The main site is around in size and has a height of . Two thirds of the remains of Terqa are covered by the modern town of
Ashara, which limits the possibilities for excavation. It is estimated that about half of the original site has been eroded away by the Euphrates river as it slowly shifts its course. The site was briefly excavated by
Ernst Herzfeld in 1910. In 1923, 5 days of excavations were conducted by
François Thureau-Dangin and P. Dhorrne. From 1974 to 1986, Terqa was excavated for 10 seasons by a team from the International Institute for Mesopotamian Area Studies including the Institute of Archaeology at the
University of California at Los Angeles, California State University at Los Angeles,
Johns Hopkins University, the
University of Arizona and the
University of Poitiers in France. The team was led by Giorgio Buccellati and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati. The final reports from these excavations have been released over time. The same team also excavated the nearby (5 kilometers north) 4th Millennium site of
Tell Qraya which they viewed as the probably source for the settlement of Terqa. After 1987, a French team led by Olivier Rouault of
Lyon University took over the dig and continued to work there until local conditions deteriorated around 2010. There are 550 cuneiform tablets from Terqa held at the Deir ez-Zor Museum. Notable features found at Terqa include • A city wall, consisting of three concentric masonry walls, high and in width, fronted by a moat. The walls encompass a total area of around with a perimeter of around 1800 meters. Based on ceramic and radiocarbon dating the inner wall was built c. 2900 B.C., the middle wall c. 2800 BC and the outer wall c. 2700 BC and the fortifications were in use until at least 2000 BC. • A temple to
Ninkarrak dating at least as old as the 3rd millennium. The temple finds included Egyptian scarabs. • The House of Puzurum, where a large and important archive of
Kingdom of Ḫana Period tablets, mostly contracts for purchases of land and houses in the Terqa area, were found. The location produced a number of sealing (on tablets, tags, and bullae). Many of the tablets are dated to the time of ruler Yadib-Abu. A few Mari Period sealings were found elsewhere at the site.
Temple to Ninkarrak Ninkarrak was the ancient goddess of healing. Her temple was identified based on a tablet with a list of offerings which starts with her name, and by seals mentioned the goddess. Thousands of beads made out of precious materials such as
agate,
carnelian, and
lapis lazuli were found here. Archaeologists also found a number of small bronze figurines of
dogs inside the temple as well. Dogs were the animals sacred to Ninkarrak. A ceremonial axe and a scimitar with a devotional inscription mentioning Ninkarrak, both bronze, were also found. Early occupation of the structure has been dated to roughly the same period as the reigns of three kings of Terqa. The earliest of them was Yadikh-abu, a contemporary of
Samsuiluna of
Babylon, defeated by the latter in 1721 BCE. Kashtiliash, and Shunuhru-ammu also ruled during this period. The temple was remodeled multiple times. The Egyptian scarabs found in the temple of Ninkarrak represent the easternmost known example of such objects in a sealed deposit dated to the
Old Babylonian period. They are attributed to around 1650-1640 BC, or the
Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt. The hieroglyphs inscribed on them are regarded as "poorly executed and sometimes misunderstood," indicating Levantine, rather than Egyptian, origin. Similar scarabs are also known from
Byblos,
Sidon and Ugarit.
Temple to Lagamal Lagamal was a Mesopotamian deity primarily worshiped in
Dilbat, but worship was also prominently practiced in Terqa as well as
Susa. This was a deity associated with the
underworld. In the majority of known sources Lagamal is a male deity, but it was regarded as a goddess rather than a god in Terqa.
Icehouse The oldest attested
ice house (building) in the world may have been built in Terqa. It is recorded in a
cuneiform tablet from c. 1780 BC that
Zimri-Lim, the King of
Mari ordered such a construction in Terqa, "which never before had any king built."
Trade Evidence of trade contacts with the
Indus valley has been found here. Archaeologist
Giorgio Buccellati found
cloves, an important spice, in a burned-down house which was dated to 1720 BC. :"In the pantry of a house belonging to an individual named Puzurum, dated by tablets to c. 1700 BCE or slightly thereafter, were found 'a handful of cloves ... well preserved in a partly overturned jar of a medium size'." Since this house was described as being of a medium size, it seems that, at that time, cloves were already accessible to the common people of Terqa. Cloves are native to the
Molucca Islands off the coast of
Indonesia, and were extensively used in ancient India. This was the first evidence of cloves being used in the west before Roman times. The discovery was first reported in 1978.
Genetics Ancient
mitochondrial DNA from freshly unearthed remains (teeth) of 4 individuals deeply deposited in slightly alkaline soil of ancient Terqa and Tell Masaikh (ancient Kar-Assurnasirpal, located on the Euphrates upstream from Terqa) was analysed in 2013. Dated to the period between 2.5 Kyrs BC and 0.5 Kyrs AD the studied individuals carried
mtDNA haplotypes corresponding to the
M4b1, M49 and M61 haplogroups, which are believed to have arisen in the area of the Indian subcontinent during the Upper Paleolithic and are absent in people living today in Syria. However, they are present in people inhabiting today's
India,
Pakistan,
Tibet and
Himalayas. A 2014 study expanding on the 2013 study and based on analysis of 15751 DNA samples arrives at the conclusion, that "M65a, M49 and/or M61 haplogroups carrying ancient Mesopotamians might have been the merchants from India". ==See also==