Ancient Nabada (Tell Beydar)

Excavations undertaken at Tell Beydar -- 35 kilometers north of the provincial capital Hassake in the Syrian Jazirah -- have revealed susbstantial official architecture from the Early Dynastic III Period dating from the 25th and 24th centuries BC. 165 cuneiform tablets dated around 2400 BC were found from 1993 in several areas. They bring new informations about Upper Mesopotamian Bronze Age Civilization ...

North Syrian cities like Nabada conducted a very lively international trade with the city-states of South Mesopotamia. The ancient name was only recently identified: tablets discovered in Beydar talk of "Nabada" the sparkling radiant (shining) city. This name recurs on a tablet written by one of the more careful scribes at Ebla where it is mentioned that a man from "Nabada in the land of Nagar" received a quantity of valuable silver ...

In Beydar there are three main phases of occupation: the first comprises the founding of the city until the decline of Nabada (2800-2350 BC). The second phase witnesses the founding of a new city by the Hurrian Kingdom of Mitanni circa 1400 BC. The third phase comprises the occupation of the Assyrians in the 8th and 7th centuries BC ...

The History of the Ancient Near East Electronic Compendium