sentences:  In 2004, it was recorded as having 34,371 inhabitants.Khan Shaykhun takes its name from a 14th-century "khan" or caravanserai built by the Mamluk emir Sayf al-Din Shaykhu al-'Umari.The town grew up around the khan and is situated below a prominent tell, where excavations carried out in 1930 under the French Comte du Mesnil du Buisson revealed evidence of habitation dating back to the 20th century BC.