Area A: Acropolis South

Visible on the surface south of the Acropolis Palace was a series of long, narrow structures running north-south and seeming to abut the southern wall of the Acropolis. John Tidmarsh excavated these over three seasons (2006, 2008, 2010).

Four phases were detected.

• The first was associated with the construction of the Acropolis fortification wall and included large rooms with food preparation and storage facilities.
• Phase II is represented by two large rooms (Rooms II.1 and II.2), constructed on bedrock and with floors of tamped earth, along with an adjacent courtyard (II.3); finds suggest a date early in the 2nd century BCE.
• Phase III in the 1st century BCE involved extensive rebuilding, with new walls and smaller rooms suggesting a change in function to storage or, possibly, cramped barracks.
• The post-abandonment ‘squatter’ Phase IV is evidenced by flimsy walls and crude tannurs.

Report:

• John Tidmarsh, 'Area A. The Jebel Khalid Acropolis: The Southern Acropolis', in Jebel Khalid on the Euphrates Volume Five: Report on excavations 2000-2010. Mediterranean Archaeology Supplement 10 (Sydney, 2016) 1-7.

Other publications
Plot A104 Phase II structures
Plot A104 Phase III structures
Field books

The Australian Mission to Jebel Khalid is a joint project of the
Australian National University and the University of Melbourne.