Archaeological Investigation on the Ancient Kingdom Tabetu in the Northern Mesopotamia-Excavations at Tell Taban, Hassake, Syria-

本研究项目的主要研究集中在叙利亚Tell Taban的考古发掘上，这是亚述帝国最重要的基地城镇之一，我们在现场进行了总共三个季节的发掘，并取得了重要的成果。其中之一是在宫殿结构中发现了可追溯到中亚述时期（公元前1300-1200年）的皇家档案室。这一发现发生在2005年冬天，大约有500块泥板碎片被收集起来。此外，在2005年和2006年的夏季，出土了中亚述和古巴比伦（公元前1730年）的楔形文字，其中包括60个泥板，47个刻有铭文的圆柱体和砖块。上述大量楔形文字的发现是日本探险队在大美索不达米亚地区进行了50多年的发掘工作中的第一次。这一发现的消息在日本媒体上引起了轰动。对楔形文字的解读是由日本的亚述学者完成的。这也是日本学者第一次对新发现的楔形文字进行解读和研究。山田茂雄和柴田大介对中亚述和古巴比伦楔形文字进行了研究，迄今为止，他们在公元前第二个千年的哈布尔山谷和美索不达米亚北部发现了许多迄今为止未知的历史信息。我们相信，对这些楔形文字的进一步研究，一定会对叙利亚加兹拉和其他地区所谓的“黑暗时代”有新的认识。

The main study of this research project has focused on the archaeological excavation at Tell Taban in Syria, which is one of the most, important base towns in the Assyrian EmpireWe have conducted a total of three seasons of excavations at site and were able to obtain significant results. One of them is the discovery of royal archive room at the palace structure dated to the Middle Assyrian period (1300-1200 B.C). The discovery happened in the winter 2005 and around 500 fragments of clay tablets were collected. Furthermore during the seasons of summer 2005 and 2006, Middle Assyrian and Old Babylonian (1730 B.C) cuneiform texts, which include 60 clay tablets, and 47 inscribed cylinders and bricks, were unearthed.The above discovery of a large number of cuneiform texts was the first experience among the Japanese expeditions which have been excavating in the Great Mesopotamia region over 50 years. The news of the discovery was widely broadcasted in the Japanese media as a sensation.The decipherment of the cuneiform texts has been carried out by the Japanese Assyriologists. This was also the first such occasion that the newly discovered cuneiform texts were deciphered and studied first-hand by the Japanese scholars.The study of Middle Assyrian and Old Babylonian cuneiform texts has been carried out by Shigeo Yamada and Daisuke Shibata and so far revealed numerous hitherto unknown historical information during the second millennium B.C. in the Khabur valley and Northern Mesopotamia. We believe that further study of those cuneiform texts will surely shed new light on the so-called "dark age" in the Syrian Jazira and beyond.