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.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, 2008Bretschneider, 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 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.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
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).Astour, M.C., "The kingdom of Siyannu-Ushantu" Ugarit Forschungen 11, pp. 11–28, 1979 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. 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 Gibala is also mentioned in Akkadian language texts, as "Gi5-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 Ugarit vassalage from Egypt to the Hittite Empire (via its viceroy at Karkemish). 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 It has been suggested that Gibala was also mentioned in a later text of Neo-Assyrian ruler Tiglat-pileser III (744-727 BC).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
History
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.
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.The Syro-Belgian Excavations of Tell Tweini (PDF) telltweini.com
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
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.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, 2004Al-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, 2007Bretschneider J., T. Cunningham & K. Van Lerberghe, "Gibala. The First Two Excavations 1999-2000", in Ugarit Forschungen 31, pp. 75-131, 1999 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 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, Al-Maqdissi, Michel, et al., "Tell Tweini: onze campagnes de fouilles Syro-Belges (1999-2010)", Documents d' Archeologie Syrienne 10, 2010 The Syrian team worked in Field B while the Belgian team worked in Fields A and C.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 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". 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
Excavations ended in 2010, interrupted by of local condition but work on the findings continue.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 Finds from the site included cylinder seals, stamp seals, and clay sealings.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 Suliman, Rita, "Two Stamp Seals from Iron Age Tell Tweini", Semitica 66, pp. 41-45, 2024 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 it was an 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.Bretschneider, Joachim, and Greta Jans, "A winged horse at Tell Tweini: an exceptional Middle Assyrian cylinder seal", Akkadica 140.2, pp. 149-160, 2019 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. Marinova, Elena, et al., "Middle Bronze Age Ritual, Subsistence and Environment at Tell Tweini-Infered from Bioarchaeological Evidence", pp. 345-364, 2012 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
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: 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 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.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
A number of copper alloy artifacts from various periods were found. Lead isotope analysis determined that