Tell Taya is an unusual site for Mesopotamia in that although most walls and roofs elements of the town buildings were the usual mud-brick in their upper parts, its foundations - originally up to about 0.5 metres above ground - were limestone, from an exposure running under the settlement. The upper buildings have of course entirely disintegrated after more than 4500 years, but the stone foundations substantially survive for walls of all sizes, allowing the vast area of town outside the small central tell to be planned in detail.
The most central parts (including the early circular walled citadel) continued to be sporadically occupied for a long period, while the much larger outer town area lay deserted and slowly decaying for millennia.
In the midst of cultivated land, the unploughed town remains are visible on satellite photos as a distinctive light-grey patch 7 kilometres east-south-east of the spring in the nearby city of Tal Afar (at the north head of the area of dark irrigated trees and other growth). The central tell of the Tell Taya town is located at longitude 42.49327, and latitude 36.33255.
The full extent of the ancient town occupies more than 2.2 square kilometres.
Large institutional buildings are present, and many hundreds of courtyard houses, shrines, streets, and open spaces are visible on the site.
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