Harbetsuvan
Harbetsuvan · Harbetsuwan · Tell Harbetsuvan
Neolithic–Iron Age (c.5500–600 BCE)·Amuq → Syro-Cilician → Neo-Hittite·🇹🇷 Hatay Province, Amik–Kırıkhan plain, Turkey
About
About Harbetsuvan
Small Amik fringe tell, 1 ha, 10 m high, on Kırıkhan plain north of Antioch. Neolithic–EB–Iron Age sequence (c.5500–600 BCE) with Amuq E–F (Chalcolithic), EB II–III fortified enclosure (basalt footings, pisé superstructure) and Neo-Hittite sherd scatter. Test trenches 1930s Braidwood and 2000s Hatay survey show burnished red-black ware, Syrian bottles, and basalt bowls linking Amuq to Syro-Cilician plain. Unassuming but bridges Amik lowland (Alalakh) to Amani upland (Zincirli).
Why it mattersAmik–Cilician bridge; EB fortification typology.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Connection to Alalakh VII palatial network?
Theories
- 01Plain-edge satellite to Tell Atchana
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.5500 BCE
- Period
- Neolithic–Iron Age (c.5500–600 BCE)
- Culture
- Amuq → Syro-Cilician → Neo-Hittite
- Builders
- Amuq farmers
- Purpose
- Plain-edge hamlet and EB fortified lookout between Alalakh and Samʾal
- Abandoned
- c.600 BCE
- Rediscovered
- 1936 Braidwood survey
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.5500 BCE
Amuq C Neolithic village
c.2600 BCE
EBII enclosure with basalt socle
c.900 BCE
Neo-Hittite squatter occupation
On the ground
Structures & features
36.5000° N · 36.3600° E · 110 m · 3 mapped features
Harbetsuvan — EB enclosure wall
fortificationBasalt-footed fortification, north arc
36.5005° N · 36.3605° EHarbetsuvan — Central Neolithic sounding
trenchAmuq C–E deposits with dark-faced burnished ware
36.5000° N · 36.3600° EHarbetsuvan — Iron Age surface scatter
scatterNeo-Hittite sherds and basalt vessel fragments, south slope
36.4995° N · 36.3600° E