Tell Ahmar – also known as Masuwari, Til Barsib and Kar-Shalmaneser in the first millennium BCE – was first inhabited in the sixth millennium, during the Ubaid period, and progressively developed to become a regional centre and, in the eighth and seventh centuries, a provincial capital of the Assyrian empire. Remains from the third millennium (a temple and a funerary complex), the second millennium (an administrative complex and well-preserved houses) and the first millennium (an Assyrian palace and elite residences) are particularly impressive.
The book offers an archaeological and historical synthesis of the results obtained by the excavations of François Thureau-Dangin (1929–1931) and by the more recent excavations of the universities of Melbourne (1988–1999) and Liège (2000–2010). It presents a comprehensive and diachronic view of the evolution of the site, which, by its position on the Euphrates at an important crossroads of ancient communication routes, was at the heart of a game of cultural and political interference between Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean world and Asia Minor.

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Prologue: The site and its exploration
  • 1. Tell Ahmar in its natural environment
    • a. Morphology of the site
    • b. The site and the river
    • c. Tell Ahmar at a crossroads
    • d. Natural resources
  • 2. Discovery and exploration of Tell Ahmar
    • a. First explorations
    • b. The French excavations
    • c. The Australian and Belgian excavations
• Part One: Tell Ahmar from its origins to the end of the second millennium: East meets West on the Euphrates
  • 1. Tell Ahmar and the origins of urban life
    • 1. First contacts with Mesopotamia (c. 5500–3500)
    • Late Chalcolithic pottery (Deborah Giannessi)
    • 2. The first urban period (c. 3500–3000)
    • 3. A time of transition (c. 3000–2500)
    • 4. The second urban period (c. 2500–2000)
      • a. The Hypogeum Complex
      • b. Building M10
      • c. Function of the Hypogeum Complex
      • d. A third millennium street or a tombs’ alley?
      • Early Bronze Age terracotta figurines (Arlette Roobaert)
      • e. A temple on a high podium
      • f. A monumental terrace?
      • Early Bronze Age pottery (Cristina Baccarin)
  • 2. Tell Ahmar in the second millennium
    • 1. Independent Syria (c. 2000–1600)
      • a. The beginnings of the second millennium (c. 2000–1800)
      • b. The apogee of independent Syrian states (c. 1800–1600)
      • The Middle Bronze Age seal impressions (Adelheid Otto)
      • c. The end of the Middle Bronze Age
      • Middle Bronze Age pottery (Silvia Perini)
    • 2. Syria under foreign domination (c. 1600–1200)
      • a. House S2
      • b. House A14
    • 3. Possible second millennium fortifications
• Part Two: Tell Ahmar between Luwians, Aramaeans and Assyrians: Birth of a regional capital
  • 3. Tell Ahmar/Masuwari/Til Barsib and the Aramaean tribe of Adini (c. 1200–856)
    • 1. Assyrians and Aramaeans
    • 2. Luwians and Aramaeans
      • a. Luwian inscriptions: Masuwari
      • b. Assyrian inscriptions: Til Barsib and Bit Adini
      • c. Towards a reconstruction of Tell Ahmar’s history c. 1100–856
    • 3. Where was the palace of the rulers of Masuwari?
    • 4. The residential quarter and the temple of the Storm-God
    • 5. The power of images
      • a. Religion and politics: The large Storm-God stelae
      • b. The power and the glory of the rulers of Masuwari: The orthostats
      • c. Masuwari’s aristocracy: The figurative stelae
      • Masuwari/Til Barsib and neighbouring settlements (Guy Bunnens)
  • 4. From Til Barsib to Kar-Shalmaneser: The beginnings of Assyrian domination (c. 856–750)
    • 1. Shalmaneser III
    • 2. The turtānu Shamshi-ilu
    • 3. The Lion Gate and the city-wall of Til Barsib/Kar-Shalmaneser
    • 4. The Assyrianization of Masuwari/Til Barsib
• Part Three: Tell Ahmar in the Assyrian empire: Birth of an imperial koine
  • 5. Ashur imposes its mark: The Palace and the high dignitaries
    • 1. The Assyrian administration
    • 2. The Acropolis
      • a. Consolidation of the Acropolis
      • b. The Palace
      • c. Function of the Palace
      • d. Dates of construction and abandonment of the Palace
      • Tentative reconstruction of the Assyrian Palace (Guy Bunnens)
    • 3. The empire and the city
      • a. The stelae of Esarhaddon
      • b. Assyrian dignitaries
      • c. Fragments of the decoration of official buildings
  • 6. Urbanism and residential buildings
    • 1. Urbanism
    • 2. “Hanni’s house”
      • a. Building C1b
      • b. Building C1a
      • c. Building C2
    • 3. A burial vault
    • 4. Another residence
    • Geophysical survey of the Middle Town (John M. Russell)
    • 5. Building E2: A bit hilani?
    • 6. Building E1: An Assyrian shrine?
  • 7. Images in everyday life
    • 1. Seals
      • a. The seals and their use
      • b. The iconography of the seals
      • Egyptian and Egyptianizing seals (Vanessa Boschloos)
    • 2. Carved ivories
    • 3. Terracotta figurines and plaques
  • 8. People and crafts
    • 1. Hanni’s archive
    • 2. Languages in use in Til Barsib/Kar-Shalmaneser
    • 3. A cosmopolitan world
    • 4. Crafts
      • a. Metallurgy
      • The metallurgic workshop of Area CJ4 (Elizabeth Hendrix)
      • b. Textile activities
    • 5. Objects of everyday use
      • a. Lamps
      • b. Stands
      • c. Fibulae
      • d. Cosmetic palettes
      • e. Weights
    • 6. Food processing
      • a. Grinding tools
      • b. Ovens
      • c. Containers for food preservation and consumption
      • Neo-Assyrian pottery between East and West (Andrew S. Jamieson)
• Epilogue: The end of Tell Ahmar
  • 1. The end of the Assyrian city
  • 2. The Achaemenid period
  • 3. The Greco-Roman period
  • 4. Eclipse, flood, rebirth and chaos
  • After the excavations: The conservation of archaeological finds (Andrew S. Jamieson)
• Field work at Tell Ahmar: Selected Bibliography