Tell Sukas
![]() ![]() Shown within Syria | |
Alternative name | Shuksi, Suksi |
---|---|
Location | near Jableh, Syria |
Region | Canaan |
Coordinates | 35°18′23″N 35°55′20″E / 35.306318°N 35.922203°E |
Type | Tell |
Part of | Town |
Area | 1.9 hectares (200,000 sq ft) |
History | |
Material | Clay, Limestone |
Abandoned | c. 69 BC |
Periods | Late Bronze Age, Iron Age |
Site notes | |
Excavation dates | 1958–1963 |
Archaeologists | |
Condition | Ruins |
Management | Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums |
Public access | Yes |
Tell Sukas (ancient Shuksi or Suksi) is a Late Bronze Age archaeological mound on the Eastern Mediterranean coast about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) south of Jableh, Syria.
Overview[]
Tell Sukas was located at the center of the fertile plain of Jableh on a hill with access to two natural harbors.[1] There is evidence of an earlier Neolithic settlement at the site dating back to the seventh or sixth millennium BC.[2] The site was identified as ancient Suksi, which was mentioned in the Ugarit tablets and was probably the southernmost port of the Kingdom of Ugarit.[3] The Bronze Age settlement was probably destroyed along with the capital, Ugarit, during the Bronze Age collapse.[4] The site was reused shortly thereafter and commercial activity at the Iron Age settlement can be traced again to at least the tenth century BC,[1] when it became the port of Luhuti,[5] A Phoenician settlement was established in the eighth century BC[6] and the town thrived as a Greek trading outpost between c. 850 BC and c. 550 BC, when it was destroyed by the Babylonians.[3][7] Recent excavations reveal that the site was inhabited again by the Phoenicians between 380 and 69 BC until it was destroyed again, possibly by an earthquake. It was later re-occupied for a short period by the Crusaders.[2]
Excavation[]
The site was excavated in 1958–1963 by the Danish Carlsberg Expedition to Phoenicia under . Excavations uncovered an early Iron Age cemetery south of the tell which was dated to between the 13th and 10th century BC. Excavations also uncovered a large seventh-century Phoenician temple. The abundance of Greek pottery and the discovery of Greek burial grounds suggest that the city became a permanent Hellenic outpost by 600 BC.[1]
References[]
Citations[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Aubet, 2001, p. 63
- ^ Jump up to: a b Fischer-Hansen, 1991, p. 44
- ^ Jump up to: a b Bromiley, 1995, p. 272
- ^ Drews, 1995, p. 14
- ^ Claudia E. Suter, Christoph Uehlinger (2005). Crafts and Images in Contact: Studies on Eastern Mediterranean Art of the First Millennium BCE. p. 133. ISBN 9783525530047.
- ^ Horden; Purcell, 2000, p. 404
- ^ Tuplin, 1996, p. 36
Bibliography[]
- Aubet, Maria Eugenia (2001). The Phoenicians and the West: Politics, Colonies and Trade. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521795432.
- Fischer-Hansen, Tobias (1991). Recent Danish Research in Classical Archaeology: Tradition and Renewal. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 9788772891217.
- Bromiley, Geoffrey W. (1995). The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Volume 4. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 9780802837844.
- Drews, Robert (1995). The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691025919.
- Horden, Peregrine; Purcell, Nicholas (2000). The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History. Wiley. ISBN 9780631218906.
- Tuplin, Christopher (1996). Achaemenid Studies. Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 9783515069014.
- Phoenician cities
- Former populated places in Syria
- Phoenician temples
- Bronze Age sites in Syria
- Neolithic sites in Syria
- Iron Age sites in Syria
- Archaeological sites in Latakia Governorate