{{Infobox ancient site |name = Tell Tweini |native_name = |alternate_name = Gibala |image = {{None}} |alt = |caption = |map_type = Syria |map_alt = |map_size = |relief=yes |coordinates = {{coord|35|22|18|N|35|56|11|E|display=inline,title}} |location = Latakia Governorate, Syria |region = Levant |type = Settlement |part_of = |length = |width = |area = |height = |builder = |material = |built = |abandoned = |epochs = Bronze Age, Iron Age, Hellenistic period |cultures = |dependency_of = |occupants = |event = |excavations = 1999-2010 |archaeologists = Michel al-Maqdissi, Joachim Bretschneider, Karel Van Lerberghe |condition = In ruins |ownership = |management = |public_access = |website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> |notes = }}{{Short description|Archaeological tell in northwest Syria}} '''Tell Tweini''', (also '''Tell Toueini''' (alternately Tell at-Toueni), both transliterations of the Arabic تل تويني) possibly the ancient town of '''Gibala''', is a 12 hectare archaeological site, located 1 kilometer east of the modern Jableh and 30 kilometers south of modern Lattakia, in Latakia Governorate, Syria. It is situated within the coastal plain of Jableh, a short distance of two other main archaeological sites: Tell Sukas (5 km) and Tell Siyannu (6 km). As a tell, the site is the result of centuries of habitation on the same place, which resulted in a rising mound, as every new generation built their houses on top of the remains of older structures.<ref>Bretschneider J, et al, The Late Bronze Age and Iron Age in the Jebleh region: a view from Tell Tweini. In: Kühne H, Czichon RM, Kreppner FJ, editors. Proceedings of the 4th International Congress of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, pp. 33–46, 2008</ref><ref>Bretschneider, Joachim, Anne-Sophie Van Vyve, and Greta Jans., "Tell Tweini: a Multi-period Harbour Town at the Syrian Coast." In Egypt and the Near East - the Crossroads, ed. J Mynarova, pp. 73–87, 2011</ref> The tell is sited about 1.7 kilometers from the coast and it was earlier proposed that in the Bronze Age a sea incursion provided a harbor access to the sea. Later geomorphological research has refuted this.<ref>Al-Maqdissi, Michel, et al., "Environmental changes in the Jebleh plain (Syria), Geophysical, Geomorphological, Palynological, Archaeological and Historical Research", Res Antiquae 4, pp. 3-10, 2007</ref>
==Gibala== The city of Gibala, proposed as the identification of Tell Tweini, is known only from Late Bronze Age texts of Ugarit. It, along with Suksi, thought to be at Tell Sukas, were the two southernmost seaports in the Late Bronze kingdom of Ugarit (though Suksi may have been under the control of Sianu-Ushnatu at some point).<ref>Astour, M.C., "The kingdom of Siyannu-Ushantu" Ugarit Forschungen 11, pp. 11–28, 1979</ref> They were just above the border with the Sianu-Ushnatu double kingdom to the south. Sianu has been proposed as being at the site of Tell Sianu however no Late Bronze remains were found during excavation so nearby Tell Iris is now being considered instead. Like Ugarit all these sites faced destruction c. 1200 BC. Given no epigraphy has been found at Tell Tweini the proposed identification as Gibala is based solely on its size, occupation levels, and general location.<ref name="Bretschneider2008" /><ref>[https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/2856/1/Pfaelzner_Levantine%20Kingdoms%202012.pdf]Pfälzner, Peter, "Levantine Kingdoms of the late Bronze age", in A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (Hrsg. D.T. Potts), pp. 770-796, 2012</ref> Gibala is also mentioned in Akkadian language texts, as "Gi<sub>5</sub>-bá-la", PRU 4, 71–76 and PRU 5, 74 which is a treaty between Ugarit ruler Niqmepa and Sianu ruler Abdi’anat after the transfer of Ugaritvassalage from Egypt to the Hittite Empire (via its viceroy at Karkemish).