Archaeology of the Bronze Age, Hellenistic, and Roman Remains at an Ancient Town on the Euphrates River

Book excerpt: The present publication is the second and concluding final report of T. A. Holland's expedition dealing with the archaeological finds from the site of Tell es-Sweyhat in Syria; the first report by T. J. Wilkinson deals with the settlement and land use around Sweyhat and in the upper Lake Tabqa area in north central Syria. This large two volume set (text and plates) represents the final publication of the archaeological excavations conducted at Tell es-Sweyhat in the Tabqa Dam region of the upper Euphrates River in Syria under the direction of T. A. Holland during the field seasons of 1973-1975 and 1989-1991. The text volume contains eight chapters that 1) provides information on the background of the excavations, 2) describes the soundings and excavations in the lower town and its defensive rampart, 3) details all of the work done on the main mound of the site, 4) analyses the pottery assemblages from the late Chalcolithic period, the Bronze Age, Hellenistic, and Roman periods, 5) records all of the small finds by periods, 6) discusses the potters' marks with their typology, 7) records all of the incised pottery into four main groups, and 8) gives a final summary of all of the excavation results. The text also has six appendices that provide 1) the loci and phases of all of the areas excavated, 2) a list of all pottery and small finds with their present distribution, 3) the distribution of shells and snails, with a contribution by Michael Roaf, 4) a correlation of the faunal remains that were previously published by Hilke Buitenhaus, 5) a list of all of the wall painting fragments that were recovered from Operation 5, and 6) an analyses of the metal objects by Martha Goodway.