Alalakh

About

Alalakh (Tell Atchana; Hittite: Alalaḫ) is an ancient archaeological site approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of Antakya (historic Antioch) in what is now Turkey's Hatay Province. It flourished as an urban settlement in the Middle and Late Bronze Age, c. 2000–1200 BC. The city contained palaces, temples, private houses and fortifications. The remains of Alalakh have formed an extensive mound covering around 22 hectares. In the Late Bronze Age, Alalakh was the capital of the local kingdom of Mukiš. The first palace was built around 2000 BC, and likely destroyed in the 12th century BC. The site was thought to have never been reoccupied after that, but archaeologist Timothy Harrison showed, in a (2022) lecture's graphic, it was inhabited also in Amuq Phases N-O, Iron Age, c. 1200–600 BC.

It is located in Amik Valley, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the modern Syria–Turkey border. Lake Amik was an ancient lake in this area. Human settlements in Amik Valley date back to the Neolithic period as early as 6000 BC. Many other ancient archaeological sites are located in this area, such as Tell Tayinat, which was recently excavated. Tell Atchana is located only about 700m southeast of Tell Tayinat within the flood plain of the Orontes River, where the river enters the Amuq Plain. Chatal Huyuk (Amuq) is another major site that is located in the area.

Alalakh was founded by the Amorites (in the territory of present-day Turkey) during the early Middle Bronze Age in the late 3rd millennium BC. The first palace was built c. 2000 BC, contemporary with the Third Dynasty of Ur. Chronology of Alalakh, related to other sites in the Amuq Lake region, is as follows:

According to recent excavations led by archaeologists K. A. Yener and Murat Akar, the whole Middle Bronze Age in Alalakh lasted c. 2000-1650 BC, as part of a re-urbanization period in Anatolia as well as in the Near East and Levant. Middle Bronze Age is divided in two periods: Middle Bronze Age I (c. 2000-1800 BC), and Middle Bronze Age II (c. 1800-1600 BC).

In the early Middle Bronze IIA (c. 1820-1750 BCE), in Yener's Period 8 (Woolley's level VIII), in which a palace and a temple, as well as intramural burials, were found. At the time Alalakh was a vassal of the Kingdom of Yamhad. The written history of the site may begin under the name Alakhtum, with tablets from Mari in the 18th century BC, when the city was part of the kingdom of Yamhad (modern Aleppo). A dossier of tablets records that King Sumu-Epuh (c. 1810-1780 BCE) sold the territory of Alakhtum to his son-in-law Zimri-Lim, king of Mari, retaining for himself overlordship. After the fall of Mari in 1765 BC, Alalakh seems to have come under the direct rule of Yamhad again.

In the late MB IIA (c. 1750-1630 BCE), in Period 7 (Level VII), was still a vassalage of Yamhad, and was handed over to the Yarim-Lim Dynasty. There was a later palace, an archive, some temples, a city wall, a tripartite gate, households, workshops, extramural and intramural burials were excavated. In the palace of Level VII, during 2015-2019 excavations, more than 70 wall painting fragments were found and radiocarbon-dated to c. 1780-1680 BC. King Abba-El I of Aleppo (c. 1750 BC) bestowed the city upon his brother Yarim-Lim of Alalakh, to replace the city of Irridu. Abba-El had destroyed the latter after it revolted against Yarim-Lim. In the 18th to 17th centuries period transition, Alalakh was under the reign of Yarim-Lim, and was the capital of the city-state of Mukiš and vassal to Yamhad, centered in modern Aleppo. Destruction. Under the hegemony of Aleppo, a dynasty of Yarim-Lim's descendants was founded; it lasted to the second half of 17th century BC. At that time Alalakh was destroyed, possibly by Hittite king Hattusili I, in the second year of his campaigns. As per middle chronology and publications by archaeologist K. A. Yener, destruction of Alalakh can be located as a "Fire and Conflagration" around 1650 BC. A recent Yener's paper considers Palace's Level VII destruction by Hattusili I to have taken place in his second year, in 1628 BC.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.