'covered') is a tell, or ancient settlement mound, located on the west bank of the Euphrates in Raqqa Governorate, northern Syria.

Mureybet was occupied between 10,200 and 8,000 BC and is the eponymous type site for the Mureybetian culture, a subdivision of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA).

In that year, the site was noted during an archaeological survey of the region directed by Maurits N. van Loon of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, and a small sounding was made.

[1] Between 1971 and 1974, work on the site was resumed by a team of the French Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) directed by Jacques Cauvin.

[2] All excavations were part of the larger international – and eventually UNESCO-coordinated – effort to investigate as many archaeological sites as possible in the area that would be flooded by Lake Assad, the reservoir of the Tabqa Dam, which was being built at that time.

[4] Although the site is now submerged and no longer accessible, the material that has been retrieved during the excavations continues to generate new research.

[5][6][7] This material is currently stored at the National Museum of Aleppo and the Antenne d'Archéorient de Jalès in Berrias-Casteljau in France.

It is situated on an elongated ridge that is c. 4 metres (13 ft) above the river terrace of the Euphrates, which flowed directly west of the site before the valley was flooded.

[10] Phases IB, IIA and IIB (9,700–9,300 BC) make up the Khiamian, a poorly understood and sometimes disputed sub-phase straddling the transition from the Natufian to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA).

The oldest of these remains date to phase IB and consist of a round semi-subterranean structure with a diameter of 6 metres (20 ft).

In the subsequent phases, slightly smaller round houses built at ground level also appeared, at least some of which were used simultaneously.

Sickle blades and grinding stones are more common and show more use-wear, indicating that cereals became a more important component in the diet.

[11] Phases IIIA and IIIB (9,300–8,600 BC) represent the Mureybetian, a subphase of the PPNA that was named after Mureybet and is found in the area of the Middle Euphrates.

Hunting of equids and aurochs was more important than of gazelle, while fish remains were rare in phase III contexts.

Based on use-wear analysis, it could also be established that animal hides were processed at the site using bone and stone tools.

[12] During the PPNB phase, Byblos arrowheads replaced the Mureybetian types, and other technological improvements were also introduced.