Tell Billa was the
Ancient Near East

Ancient Near East

The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia , ancient Egypt, ancient Iran The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia...

 city of Sibaniba, not far from Assur

Assur

Assur , was one of the capitals of ancient Assyria. The remains of the city are situated on the western bank of river Tigris, north of the confluence with the tributary Little Zab river, in modern day Iraq, more precisely in the Al-Shirqat District .Assur is also...

.

History

There is some evidence of occupation as far back as the Early Dynastic
period, including some Hurrian presence in the middle 2nd Millennium.
The majority of excavated material, however, is from the Middle Assyrian

Middle Assyrian

Middle Assyrian refers to the Middle Assyrian period of the Ancient Near East, ca. 16th to 10th centuries BC *the Middle Assyrian Empire, see Assyrian Empire*the Middle Assyrian language, see Akkadian language...

and Neo-Assyrian times, including glyphic and epigraphic material.

Archaeology

The site consists of a large mound and covers around 30 acres (121,405.8 m²).

After some minor soundings done by Austen Henry Layard

Austen Henry Layard

Sir Austen Henry Layard GCB, PC was a British traveller, archaeologist, cuneiformist, art historian, draughtsman, collector, author, politician and diplomat, best known as the excavator of Nimrud.-Family:...

 around 1850, Tell Billa was excavated between 1930 and 1934 by a team from the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

 and the American Schools of Oriental Research

American Schools of Oriental Research

The American Schools of Oriental Research, founded in 1900, supports and encourages the study of the peoples and cultures of the Near East, from the earliest times to the present. It is apolitical and has no religious affiliation...

. The
excavation was led by E.A. Speiser with Charles Bache.

External links

• Expedition video from the University of Pennsylvania Museum
• 3rd Millennium BC cylinder seal from Tell Billa - possibly lost
• Archaeological site photographs from the Oriental Institute
• Digital Tell Billa tablets at CDLI