Tell Siyannu near Jableh

A mound seven or eight kilometres east of Jableh, commanding the coastal plain from north to south. It covers about 10 hectares and rises 40 metres above the plain and 149 metres above the sea. It is thought to have been the centre of the Late Bronze Age kingdom known as Siyannu, or Siyannu-Ushnatu. The mound shares its name with the village of Siyano, and a Syrian team has been excavating it since 1990. With Tell Tweini and Tell Sukas it is one of the three large Bronze Age mounds of the Jableh plain.

What kingdom was Siyannu

Siyannu was first subject to the kingdom of Ugarit. Under the Hittite king Mursili II it broke away from Ugarit and became a Hittite vassal through Carchemish. In antiquity the Nahr al-Sinn river was also called Siyannu, and it marked the southern border of Ugarit. In the Iron Age, led by its king Adunu-Baal, Siyannu was among those who fought the Assyrians at the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BC.

What the excavations found

The layers of the mound run from the 4th millennium BC down to the 19th century: Bronze Age, Iron Age, Hellenistic, Roman and Islamic phases. Large-scale planned building began in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC.

The 2010 season uncovered a religious building with four phases of occupation and a Phoenician temple from Iron Age II; the walls, floor and entrance of one room of the temple are exposed. The small finds include animal and clay figurines, stone spindle whorls, obsidian and flint blades, a basalt pestle, carnelian beads, a statuette of Ishtar and a clay tablet from the Late Bronze Age.

Can you visit

Tell Siyannu is an excavation, not a site laid out for visitors. No opening hours, guard or entry fee have been published, and it is not clear whether the area is closed outside the digging season. You get there by asking for the road east from Jableh to the village of Siyano. Before going, find out locally whether visits are allowed.

What most people miss

The position of the mound itself. From 40 metres above the plain you can see the north-south passage through the Jableh plain, and that view explains why a royal centre stood here better than any trench does.