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Tall Al-Hamidiya (also Tell Hamidiya, Tell Hamidiye, and Tell Hamidi) is an ancient Near Eastern archeological site the upper Hābūr region of modern-day Syria in the Al-Hasakah Governorate on a loop of the Jaghjagh River. It is located just to the north of the site of Tell Barri, just to the east of the ancient site of Tell Arbid, just to the west of Tell Farfara and 20 kilometers north of Tell Brak (thought to be ancient Nagar/Nawar). It has been suggested as the location of Ta'idu/Taite. If so, it was mentioned as Ta'idu in early 2nd millennium BC Ebla and Mari texts. Later it was a provincial capital of the Middle Bronze Age Mitanni Empire. This identification is based primarily on a few Middle Assyrian Neo-Assyrian sources, as Taite, and the proximity of Tell Barri, known to have been nearby.Roskop, Angela, "Itineraries: Their Forms and Contexts", The Wilderness Itineraries: Genre, Geography, and the Growth of Torah, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 50-82, 2011 Other locations have been proposed for Ta'idu/Taite.Buccellati, Federico, "Learning New Styles, Quickly: An Examination of the Mittani–Middle Assyrian Transition in Material Culture", Values and Revaluations: The Transformation and Genesis of “Values in Things” from Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives, edited by Hans Peter Hahn et al., Oxbow Books, pp. 29–46, 2022Berthon, Rémi, "Small but Varied: The Role of Rural Settlements in the Diversification of Subsistence Practices as Evidenced in the Upper Tigris River Area (Southeastern Turkey) during the Second and First Millennia BCE", Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology & Heritage Studies, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 317–29, 2014
French archaeologists Maurice Dunand and Antoine Poidebard explored the site in 1926, noting Roman and Byzantine fortifications.Poidebard, A., "Statue Trouvée a Tell Brak: Avril 1930.", Syria, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 360–64, 1930Poidebard, A., "Les Routes Anciennes En Haute-Djezireh", Syria, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 55–65, 1927 The site was "trenched and successive levels from prehistoric times revealed"."Formosa: Erratum in Mr. de Bunsen’s Paper", The Geographical Journal, vol. 70, no. 5, pp. 505–505, 1927Mallowan, M. E. L., "The Excavations at Tall Chagar Bazar, and an Archaeological Survey of the Habur Region, 1934-5", Iraq, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1–85, 1936 In the early 1930s the site was visited by Max Mallowan and Agatha Christie.Agatha Christie, "Come Tell Me How You Live", Akadine Press, 2002, Tall Al-Hamidiya was excavated between 1984 and 2011 by an Archaeological Institute of the University of Bern team led by Markus Wäfler and Oskar Kaelin, in all but five years. Among the finds were stela fragments with the names of Middle Assyrian rulers Shalmaneser I and Tukulti-Ninurta I.Seyyare Eichler, "Tall Al-Hamidiya 1 Vorbericht 1984", Academic Press Fribourg, 1985, [2] S. Eichler et al., "Tall Al-Hamidiya 2 Vorbericht 1985-1987", Symposium Recent Excavations in the Upper Khabur Region, Berne, December 9–11, 1986, Academic Press Fribourg, 1990, Markus Wafler, "Tall al-Hamidiya 3 Zur historischen Geographie von Idamaras zur Zeit der Archive von Mari und Subat-enlil/Sehna", Academic Press Fribourg, 2001, Markus Wafler, "Tall al-Hamidiya 4 Vorbericht 1988–2001", Academic Press Fribourg, 2004, In 2010 a geophysical survey covering 41 hectares was completed. Excavation was interrupted after the 2011 season.Wäfler, M. (ed)., "Tall al-Hamidiya 5", Bericht 2002–2011, OpenScienceTechnology GmbH, 2020 A number of inscribed bricks, including those of Neo-Assyrian ruler Shalmaneser III (859–824 BC) were found.Kessler, Karlheinz, "Neue Tontafelfunde aus dem mitannizeitlichen Taidu – Ein Vorbericht", The Archaeology of Political Spaces: The Upper Mesopotamian Piedmont in the Second Millennium BCE, edited by Dominik Bonatz, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 35-42, 2014
Early in the excavations three cuneiform tablet fragments were found and published. They were of the period of Mitanni rulers but of uncertain context. In 2004 three tablets were found in the southwest palace, baked in the fire that destroyed it. There were not published but are described as ration lists. Cuneiform tablets, primarily economic in nature, in "Hurro-Akkadian" and dockets both dated to the Mitanni period were found in the southwest palace in 2007. They are held in the Deir ez-Zor Museum and have been unavailable for study but were hastily photographed first and later partially published. The find consisted of 17 unsealed and undated tablets and 94 dockets discovered discarded in the rubble of the palace. The tablets all dealt with beer rations and the dockets were sealed with typical Mitanni seals. These texts include rations for people "from Muṣri (Egypt), Alašiya (Cyprus), Ugarit, and Arrapha".Bonatz, Dominik, and Lutz Martin, "100 Jahre archäologische Feldforschungen in Nordost-Syrien–eine Bilanz", Wiesbaden, 2013K. Kessler, "Late Bronze Age Texts from Tell Hamidiye", Paper given at the International Work-shop The Archaeology of the Upper Mesopotamian Piedmont in the Second MillenniumBC”, Berlin, January 2010[3] Beckman, Gary. Review of "Bonatz, Dominik (Hg.):The Archaeology of Political Spaces. The Upper Mesopotamian Piedmont in the Second Millennium BCE. 2014", Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, vol. 112, no. 4-5, pp. 326-327", 2017
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