Tell Ta'yinat in Reyhanlı

You're standing at Tell Tayinat, a low mound in the Amuq Valley, about twenty-five kilometres south-east of Antakya. Have a look around. Just nearby, the Orontes River swings round in a bend, and this mound sits on its east bank. It looks like an ordinary patch of rolling ground, but you're actually standing on a stack of cities. A tell is exactly that: centuries of settlement, layer upon layer.