Chalcolithic The site of Tell Sheikh Hamad was occupied from the Late
Chalcolithic period (Late
Neolithic, M4), when it was a small settlement.
Late Bronze Age Mitanni Period In the Late Bronze Age, the region surrounding Dur-Katlimmu was part of the
Mitanni Empire and the kingdom of Hanigalbat. Following the fall of the stronghold
Carchemish to
Suppiluliuma of the Hittites, and the assassination of great king
Tushratta in 1345 BC, the Mitanni Empire struggled with civil war and outside pressure until it fell. A quantity of Hittite pottery was found at the site.
Assyrian Period During the reign of Shalmaneser The city was established as the capital of a new Assyrian province by
Shalmaneser I (r. 1263-1234 BC) following the collapse of the
Mitanni Empire. He put Ibašši-ilī son of Adad-nirari I, his brother, as the founder of the dynasty on the royal throne. Dur-Katlimmu (Tell Seh Hamad) became the capital of this kingdom on the lower Habur river. The ruler bore the title 'grand vizier' (sakallu rabi'u) and 'king of the land of Hanigalbat' (sar mat Hanigalbat).
Iron Age Neo-Assyrian Period End of the Assyrian Empire During the fall of the
Assyrian Empire (911-605 BC), sections of the Assyrian army retreated to the western corner of Assyria after the fall of
Nineveh,
Harran and
Carchemish, and a number of Assyrian imperial records survive between 604 BC and 599 BC in and around Dur-Katlimmu, and so it is possible that remnants of the Assyrian administration and army still continued to hold out in the region for a few years.
After the fall of the Assyrian Empire After the fall of the Assyrian Empire, Dur-Katlimmu became one of the many Near- and Middle-Eastern cities called
Magdalu/
Magdala/
Migdal/
Makdala/
Majdal, all of which are simply
Semitic language toponyms meaning "fortified elevation, tower". ==Excavations==