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The Amuq Survey and Related Projects
The Amuq is a broad, fertile valley situated near the northeastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea. Through it flows the lower Orontes River, whose floodwaters have deposited a thick layer of alluvium. The Amuq is part of the Hatay province of the Republic of Turkey. It is bordered on the south and east by the Syrian Arab Republic.
The Amuq is perhaps best known historically as the hinterland to the east of the classical metropolis of Antioch on the Orontes (modern Antakya), which was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire. But the valley has been densely occupied since at least 6000 B.C. The large concentration of ancient sites from all periods since the Neolithic makes it an attractive region for archaeological investigation. In the 1930s archaeological surveys and excavations were carried out by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago and by the British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley. The Oriental Institute returned to the Amuq in 1995, initiating new archaeological projects. At present, these projects consist of the Amuq Survey, an exploration of ancient landscape features and settlement patterns throughout the entire valley, and large-scale excavations at the site of Alalakh (modern Tell Atchana).
From 1932 to 1938, Robert Braidwood conducted an archaeological survey of the Amuq on behalf of the Oriental Institute, pioneering many survey techniques still in use today. Braidwood and his team discovered 178 ancient settlements. Eight of these sites, spanning many different periods, were excavated, including Chatal Hoyuk, Tell Dhahab, Tell 'Imar al-Sharqi, Tell Judaidah, Tell Kurdu, and Tell Ta'yinat. The pottery and other artifacts excavated at these sites provide one of the longest and most reliable chronological sequences of stratified cultural material in the entire Near East. Archaeologists still use the Oriental Institute's Amuq sequence as a means of dating sites elsewhere in the Levant.
Unfortunately, the Second World War forced the Oriental Institute to abandon work in the Amuq after 1938. But the Amuq Survey was resumed in 1995 under the leadership of Prof. Tony Wilkinson, who worked in collaboration with the project director, Prof. Aslihan Yener. In addition to locating settlement sites and determining their periods of occupation (a task that is now facilitated by the use of declassified "spy satellite" photographs), the Amuq Survey project includes geomorphological and geoarchaeological investigations to reconstruct the ancient physical environment and the human impact upon it.
In 2005 the leadership of the Amuq Survey passed from Prof. Tony Wilkinson to Dr. Fokke Gerritsen of the Free University of Amsterdam, who serves as the field director of the project. Prof. David Schloen was appointed as the general director of the Amuq Survey in July 2005. He is responsible for the general oversight of the project on behalf of the Oriental Institute.
ORIENTAL INSTITUTE ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE AMUQ SURVEY AND RELATED PROJECTS
- 2001-2002 Annual Report
- 1999-2000 Annual Report
- 1998-1999 Annual Report
- News & Notes 1999
- 1997-1998 Annual Report
- News & Notes 1997
- 1996-1997 Annual Report
- News & Notes 1996
- 1995-1996 Annual Report
Revised: February 7, 2007
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