<ref name="Kaniewski2010" >[https://leilan.yale.edu/sites/default/files/publications/article-specific/kaniewski_et_al_acc_east_med_2010_qr.pdf]Kaniewski D., E. Paulissen, E. Van Campo, H. Weiss, T. Otto, J. Bretschneider and K. Van Lerberghe, "Late Second-Early First Millennium BC Abrupt Climate Changes in Coastal Syria and their Possible Significance for the History of the Eastern Mediterranean", Quaternary Research 74, pp. 207-215, 2010</ref> It has been suggested that Gibala was also mentioned in a later text of Neo-Assyrian ruler Tiglat-pileser III (744-727 BC).<ref>Wittke A. M.," Hafenorte und ihre Bedeutung für die „Außenwirkung” des späthethitischen Raumes (ca. 1200-700 v. Chr.)", in: M. Novák, F. Prayon & A.-M. Wittke (eds.), Die Außenwirkungen des späthethitischen Kulturraumes. Akten der zweiten Forschungstagung des Graduiertenkollegs „Anatolien und seine Nachbarn” der Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen (20. bis 22. November 2003), Alter Orient und Altes Testament Bd. 323, pp. 37-61, 2004</ref>
==History== thumb|Collective tomb from the Middle Bronze Age before opening [[File:Harbour town Gibala-Tell Tweini and the Sea People destruction layer.jpg|thumb|Harbour town Gibala-Tell Tweini and the Sea People destruction layer.<ref name="JB"/>]] thumb|Gibala-Tell Tweini. Storage jars found in the Early Iron Age destruction layer. The carbon-14 dating results provide a chronological framework for the Early Iron Age in the Northern Levant.<ref name="JB">{{cite journal |last1=Bretschneider |first1=Joachim |last2=Otto |first2=Thierry |title=The Sea Peoples, from Cuneiform Tablets to Carbon Dating |journal=PLOS ONE |date=8 June 2011 |volume=6 |issue=6 |article-number=e20232 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0020232 |language=en |issn=1932-6203|pmc=3110627 |pmid=21687714 |bibcode=2011PLoSO...620232K |doi-access=free }}</ref> Tell Tweini was inhabited from at least the end of the third millennium BCE until the Persian period.
===Middle Bronze Age=== An extraordinary find at Tell Tweini was the communal tomb dating to ca 1700 BCE.
<blockquote> The grave contained the skeletons of 42 adults and 16 infants. Serving as grave-goods were 160 well-preserved ceramic vessels, plates and dishes, several bronze pins and a figurine. .. Among others, the grave goods included a fenestrated axe, quite typical for this period. Similar axes have also been discovered at Sukas, Ugarit and Byblos.<ref>[http://www.telltweini.com/data/sections/telltweini/docs/files/Tell_Tweini_-_english.pdf The Syro-Belgian Excavations of Tell Tweini (PDF)] telltweini.com</ref> </blockquote>
===Late Bronze Age=== At the end of the Late Bronze Age Gibala formed the southern border of the Ugaritic kingdom. The transition between the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age remains one of the most poorly understood aspects of the most northern Levantine site, but preliminary results from the end of the 2007 campaign show that the city was inhabited during the 11th-10th century BCE. During the Iron Age, the city was completely urbanised. Geophysical prospecting conducted on the complete surface of the tell demonstrated this and made it possible to detect the ancient street system of the Iron Age city. By the Persian era the city had lost its importance and the habitation was relocated near to the modern harbour of Jebleh at the Mediterranean sea coast. Later, during the Byzantine domination of the region, some isolated structures were installed on the surface of the tell.
==Archaeology== thumb|City wall of Tell Tweini The site consists of a tell, 350 meters by 290 meters (about 11.7 hectares in area), with a height 15-20 meters above the surrounding plain.
