[1] It built upon the Jerablus Tahtani Project[2] directed by Professor Peltenburg and is part of the Fragile Crescent Project at Durham University, which aims to advance understanding of the settlement landscapes of Upper Mesopotamia and the northern Levant.
[3] Investigations were undertaken in conjunction with the DGAM in Damascus until 2010, after which date it was stopped by the Syrian Civil War.
The Project aimed to provide a broader landscape context to the ancient major site of Carchemish, investigating the terrain away from the river.
Consequently, the ‘abundant pasture lands’ posited as a requirement of the models of tribal states need to be fitted within a landscape of settlement, and presumably control, by a number of local communities.
Although there is some attenuation into the uplands, the presence of dense settlement in relatively minor valleys such as the Nahr al Amarna as well as on the upland plains to the west, provides a counterweight to the better known spreads of settlement along the Euphrates.