ().

mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Welton, Lynn, et al., "Tell Tayinat in the late third millennium: recent investigations of the Tayinat Archaeological Project, 2008-2010", Anatolica 37, pp.147-185, 2011 Four seasons of archaeological excavations were conducted at the site by the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute from 1935 to 1938, led by Robert Braidwood.
Robert J. Braidwood and Linda S. Braidwood, Excavations in the Plain of Antioch I: The Earlier Assemblages Phases A-J, Oriental Institute Publications 61, University of Chicago Press, 1960 From 1999 to 2002, the Oriental Institute returned to the site, as part of the Tayinat Archaeological Project, to conduct mapping and surveying and to examine the original excavations.Batiuk, S., Harrison, T E, and Pavlish, L.
The Ta'yinat Survey, 1999-2002
in The Amuq Valley Regional Projects, Volume 1: Surveys in the Plain of Antioch and Orontes Delta, Turkey, 1995–2002, Oriental Institute Publications 131, pp. 171-192, Oriental Institute, 2005 New excavations at the site were begun by a team from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

in 2004, after a survey in 2003. Timothy Harrison, Continued excavations in the summer of 2005 exposed more of the Iron Age temple as well as part of one of the early Iron Age II ''bit-hilanis''. A significant amount of earlier Iron Age I material was also uncovered as well as small amounts of Early Bronze Age material.Timothy Harrison
Tayinat Archaeological Project 2005 Seasonal Report
University of Toronto, 2005 Excavations have continued now for a total of 13 seasons, through 2016. Findings have included a significant Iron Age temple, a number of 1st millennium BC cuneiform tablets, and initial structures from the earlier Bronze Age settlement. The majority of the tablets were found in the inner sanctum of a temple (Building XVI) in the sacred precinct. Most of the tablets are Iqqur Ipuš but they include a copy of the succession treaty of Esarhaddon. A lecture by James Osborne, on "The Syro-Anatolian City States: A Neglected Iron Age Culture" addresses aspects of the site.

History

Archaeological excavation at the tell has indicated, in conjunction with ancient written sources, that the site was a major urban centre in two separate phases, during the Early Bronze Age and Early Iron Age.

Early Bronze Age

''Red-black burnished ware'' ( Khirbet Kerak ware) was found in Phases H and I, corresponding to the Early Dynastic period in Mesopotamia. This type of pottery diminishes through the end of the last phase of EBA. This pottery is believed to be influenced by the Kura-Araxes culture, arriving into this area around 3000 BC. In the Amuq Plain, Tell Tayinat was the largest settlement in the EBIVB.Welton, Lynn, "EBIV ceramic production in the Orontes watershed: petrography from the Amuq and beyond", Levant 52.1-2, pp. 215-236, 2020 The structural remains from Tell Tayinat have been from the Early Bronze IVB period (Phase J). Among the finds are 17 anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines in a style typical of the region at that time. Also found were two wheels, copper alloy metal fragments, spindle whorls and loom weights. Notable finds were a cylinder seal and two clay sealings.

Iron Age

During the

Iron Age II The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

, this is thought likely to be the site of ancient Kinalua, the capital of one of the

city-kingdoms of ''Walistin'' (Aramaic) or ''

Palistin Palistin (or Walistin), was an early Syro-Hittite kingdom located in what is now northwestern Syria and the southeastern Turkish province of Hatay. Its existence was confirmed by the discovery of several inscriptions mentioning Taita, king of P ...

