In archaeology, a tell, or tel ( Hebrew: תֵּלArabic: تَل, tall, 'hill' or 'mound'), is an artificial mound formed from the accumulated refuse or deposits of people living on the same site for hundreds or thousands of years. A classic tell looks like a low, truncated cone with sloping sides and can be up to 30 metres high.
Tells are most commonly associated with the archaeology of the ancient Near East, Southeast Europe (Bulgaria and Greece), also reaching Central Asia and West Africa. Within the Near East, they are concentrated in less arid regions, including Upper Mesopotamia, the Southern Levant, Anatolia and Iran.
Azerbaijan
- Nargiztapa
- Govurqala, Nakhchivan
- Uzerliktapa
- Alikemek-Tepesi
- Kültəpə
- Baba-Dervish settlement
- Garakopaktapa
- Nakhchivan Tepe
Bulgaria
Egypt
- Amarna
- Athribis
- Avaris
- Bubastis
- Buto
- Heliopolis (ancient Egypt)
- Kom Firin
- Leontopolis
- Mendes
- Pithom
- Tell El Kebir
- Tell el-Balamun
- Tell el-Qudeirat
- Tell Nebesha
- Thmuis
Gaza Strip
Iran
- Ali Kosh
- Chogha Bonut
- Chogha Golan
- Chogha Mish
- Ecbatana
- Fire Temple of Bahram
- Ganj Dareh
- Ganj Par
- Godin Tepe
- Haft Tepe
- Hajji Firuz Tepe
- Kuzaran
- Marlik
- Noushijan
- Rahmatabad Mound
- Salaleh
- Shahr-e Sukhteh
- Tall-i Bakun
- Tepe Hissar
- Tepe Sialk
- Tepe Yahya
- Teppe Hasanlu
- Teppe Zagheh
Iraq
- Adab (city)
- Abu Salabikh
- Bakr Awa
- Citadel of Erbil
- Dur-Kurigalzu
- Gird-î Qalrakh
- Jemdet Nasr
- Mane (ancient city)
- Nineveh
- Rapiqum
- Tel Abib
- Tel Keppe
- Tell Agrab
- Tell al-Fakhar
- Tell al-Rimah
- Tell al-'Ubaid
- Tell Arpachiyah
- Tell Bazmusian
- Tell Begum
- Tell el-'Oueili
- Tell es-Sawwan
- Tell Hassuna
- Tell Ishchali
- Tell Khaiber
- Tell Maghzaliyah
- Tell Shemshara
- Tell Taya
- Tell Uqair
- Telul eth-Thalathat
- Tepe Gawra
- Yarim Tepe
- Qara Tapa
- Nuzi
- Lubdu
- Naysan
Israel
- Abel-beth-maachah
- Achziv
- Adullam
- Antipatris
- Ashdod
- Ashkelon National Park
- Azekah
- Beit She'an
- Beit Shemesh
- Dan (ancient city)
- Ein Gedi
- Ekron
- Gath (city)
- Gezer
- Gibeah
- Hurvat Itri
- Jezreel (city)
- Kedesh
- Khirbet et-Tibbaneh
- Khirbet Kerak
- Kinneret (archaeological site)
- Masil al-Jizl
- Rebbo
- Sokho
- Tel Arad
- Tel Be'er Sheva
- Tel Dor
- Tel Hazor
- Tel Kabri
- Tel Lachish
- Tel Megiddo
- Tel Qana
- Tel Rehov
- Tel Shikmona
- Tel Yokneam
- Tell Beit Mirsim
- Tell el-Hesi
- Tell es-Safi
- Tell Keisan
- Tell Qasile
- Yavne
- Yavne-Yam
Jordan
- Amman Citadel
- Tall Jawa
- Tall Zira'a
- Tell Abu al-Kharaz
- Tell el-Fukhar (Jordan)
- Tell Hammeh
- Tell Johfiyeh
- Tell Mar Elias
Lebanon
- Ancient Tell
- Sarepta
- Tell Aalaq
- Tell Ablah
- Tell Addus
- Tell Ahle
- Tell Ain Cerif
- Tell Ain el Meten
- Tell Ain Ghessali
- Tell Ain Nfaikh
- Tell Ain Saouda
- Tell Ain Sofar
- Tell Ayoub
- Tell Bar Elias
- Tell Beshara
- Tell Bir Dakoue
- Tell Deir
- Tell Delhamieh
- Tell Derzenoun
- Tell Dibbine
- Tell el-Burak
- Tell El Ghassil
- Tell El Hadeth
- Tell Fadous
- Tell Hazzine
- Tell Hoch Rafqa
- Tell Jisr
