Ottoman Period

The latest occupation of Tell el-Burak occurred in the Middle Ages / Ottoman Period.

Tiny vessel fragments of those times are scattered in the upper layers of all excavation areas. Architectural remains of the period survive only on the mound of the tell, excavation area I.

During the first campaign (2001) the remains of a badly preserved building were exposed on the highest spot of the tell. After all the findings which could be connected with that house were documented, it was removed in the second campaign (2002). Only few sherds or other objects were found in the surroundings of the house (among others, an oil lamp made of glazed clay). But there are enough finds to determine the house as a dwelling-house.

The third and fourth campaigns (2003 and 2005) showed up further buildings on the tell. In the northwest corner of excavation area I, just underneath the surface and right on top of Middle Bronze Age mud brick walls, there were exposed remains of walls and floors paved with large flat limestone slabs.

The expected results of the find analyses should further narrow down the time span of Late medieval / Ottoman occupation of Tell el-Burak. The exposed structures suggest that in those times a few buildings were distributed over the top of the tell with rather large open spaces between them.