Tell al-Judaidah

The presence of non-local material culture such as Aegean pottery, numerous Egyptian scarabs and Anatolian and Mesopotamian seals is but one indication of an extensive network that connected Tell al-Judaidah to the larger world. To date, only the pre-2000 BC remains at Judaidah have been published (Braidwood 1960). The post-2000 BC stratigraphy, non-architectural artifacts, and the contextual associations remain unpublished except for several object studies. A comprehensive publication of Judaidah's post-2000 BC remains will contribute to the Oriental Institute's long-term research strategy that is aimed at investigating the growth of urban centers and rural settlements in this landscape during the last ten thousand years and at defining the nature of political control and the character of regional economic integration. Tell al-Judaidah provides an important chronological bridge between the collapse of the Late Bronze Age center Alalakh and the emergence of the Iron Age center at Tell Tayinat. The recently renewed excavations at Alalakh and Tell Tayinat make the resolution and publication of Tell al-Judaidah's post-2000 BC stratigraphic sequence a major desideratum.