Terqa was an ancient Aramean-Assyrian settlement located at the site of modern Tell Ashara. In the XIXth century BC Terqa was the capital of the small country of the Amorites located on the outskirts of the then kingdom of Mari. Ila-kabkabu father of Assyrian king, Shamshi-Adad I ruled in Terqa in the second half of the XIXth century BC. Excavations are restricted mainly to the uninhabited areas.
The remains of Terqa are partly covered by the modern town of Ashara, which limits the possibilities for excavation.
See:
- Peter M M G Akkermans; Glenn M Schwartz, The archaeology of Syria : from complex hunter-gatherers to early urban societies (c. 16,000-300 BC), New York [u.a.] : Cambridge Univ. Press, 2003.
- Olivier Rouault, Chronological problems concerning the Middle Euphrates during the Bronze Age in: H. Hunger & R. Pruzsinszky (éds.), Mesopotamian Dark Age revisited: proceedings of an International Conference of SCIEM 2000 (Vienna, 8th-9th November 2002), Contributions to the Chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean 6, Wien 2004, p.51-59.
- Olivier Rouault, Cultures locales et influences extérieures : le cas de Terqa, 1992 SMEA 30, pp. 247-256.
- Olivier Rouault, L’archive de Puzurum , Terqa Final Reports I, Biblioteca Mesopotamica 16, Undena Publications, Malibu 1984
- Renata M. Liggett, Ancient Terqa and its temple of Ninkarrak: the excavations of the fifth and sixth seasons in: Near East Archaeological Society Bulletin 1982, no. 19 (Spring), pp. 5-26- www.terqa.org/EL-TQ/Ligett_1982_Ancient_Terqa_and_Its_Temple_-_NEASB_19.pdf