'' (neo-Hittite), of which a follow-up kingdom is the one known as

Pattin Pattin (also known as Pattina, Patina, Unqu and Unqi), was an ancient Luwian Syro-Hittite state at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. It was known to the Assyrians as Unqi and Aramaeans as Unqu. It was located at the north-western coast of ...

or Patina, the shortened form of Palistin (together c. 1000-738 BC).''Before and After the Storm: Crisis Years in Anatolia and Syria between the Fall of the Hittite Empire and the Beginning of a New Era (ca. 1220-1000 BC)'', A Symposium in Memory of Itamar Singer, University of Pavia, 2012, pp. 7–8. Among the culturally diverse

Syro-Hittite states The states that are called Syro-Hittite, Neo-Hittite (in older literature), or Luwian-Aramean (in modern scholarly works), were Luwian and Aramean regional polities of the Iron Age, situated in southeastern parts of modern Turkey and northwester ...

in the north Syrian river-plain the rulers of Kinalua continued to bear royal Hittite names in the 8th century BC. With the rise of the Neo-Assyrians in the 9th century BC, rulers of Patina (thought to be the same as Kinalua) began to pay tribute to them. Ashurnasirpal II reports receiving silver and gold, 100 talents of tin, essential for making bronze, and 100 talents of iron, 1000 oxen and 10,000 sheep, linen robes and decorated couches and beds of

boxwood ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...

, as well as "10 female singers, the king's brother's daughter with a rich dowry, a large female monkey and ducks" from the ruler Labarna. At a later campaign the Assyrians forced its king Tutammu to submit according to an inscription of king

Tiglath-pileser III Tiglath-Pileser III ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "my trust belongs to the son of Ešarra"), was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 745 BC to his death in 727. One of the most prominent and historically significant Assyrian kings, T ...

(745–727 BC). Other documents indicate Assyrian control lasted until the reign of

Ashurbanipal Ashurbanipal ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning " Ashur is the creator of the heir") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 669 BCE to his death in 631. He is generally remembered as the last great king of Assyria. Inheriting the throne a ...

(669–631 BC). A worn stone with cuneiform writing from the top of the mound was turned into the local museum by a farmer who had used it as a paving stone. Combined with 4 fragments found during the 1930 excavation it turned out to be part of a stele of Sargon II (722–705 BC). The city had a citadel placed at a higher elevation, connected to the lower city by a monumental gate complex.

Iron Age temple

One of the key finds of the Oriental Institute (1935–38) made at the site was a temple reminiscent in plan to

Solomon's Temple Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (, , ), was the Temple in Jerusalem between the 10th century BC and . According to the Hebrew Bible, it was commissioned by Solomon in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited by t ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

as described in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

).Monson, John M. "The Temple of Solomon: Heart of Jerusalem"
C. The Ain Dara Temple: A New Parallel from Syria
pp. 10, 16. In "Zion, city of our God", Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (1999), editors: Hess, Richard S. & Wenham, Gordon J. . Retrieved 15 February 2011.

''Bit-hilani'' palaces

The Oriental Institute campaigns (1935–38) brought to light several large palaces in the style known as ''

Bit-hilani A Bit-hilani (Akkadian: ''Bīt-Ḫilāni'', meaning 'house of pillars') is an ancient architectural type of palace. It seems to have become popular at the end of the tenth and during the ninth century BCE during the early Iron Age in northern Syria ...

''. A wood sample from a Bit-hilani burned in c. 675 BC was carbon dated to 2625 +/- 50 years BP.Libby, W. F., "Radiocarbon Dating", Science, vol. 133, no. 3453, pp. 621–29, 1961 The 2005 excavations exposed part of one of the early Iron Age II ''bit-hilanis''.

King Suppiluliuma statue

In August 2012, a team from the University of Toronto announced they had uncovered the head and torso of a human figure, intact to just above its waist. The remains of the figure stand approximately 1.5 meters in height, suggesting a total height of 3.5 to 4 meters. The figure is bearded with eyes made of black and white stone. The figure's hair has been styled in an elaborate series of curls arranged in rows. The arms of the figure extend forward from the elbow. Each arm has two arm bracelets adorned with lion heads. The figure's left hand holds a shaft of wheat and its right hand holds a spear. The figure's chest is adorned with a crescent-shaped pectoral. A lengthy carved, raised relief inscription in Hieroglyphic Luwian runs across the figure's back. The inscription records the accomplishments and campaigns of King Suppiluliuma. He is likely the same king who as part of a Syrian-Hittite coalition in 858 BC fought against the

Neo-Assyrian The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew t ...

invasion of

Shalmaneser III Shalmaneser III (''Šulmānu-ašarēdu'', "the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent") was king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Ashurnasirpal II in 859 BC to his own death in 824 BC. His long reign was a constant series of campaig ...

