Tell Abu Hureyra

Tell Abu Hureyra is an archaeological tell in Raqqa Governorate in northern Syria, notable for its long sequence spanning the Epipaleolithic into the Neolithic and for evidence related to the origins of cultivation.

The site is known for extensive botanical and faunal assemblages, house structures, and stone and bone tools that document a transition from mobile foraging to sedentary village life and early cultivation. Much of the scientific interest focuses on the sequence preserved in the tell rather than on visible surface monuments.

Rescue excavations were carried out in the 1970s prior to the construction of the Tabqa Dam. Archaeologists recorded deep occupational layers and material demonstrating changes in subsistence and settlement over several millennia.

The tell originally sat on the Euphrates floodplain; the location was flooded when the Tabqa Dam created Lake Assad, and the archaeological deposits are now under the reservoir.

• 1970s salvage excavations: Large-scale salvage excavations took place in the 1970s before the area was inundated by the Tabqa Dam reservoir.
• Key evidence for early agriculture: The tell produced well-preserved plant and animal remains that are central to studies of the transition from foraging to cultivation.

What to See #

• Abu Hureyra I and II: The site has two principal occupational phases conventionally called Abu Hureyra I (Epipaleolithic) and Abu Hureyra II (Neolithic), representing a sequence of hunter-gatherer settlement followed by early farming communities.