title: Tell Zeidan
text: # Tell Zeidan
  
  Tell Zeidan is an archaeological site of the Ubaid culture in northern Syria, from about 5500 to 4000 BC. The dig consists of three large mounds on the east bank of the Balikh River, slightly north of its confluence with the Euphrates River, and is located about 5 km (3.1 mi) east of the modern Syrian city of Raqqa (or Raqqa). This site is included within the historical region known as Mesopotamia and the Tigris-Euphrates river system, often called the Cradle of Civilization.
  
  An international archaeological project, the Joint Syrian-American Archaeological Research Project at Tell Zeidan, were surveying and excavating the Tell Zeidan site. The project started in 2008, two seasons were completed. The third season was scheduled to start in July 2010. Muhammad Sarhan, director of the Raqqa Museum, and Gil Stein, director of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, are co-directors of the project.
  
  Part of the mound appears to have been looted after the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
  
  