Female statue

In August 2017, it was reported that a majestic female statue was discovered at the site, within the monumental gate complex leading to the upper citadel. This may be an image of

Kubaba Kubaba (in the ''Weidner'' or ''Esagila Chronicle''), sux, , , is the only queen on the ''Sumerian King List'', which states she reigned for 100 years – roughly in the Early Dynastic III period (ca. 2500–2330 BC) of Sumerian history. A co ...

, divine mother of the gods of ancient Anatolia. Or it may be Kupapiyas, who was the wife – or possibly mother – of Taita, the dynastic founder of ancient Tayinat. But it's also possible that the statue represents the wife of King Suppiluliuma. Archaeologist Timothy Harrison raised the possibility that women played quite a prominent role in the political and religious lives of these early Iron Age communities.Majestic 3,000-year-old female statue uncovered in Turkey: excavation led by U of T archaeologists
University of Toronto News, August 11, 2017

References

Future reading

*Langis-Barsetti, D., "Building Kunulua Block by Block: Exploring Archaeology through Minecraft", Near Eastern Archaeology 84(1), pp. 62–70, 2021 *Batiuk, S., and Harrison, T. P, "The Metals Trade and Early Bronze Age Craft Production at Tell Tayinat", pp. 48-66 in Overturning Certainties in Near Eastern Archaeology: A festschrift in Honor of K. Aslihan Yener, ed. C. Maner, M. T. Horowitz, and A. S. Gilbert. Leiden, Boston: Brill., 2017

manuel, J.P., "King Taita and his “Palistin” : philistine state or neo-hittite kingdom?", Antiguo Oriente, Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Historia del Antiguo Oriente, vol 13. pp. 11-40, 2015

enel, E. and Harrison, T. P., The Neo-Hittite Citadel Gate at Tayinat (Ancient Kunulua). Pp. 137-55 in The Archaeology of Anatolia: Recent Discoveries (2015-2016), Vol. 2. ed. S. Steadman and G. McMahon. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017

ales, Frederick Mario, "After Ta'yinat: the new status of Esarhaddon's adê for Assyrian political history", Revue d'assyriologie et d'archéologie orientale 106.1. pp. 133-158, 2012

anning, S.M., Lorentzen, B., Welton, L, Batiuk, S., Harrison, T.P., "Beyond megadrought and collapse in the Northern Levant: The chronology of Tell Tayinat and two historical inflection episodes, around 4.2ka BP, and following 3.2ka BP", PLOSOne., October 29 2020 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240799 *Harrison, T., "The Iron Age I–II Transition in the Northern Levant: An Emerging Consensus?", Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology, pp. 325–351, 2021

arrison, Timothy P., "The Neo-Assyrian governor’s residence at Tell Ta‘yinat.", Bulletin of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies 40, pp. 23-33, 2005

aneway, Brian, "The nature and extent of Aegean contact at Tell Ta ‘yinat and vicinity in the Early Iron Age: Evidence of the Sea Peoples", Cyprus, the Sea Peoples and the Eastern Mediterranean: Regional Perspectives of Continuity and Change. Scripta Mediterranea, pp. 27-28, 2006 *Roames, Jim., "The early iron age metal workshop at Tell Tayinat, Turkey", MRS Online Proceedings Library 1319.1, pp. 1-7, 2011

External links

Tayinat Archaeological Project
—the website for the current excavations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tayinat Archaeological sites in Hatay Province Syro-Hittite states Former populated places in Turkey Tells (archaeology) Kura-Araxes culture