Urkesh

Urkesh is an ancient Hurrian city located at the archaeological tell known today as Tell Mozan in northeastern Syria. The site was occupied from the late fourth millennium BCE and was a major urban center in the third millennium BCE.

Excavated remains include large mudbrick architecture such as a raised royal terrace, a palace sector and temple-related structures dating to the Early Bronze Age. Surface finds and exposed foundations give a strong sense of the city’s layout and monumental core.

Urkesh served as a Hurrian political and cult center during the third millennium BCE and appears in texts and material culture related to regional Bronze Age polities. Modern archaeological investigation, begun in 1984 and continuing in campaigns since then, established the identification of the tell as Urkesh and has documented long sequences of occupation.

The tell sits in the Upper Khabur river basin in Al-Hasakah Governorate in northeastern Syria, within the broader Khabur plains that link Mesopotamia with the Anatolian and Levantine zones.

• Excavation project: An international excavation campaign has been active at the site since 1984 under the direction of Giorgio Buccellati and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati.
• Identification: Archaeological and epigraphic evidence from the site has allowed researchers to identify Tell Mozan with the ancient Hurrian city-state of Urkesh.

What to See #

• Tell Mozan (the tell): The main archaeological mound at the modern site of Tell Mozan contains the visible remains of the ancient city, with exposed mudbrick walls and stratified occupation layers dating principally to the third millennium BCE.
• Royal terrace and temple complex: A raised royal or monumental sector contains foundations interpreted as a palace and associated ceremonial buildings from the Early Bronze Age, showing large-scale mudbrick construction and planning.