Tell Fekheriye

Tell Fekheriye (Arabic: تل الفخيرية) (often spelled as Tell el-Fakhariya or Tell Fecheriye, among other variants) is an ancient site in the Khabur river basin in al-Hasakah Governorate of northern Syria. It is securely identified as the site of Sikkan, attested since c. 2000 BC. While under an Assyrian governor c. 1000 BC it was called Sikani. Sikkan was part of the Syro-Hittite state of Bit Bahiani in the early 1st millennium BC. In the area, several mounds, called tells, can be found in close proximity: Tell Fekheriye, Ras al-Ayn, and 2.5 kilometers east of Tell Halaf, site of the Aramean and Neo-Assyrian city of Guzana. During the excavation, the Tell Fekheriye bilingual inscription (in the Assyrian dialect of Akkadian and Aramaic) was discovered at the site, which provides the source of information about Hadad-yith'i. In the early 20th century Tell Fekheriye was suggested as the site of Washukanni, the capital of Mitanni, but the claim is unconfirmed. Many scholars opposed this theory including Michael Roaf, Peter Akkermans, David Oates, Joan Oates and Edward Lipiński. However this identification received a new support by Stefano de Martino due to recent archaeological excavations by a German team led by Mirko Novák and Dominik Bonatz.