Beginning in 1999, Tell Tweini was investigated by a Syro-Belgian interdisciplinary team led by Michel al-Maqdissi, Joachim Bretschneider and Karel Van Lerberghe.<ref>Al-Maqdissi M., K. Van Lerberghe, M. Badawi & J. Bretschneider, "Tell Toueini", in Le Royaume d'Ougarit. Aux origines de l ́alphabet, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon du 21 octobre 2004 au 17 janvier 2005, Paris-Lyon, pp. 60-61, 2004</ref><ref>Al-Maqdissi M., J. Bretschneider, P. Degryse, H. Hameeuw, D. Kaniewski, E. Paulissen, S. Van Simaeys & K. Van Lerberghe, "Environmental Changes in the Jebleh Plain", in Res Antiquae 4, pp. 3-10, 2007</ref><ref>Bretschneider J., T. Cunningham & K. Van Lerberghe, "Gibala. The First Two Excavations 1999-2000", in Ugarit Forschungen 31, pp. 75-131, 1999</ref><ref>[https://www.ancientportsantiques.com/wp-content/uploads/Documents/PLACES/Levant/Gabala-Bretschneider2004.pdf]Bretschneider J., M. Al-Maqdissi, K. Vansteenhuyse, J. Driessen & K. Van Lerberghe, "Tell Tweini, Ancient Gibala in the Bronze Age", in Egypt and the Levant XIV, pp. 215-30, 2005</ref><ref name="Bretschneider2008" >[https://lirias.kuleuven.be/retrieve/85055#page=19] Joachim Bretschneider and Karel Van Lerberghe, "In search of Gibala. An Archaeological and Historical Study based on Eight Seasons of Excavations at Tell Tweini (Syria) in the A and C fields (1999-2007)", Aula Orientalis Supplementa, vol. 24, 2008, {{ISBN|978-84-88810-79-3}}</ref><ref>Al-Maqdissi, Michel, et al., "Tell Tweini: onze campagnes de fouilles Syro-Belges (1999-2010)", Documents d' Archeologie Syrienne 10, 2010</ref> The Syrian team worked in Field B while the Belgian team worked in Fields A and C.<ref>Bretschneider, Joachim, and Karel Van Lerberghe, "Rapport préliminaire sur les activités de la mission Syro-Belge de Tell Tweini entre 2007 et 2008 sur le chantier A", Chronique archéologique en Syrie: special issue documenting the annual excavation reports concerning the archaeological activities in Syria, excavation reports of 2008. Vol. 4. Ministère de la culture. Direction générale des antiquités et des musées de la République arabe syrienne; Damas, pp. 133-145, 2010</ref> Major discoveries include a Phoenician sanctuary, a large city wall, several domestic and public structures from the Iron Age I-II and multiple small finds. A number of Middle Bronze age burials, almost all undisturbed, were excavated including jar, beehive, chambered, and simple inhumations, many in an intramural context. A large communal tomb from the end of the Middle Bronze Age containing 58 human remains was found. Grave goods included "bronze ornaments, jewellery, a fenestrated bronze axe (duckbill variety), figurines, numerous red and black slipped juglets, Syro-Cilician ware vases and Cypriote White Painted jugs".<ref name="Hameeuw2009" >[https://lirias.kuleuven.be/retrieve/1e69b170-c357-4cf3-a148-766b9b829de4]Hameeuw, Hendrik, et al., "Living with the Dead. Tell Tweini: Middle Bronze Age Tombs in an Urban Context", Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East-Madrid 2006, Ediciones Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; Madrid, pp. 143-151, 2009</ref>
Excavations ended in 2010, interrupted by of local condition but work on the findings continue.<ref>Bretschneider, Joachim, et al, "The Early Iron Age at Tell Tweini: Results from the 2008, 2009 and 2010", in Tell Tuqan Excavations and Regional Perspectives : Cultural Developments in Inner Syria from the Early Bronze Age to the Persian/ Hellenistic Period, Proceedings, ed. Francesca Baffi, Roberto Fiorentino, and Luca Peyrone, CONGEDO EDITORE, pp. 325–342, 2014</ref> Finds from the site included cylinder seals, stamp seals, and clay sealings.<ref>Bretschneider, Joachim, and Greta Jans, "The glyptic of Tell Tweini field A", About Tell Tweini (Syria): artefacts, ecofacts and landscape: research results of the Belgian Mission, Vol. 281, Peeters, pp. 149-179, 2019 {{ISBN|9789042936782}}</ref><ref>Suliman, Rita, "Two Stamp Seals from Iron Age Tell Tweini", Semitica 66, pp. 41-45, 2024</ref> A high quality 13th century BC Middle Assyrian quartzite cylinder seal (3.5 cm in height , 1.5 cm in diameter) was found as a floor deposit on a Level 6 A/B level (Iron Age II) layer, suggesting that is was a heirloom. The iconography was a fairly typical hero fighting a winged horse and it has been suggested that it dates to the reign of Tukulti-Ninurta.