ʿAmūq , Turkish Amik , level of Southern Turkey , borders Syria. Framed by mountains, the plain is about 500 square kilometers and forms a triangle between the cities of Antioch (southwest), Reyhanlı (southeast) and Kırıkhan (north). In the center of the plain is Lake Amik (Lake Antioch), which was drained after the mid-20th century. The region's agriculture is based on irrigated cotton .
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In the 1930s, expeditions led by the American anthropologist Robert J. Braidwood of the Oriental Institute of University of Chicago cataloged 178 archaeological sites in the ʿAmūq Plain. Among those later excavated were Tell Al-Judaidah (Judeidah), Tell Kurdu, and Tell Açana or Atchana, the ancient city Alalakh ( see there ). These and other tells form the basis of the ʿAmūq series, a stratigraphic sequence that describes the chronology of the Middle East already from 6000 v . Chr . Outlines . Research in the plane was renewed in 1995 by the Oriental Institute.