Geographical and meteorological prerequisites

Tall al-Hamidiya lies in an area with good natural conditions and at the intersection of several important trade routes.

Soil, water supply, annual rainfall

Tall al-Hamidiya is located in the Jezireh in Northeast Syria, on Wadi Jaghjagh, one of the tributaries of the Khabur river. The conditions for larger settlements in the Khabur river basin are good, with 8’000 km2 of fertile soil, half of which receives ca. 250 mm of rainfall, even in years of drought.

Networks

Tall al-Hamidiya is located on the intersection of several important trade routes:

• • One of them is the north-south axis following the Khabur until Tell Tunainir, and then via Tell Aswad along the Jaghjagh river to Tell Brak, Tell Barri, Tall al-Hamidiya and Tulul Muhammad. Al-Tall al-Ahmar, Tell Mozan and Tell Hamdun are further waypoints on the route to Tell Erdem, the starting point of an important connection to Anatolia.

  • In the east, on the other hand, we find a different pattern: the Khabur basin is linked to the Tigris river area by means of several large routes, with Eski Mosul and Tell Hamukar as the most important junctions.

The central route, probably the most important one in the mid-2nd millennium B.C., leads to Altinbasak (Harran) via at-Tash, Tall Kuz, Tall Qarrasa, Tall Farfara, Tall al-Hamidiya, Tall `Arbid, Tall Chagar Bazar, Tall Hanwa´, Tall ash-Shur, Tall Abi Ra´sain and Tell Fekheriye.