<ref>Bretschneider, Joachim, and Greta Jans, "A winged horse at Tell Tweini: an exceptional Middle Assyrian cylinder seal", Akkadica 140.2, pp. 149-160, 2019</ref> Pottery recovered included Kamares ware, produced in Crete between c. 2100 BC and c. 1450 BC. Eleven burials were excavated, nine from the Bronze age (single, double and collective burials in jar, structural tombs and earth tombs) and two from the Iron age.<ref>[https://lirias.kuleuven.be/retrieve/222001]Marinova, Elena, et al., "Middle Bronze Age Ritual, Subsistence and Environment at Tell Tweini-Infered from Bioarchaeological Evidence", pp. 345-364, 2012</ref><ref>[https://lirias.kuleuven.be/retrieve/85055#page=95]Ricaut, François-Xavier, "Human remains from a Middle Bronze Age population from Tell Tweini, Syria: preliminary results of the anthropological study", Aula Orientalis: Revista de Estudios del Proximo Oriente 24, pp. 83-96, 2008</ref>
Tell Tweini is the only site in the region that has been excavated at all levels from the Early Bronze period until modern times. Excavators have specified an occupational stratigraphy (the site was destroyed by conflagration at the end of Level 7A and again, after partial reoccupation, before Level 6 c. 1000 BC with radiocarbon dates of 3000–2870 BC and 1000–845 BC determined) is close to the AMS 14C age obtained at the bottom of the TW-2 core (), which dates a high accumulation of charred plant remains. The conflagration of the site) :<ref>[https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/saoc62.pdf]Al-Maqdissi M., Badawy M., Bretschneider J., Hameeuw H., Jans G., Vansteenhuyse K., Voet G. and Van Lerberghe K., "The Occupation Levels of Tell Tweini and their Historical Implications", in Biggs R., Myers J. and Roth M. (eds.), Proceedings of the 51st Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 62, Chicago: The Oriental Institute, pp. 341-350, 2008 {{ISBN|978-1-885923-54-7}}</ref><ref name="Kaniewski2010" /> *Level 9 A/B - Early Bronze Age IV *Level 8 D/E - Middle Bronze Age I *Level 8 C/D - Middle Bronze Age II *Level 8 A - Middle Bronze Age II to Late Bronze Age I transition *Level 7 D/E - Late Bronze Age I *Level 7 B/C - Late Bronze Age II *Level 7 A - Late Bronze Age II - Iron Age I transition *Level 6 D/C - - Iron Age I *Level 6 A/B - Iron Age II *Level 5 A/B - Iron Age II *Level 4 A/B - Iron Age III *Level 3 - Hellenistic/Roman *Level 2 - Byzantine/Islamic *Level 1 - Modern
Note that different excavation documents give slightly varying stratigraphy, mainly in the Iron Age.<ref name="Bretschneider2012" >Bretschneider, Joachim, et al, "The'ochre'room: shedding some light on a'dark'period of transition: Tell Tweini in the early Iron Age", The ancient near east, a life! Festschrift Karel Van Lerberghe. Vol. 220. Peeters, pp. 59-74, 2012</ref>
A number of copper alloy artifacts from various periods were found. Lead isotope analysis determined that in those dating from before the c. 1200 BC destruction layer the copper were sourced from the area of Cyprus and in those afterward from locations in Turkey and Jordan.<ref>[https://lirias.kuleuven.be/retrieve/827f0345-a4b1-4aa2-8709-3a301d51cc5f]Degryse, Patrick, et al., "Lead Isotopic Analysis of Copper Alloy Artifacts from Tell Tweini. Changing Ore Sources from the Early Bronze Age to the Iron Age?", The Ancient Near East, a Life!, OLA 220, pp. 131-14, 2012.</ref>
==Diet== A study on the diet of the Bronze inhabitants of Tell Tweini reveals that their diet was similar to the modern Mediterranean diet, primarily consisting of grains, grapes, olives, and small amounts of meat and dairy. Archaeologists from the University of Leuven and the University of Tübingen used isotopic analysis on various remains to understand the food chain and agricultural practices of that time. The findings indicate that during the Middle Bronze Age (2000 to 1600 BC), the local diet was mainly composed of plant-based foods. However, the presence of sheep, goats, and cattle remains suggests that meat and dairy were also part of their diet, albeit occasionally.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fuller |first1=Benjamin T. |last2=Riehl |first2=Simone |last3=Linseele |first3=Veerle |last4=Marinova |first4=Elena |last5=Cupere |first5=Bea De |last6=Bretschneider |first6=Joachim |last7=Richards |first7=Michael P. |last8=Neer |first8=Wim Van |date=2024-06-12 |title=Agropastoral and dietary practices of the northern Levant facing Late Holocene climate and environmental change: Isotopic analysis of plants, animals and humans from Bronze to Iron Age Tell Tweini |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=19 |issue=6 |article-number=e0301775 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0301775 |doi-access=free |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=11168695 |pmid=38865323}}</ref> While fish made up only a few percent of the diet at the site a large percentage were Nile perch (Lates niloticus), imported from Egypt. Nile perch made up 40% of the identified fish bones recovered by the excavators in the Middle Bronze Age, 60% in the Late Bronze Age and 80% in the Iron Age layers.