- Tell Karmita
- Tell Khardane
- Tell Kirri
- Tell Jezireh
- Tell Kabb Elias
- Tell Majdaloun
- Tell Masoud
- Tell Mekhada
- Tell Meouchi
- Tell Mureibit
- Tell Murtafa
- Tell Nahariyah
- Tell Neba'a Chaate
- Tell Neba'a Litani
- Tell Qasr Labwe
- Tell Rasm El Hadeth
- Tell Rayak
- Tell Saatiya
- Tell Safiyeh
- Tell Saoudhi
- Tell Serhan
- Tell Shaikh Hassan al Rai
- Tell Shamsine
- Tell Sultan Yakoub
- Tell Taalabaya
- Tell Wardeen
- Tell Zenoub
- Tell Zeitoun
Syria
- Al-Rawda (tell)
- Baliḫu
- Citadel of Aleppo
- Ebla
- Gamla
- Homs
- Mari, Syria
- Mureybet
- Qatna
- Tell Abu Hureyra
- Tell Afis
- Tell al-'Abr
- Tell al-Mishrifeh (Qatna)
- Tell al-Salihiyah
- Tell Aqab
- Tell Arbid
- Tell Ashtara
- Tell Banat
- Tell Barri
- Tell Beydar
- Tell Brak
- Tell Chuera
- Tell Danith
- Tell eth-Thadeyn
- Tell Ezou
- Tell Fekheriye
- Tell Fray
- Tell Ghoraifé
- Tell Hadar
- Tell Halaf
- Tell Halula
- Tell Kashfahan
- Tell Kazel
- Tell Khazzami
- Tell Leilan
- Tell Marj
- Tell Mashnaqa
- Tell Qaramel
- Tell Qarassa
- Tell Qarqur
- Tell Ramad
- Tell Sabi Abyad
- Tell Sukas
- Tell Taban
- Tel Tamer
- Tell Tuneinir
- Tell Tweini
- Tell Zeidan
- Urkesh
- Zahiran
Turkey
- Alalakh
- Göbekli Tepe
- Gürcütepe
- Çatalhöyük
- Hisarlik (Troy)
- Kültepe
- Sultantepe
- Tell Judaidah
- Tell Tayinat
United Arab Emirates
West Bank
See also
References
- "tell". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- Kirkpatrick, E. M. (1983). Chambers 20th Century Dictionary (New ed.). Edinburgh: W & R Chambers Ltd. p. 1330. ISBN 978-0-550-10234-8.
- Archaeology of Palestine, Art of Excavating a Palestinian Mound, William Foxwell Albright, 1960, p. 16
- ^ Wilkinson, Tony J. (2003). Archaeological Landscapes of the Near East. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press. pp. 100–127. ISBN 978-0-8165-2173-9 – via Internet Archive.
- Bailey, Douglass W.; Tringham, Ruth; Bass, Jason; Stevanović, Mirjana; Hamilton, Mike; Neumann, Heike; Angelova, Ilke; Raduncheva, Ana (1998-01-01). "Expanding the Dimensions of Early Agricultural Tells: The Podgoritsa Archaeological Project, Bulgaria". Journal of Field Archaeology. 25 (4): 373–396. doi:10.1179/009346998792005298. ISSN 0093-4690.
- Davidson, Donald A.; Wilson, Clare A.; Lemos, Irene S.; Theocharopoulos, S. P. (2010-07-01). "Tell formation processes as indicated from geoarchaeological and geochemical investigations at Xeropolis, Euboea, Greece" (PDF). Journal of Archaeological Science. 37 (7): 1564–1571. Bibcode:2010JArSc..37.1564D. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2010.01.017. hdl:1893/16434.
- Kotsakis, Kostas (1999). "What Tells can Tell: Social Space and Settlement in the Greek Neolithic". In Halstead, Paul (ed.). Neolithic Society in Greece. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press. ISBN 9781850758242.
- MacDonald, Kevin C. (1997). "More forgotten tells of Mali: an archaeologist's journey from here to Timbuktu". Archaeology International. 1 (1): 40–42. doi:10.5334/ai.0112.