Dibsi Faraj

Dibsi Faraj is an archaeological site on the right bank of the Euphrates in Aleppo Governorate (Syria). The site was excavated as part of a larger international effort coordinated by UNESCO to excavate as many archaeological sites as possible in the area that would be flooded by the reservoir created by the Tabqa Dam, which was being built at that time. An initial, small archaeological sounding was done at Dibsi Faraj by the Syrian Department of Antiquities in 1971. Following this investigation, the site was excavated between 1972 and 1974 as part of a joint operation of the Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies and the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan under the direction of Richard P. Harper. Since then, the site has disappeared under the rising waters of Lake Assad, the reservoir created by the Tabqa Dam. The excavations revealed that the site was occupied between the first and tenth century CE. During this period, the site developed from a Roman village during the first century to a third-century heavily fortified urban settlement that was extensively modified during the early Byzantine period. The excavations revealed that the site was largely abandoned during the Early Islamic period, probably after an earthquake in 859 CE caused much destruction. Dibsi Faraj was strategically located on a hilltop overlooking agricultural fields and grazing

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).