<ref>Linseele, Veerle, Wim Van Neer, and Joachim Bretschneider, "The mysteries of Egyptian Nile perch (Lates niloticus): the case of Tell Tweini (Syria, Middle Bronze Age-Iron Age)", Archaeology of the Near East X: Tenth International Symposium on the Archaeozoology of South-Western Asia and Adjacent Areas. Vol. 44. Peeters, pp. 209-226, 2013</ref>
==See also== *Short chronology timeline - one of the chronologies of the Near Eastern Bronze and Early Iron Age *Cities of the ancient Near East
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *Bretschneider, Joachim, and Greta Jans, "Nicht schön aber selten: Gedanken zur Koroplastik von Tell Tweini im frühen 1. Jahrtausends v. Chr", Travels through the Orient and the Mediterranean world: essays presented to Eric Gubel, Vol. 302, Peeters, pp. 121-127, 2021 *Bretschneider, Joachim, and Karel Van Lerberghe, "The Jebleh Plain through history: Tell Tweini and its intercultural contacts in the Bronze and Early Iron Age", Intercultural contacts in the Ancient Mediterranean: Proceedings of the International Conference at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo. Vol. 202. Peeters, pp. 183 - 203, 2011 *Bretschneider, Joachim, Greta Jans, and Anne Sophie Van Vyve, "Once upon a tell in the east: tell Tweini through the ages", Ugarit-Forschungen 45, pp. 347-372, 2014 *Fuller, Benjamin T., et al., "Fish δ13C and δ15N results from two Bronze/Iron Age sites (Tell Tweini & Sidon) along the Levantine coast", Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 29, 102066, 2020 *Jung R., "Mycenaen Pottery in Coastal Syria", in Badre L. et al. (eds.), Tell Kazel au Bronze Récent. Études Céramiques, Beyrouth, pp. 47-51, 2018 *[https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.0803533105]Kaniewski, David, et al., "Middle East coastal ecosystem response to middle-to-late Holocene abrupt climate changes", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105.37, 13941-13946, 2008 *Kaniewski D., Marriner N., Bretschneider J., Jans G., Morhange Ch., Cheddadi R., Otto Th., Luce F., Van Campo E., "300-year drought frames Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age transition in the Near East: New palaeoecological data from Cyprus and Syria", in Regional Environmental Change, 19(8), pp. 2287-2297, 2019 *Lebrun, René, and Jan Tavernier, "Deux objets inscrits de Tell Tweini", The ancient near east, a life! Festschrift Karel Van Lerberghe, Vol. 220, Peeters, pp. 319-334, 2012 *Marinova, Elena, et al., "An experimental approach for tracing olive processing residues in the archaeobotanical record, with preliminary examples from Tell Tweini, Syria", Vegetation history and archaeobotany 20.5, pp. 471-478, 2011 *[https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01257527/file/MATOIAN_2012.pdf]Matoïan, Valérie, "Images de faïence de Tell Tueni et de Ras Shamra (Syrie)", The Ancient Near East, A Life! Festschrift Karel Van Lerberghe 220, pp. 365-385, 2012 *Gabriel Saadé, "Note Sur Les Tells Archéologiques Du Royaume Ougaritien", Syria, vol. 67, no. 1, pp. 195–99, 1990 *[https://lirias.kuleuven.be/retrieve/5bd9bcad-e14c-4c6d-aeca-42869d1949e2]Vansteenhuyse, Klaas, "The Bronze to Iron Age Transition at Tell Tweini (Syria)", Societies in transition: evolutionary processes in the Northern Levant between late Bronze Age II and early Iron Age...-(Studi e testi orientali; 9), pp. 1000-1014, 2010 *Vansteenhuyse, Klaas, and Joachim Bretschneider, "Handmade cooking pots from the early bronze age in Tell Tweini (Syria)", International Archaeological Symposium, Leventis Foundation, pp 187-194, 2011 *Vansteenhuyse, K., M. Al-Maqdissi, and K. Van Lerberghe, "Bronze and Iron Age Ceramics from Tell Tweini (Syria): Some Preliminary Results", Orient-Express 2, pp. 29-44, 2002
==External links== {{Commons}} * [https://research.flw.ugent.be/en/projects/syro-belgian-tell-tweini-excavation-project Syro-Belgian Tell Tweini excavation project]
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Category:Former populated places in Syria Category:Iron Age sites in Syria Category:Archaeological sites in Latakia Governorate