About two miles opposite the Syrian border from Qamishli is Naṣībīn— an ancient city in south-east Türkiye’s Mardin Province. This city, whose earliest recorded reference by name makes an appearance in a Neo-Assyrian text of the ninth century BCE, is considered to be one of the oldest settlements in the region.

Situated between the basin of the Upper Euphrates, the Upper Halys, and the rivers of Cilicia is an archaeological site known to the ancient Assyrians as Kanesh. Today, this site is located in the Kayseri Province in central Türkiye and is known locally as Kültepe, from the Turkish word meaning “ash mound”.

Between 1903 and 1914, the German Oriental Society sponsored an archaeological expedition in the ancient Assyrian city of Āshūr, modern-day Qalʾat Sherqāt, Iraq.

This oval-shaped archaeological mound is thought to be one of the oldest sites in ʿAnkāwā. Situated about 6 km from the majestic citadel at Arbelā (modern-day Erbil, Iraq), this ancient wonder— with a perimeter of 186.75 m —is surrounded by modern development.

The period from 750–1250 CE witnessed astonishing levels of cultural, economic, and scientific development in the pre-modern Middle East.