Edited by Hartmut Kühne

The book series comprises the final publication of the archaeological record and of the artefacts of the interdisciplinary excavation project of Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad, Syria, that was conducted under the direction of Hartmut Kühne in cooperation with Wolfgang Röllig and Asaad Mahmoud from 1978 to 2010. Sponsored by Freie Universität Berlin and by the Universität Tübingen it was mainly financed by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft until the end of 2014. Of the planned twenty-three volumes seventeen have been released between 1991 and 2021 (BATSH 13 consists of two monographs). Seven volumes are still in preparation.

The excavation resulted in the rediscovery of the Assyrian city of Dur-Katlimmu (1300-539 BC) that was named in Aramaic Magdalu since the seventh century BC. During the Parthian-Roman period (c. 200 BC – c. 300 AD) the city’s name was spelled Magdala.
The authors of the book series aim at providing traceability and monitoring of the archeological record from which the stratigraphy is generated. Thus, the archaeological record is described and evaluated separately from its cultural-historical interpretation. The ultimate corrective is the research data, i.e. the field documentation itself, which is made accessible successively on the portal “Refubium” of the Freie Universität Berlin (https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/). If possible, the groups of artefacts are treated along with their stratigraphic context or, if published separately, will be assigned to it by a distinct frame of reference. Natural scientific reports are assigned to the specific investigated objects or presented as separate essays. Receiving the additional designation “Texte 1-6” the c. 1500 written artefacts are published within the book series. The stratigraphic context and related artefacts are interpreted in essays on architectural biographies, functional analysis, settlement sequence, historiography, historical geography, typology, structure of economy, administration, and society as well as livability and other issues in the respective volumes.

Parallel to the excavation an interdisciplinary research project titled “Reconstruction of the environment and subsistence at the Habur in the Late Holocene” was conducted from 1982 to 1996, financed by Freie Universität Berlin. Its results are also published within the book series.

Grouped along the excavated historical periods the volumes of the series are listed as follows:
1. Middle Assyrian period (1300-c. 1000 BC):
BATSH 03 (Pottery), 04 (Texte 1), 09 (Texte 3), 10 (Texte 4, i.p.), 12 (Stratigraphy Building P), 15 (Glyptic i.p.), 18 (Texte 6);
2. Neo- and Post-Assyrian / Aramaean periods (1000-539 BC):
BATSH 06 (Texte 2), 07 (Pottery), 11 (Stratigraphy Rotes Haus), 14 (Stratigraphy Neo-Assyrian Residences, i.p.), 16 (Glyptic), 17 (Texte 5), 19 (Small finds Rotes Haus, i.p.), 20 (Corps Cremation Burials, i.p.), 21 (Stratigraphy Nordost-Ecke, i.p.), 22 (Arrow heads), 23 (Small finds, i.p.);
3. Persian, Hellenistic (Seleucid), and Parthian-Roman periods (538 BC – c. 300 AD):
BATSH 02 (Stratigraphy), 05 (Parth.-Roman cemetery 1), 13-1 (Anthropology), 13-2 (Parth.-Roman cemetery 2);
4. Research project: “Reconstruction of the environment and subsistence of the Lower Habur in the Late Holocene”:
BATSH 01 (Reconstruction of environment 1), 08 (Reconstruction of environment 2 and subsistence).