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Jebel Aruda (also Djebel Aruda or Jebel 'Aruda or Sheikh 'Arud or Gebel Aruda), is an ancient Near East archaeological site on the west bank of the Euphrates river in Raqqa Governorate, Syria. It was excavated as part of a program of rescue excavation project for sites to be submerged by the creation of Lake Assad by the Tabqa Dam. The site was occupied in the Late Chalcolithic, during the late 4th millennium BC, specifically in the Uruk V period. It is on the opposite side of the lake from the Halafian site of Shams ed-Din Tannira and is within sight of the Uruk V site Habuba Kabira (8 kilometers downstream) and thought to have been linked to it. The archaeological sites of Tell es-Sweyhat and Tell Hadidi are also nearby.

Archaeology
The site, which lies 60 meters above the west bank of the Euphrates River, was founded on virgin soil, and covers an area of about 3 hectares. There is a 9.5 meter high 80 meter by 70 meter temple terrace with a stone foundation. An area of about 1 hectare has been excavated. Three charcoal samples, associated with a fragment of a miniature limestone clay wheel, gave calibrated radiocarbon dates of 3335–3103 BC, 3333–3101BC, and 3315–2916BC.

After having been visited by Maurits Van Loon in 1964 as part of the rescue survey he site of Jebel Aruda was excavated, as part of the Tabqa Dam rescue effort, between 1972 and 1982 by a Dutch team from the University of Leiden led by G. Van Driel. Finds from this excavation are held in the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities though are property of the government of Syria. Finds include eight copper axes (alternatively described as ingots). In a storeroom several kilograms of unprocessed lapis lazuli and a variety of precious stones were excavated.

In the southern area of the mound there are "T-Form" manor houses, suggested as prototypes for the later Mesopotamian E-GAL temples. Houses in the northern areas were more of a residential nature but included areas with industrial functions. On the platform were two 40 square meter tripartite structures with the typical Uruk period niched facades, one named the Red Temple and another name the Grey Temple, assumed to have religious or administrative functions. The Red Temple had a triple entrance leading across three vestibules into the cult room at the center. The Grey Temple had two entrances leading to a central area with a closed sacristy. Kilns were found in the courtyard of NC-NF compounds associated with ashy deposits containing a large number of bevel rim bowls and flower pots. A few of the ceramic objects had been coated with bitumen. Clay sealing were found at the site.

Thirteen Uruk V period "numerical tablets" (precursor to Proto-cuneiform) were found at the site. Four of the tablets were found in a large T-shaped room near the temples. Eleven Neolithic clay tokens were also excavated.

After a forty year delay the excavation final report was finally released in 2023.

History
Jebel Aruda is a single period site, occupied in three phases in the Uruk V period (c. 3500-3350 BC) of the late 4th millennium BC.