The Biblical Archaeologist - Vol.48, N.1 volume 48 issue 1

68 Pages·1985·18.69 MB·English

by  American Schools of Oriental Research

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JSOTT O PUBLISHA SOR MONOGRAPHS ERIES
The AmericanS chools of OrientalR esearch andJ SOTP ress
(, are pleased to announce the resumption of the ASOR "--6 na
MonographS eries. 4,
r~\~
The AmericanS choolso f OrientaRl esearchin vitesm anuscriptfso rc onsideratiofno rt he ASORM onograph
Series.
Manuscriptasr ew elcomedo n topicst hatr eflectA SOR'tsr aditionainl terests,p articularblyi blicaslt udiesa nd
ancientN earE asternh istorya nda rchaeologyA. t least two suchm onographas y eara ret o be publishedin
conjunctiown ithJ SOTP ress, SheffieldE, ngland.
SUBMITM ANUSCRIPT(SIN D UPLICATEP,L EASET) O:
ERICM . MEYERSE, DITOR
ASOR-JSOMT ONOGRAPSHE RIES
BOXH .M., DUKES TATION
DURHAMN, ORTHC AROLIN2A7 706,U SA
Front cover:R epresentationo f spiral columns from the north facade of the Building-Level-II
temple on the Acropolis-northeasta t Tell Leilan. Back cover: Variousv iews of Leilan.
Bi blical A rchaeologist
A Publication of the American Schools of Oriental Research Volume 48 Number 1 March 1985
Leilan on the Habur Plains of Syria 5
Tell
Harvey Weiss
Tell Leilan is one of the more imposing sites in
northern Mesopotamia. Three seasons of excavation
have now been conducted there, and the findings
suggest a great deal about this region in the third and
early second millennia B.C.i, ncluding the possibility
that Leilan is ancient Shubat Enlil, the capital city of
Shamshi-Adad,a fascinating historical figure who in
the last years of the nineteenth century B.Cb. riefly
controlled all of northern Mesopotamia from the
Zagros Mountains to the EuphratesR iver.
Page 5
The Cuisineo f AncientM esopotamia 36
Jean Bottdro
Until recently the oldest cuisine we knew in depth was
that of ancient Rome. The recoveryo f a half-million
written documents from numerous sites in the ancient
Near East, however,h as now shown us that the culture
of Mesopotamia also included a discriminating choice
of foodstuffs and advancedt echniques for preparing
them.
SalvageE xcavations at Tell Hadidi in the
EuphratesR iver Valley 49
Rudolph H. Dornemann
Page3 6 Because one of the major trade routes in antiquity
followed the Euphrates,t he ancient sites along this
river are particularly significant. In recent years many
of these sites, threatened by the creation of a large
artificial lake, Al Assad, have been the subject of an
international salvage effort. As a part of this effort, five
seasons of excavations have been conducted at Tell
Hadidi, yielding the essential outline of its development
through more than 4,000 years.
Departments
Fromt he Editor'Ds esk 3
Introducingt he Authors 4
Book Reviews 60
Page4 9
Biblical Archaeologist is published with the financial assistance of
the Endowment for Biblical Research, Boston,
a nonsectarian foundation for the study of the Bible and the history of the Christian Church.
BIBLICALA RCHAEOLOGIST/MARCH1 985 1
AMERICAN SCHOOLS OF ORIENTAL RESEARCH
ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE, ASOR, 4243 SPRUCE STREET, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19104 [phone]
James A. Sauer, President W.E Albright Institute of
Eric M. Meyers, First Vice President for ArchaeologicalR esearch( AIAR). LSOF 19
Publications P O. Box 19096, 91 190 JerusalemI srael.
William G. Dever, Second Vice President Seymour Gitin, Director
for Archaeological Policy JosephA . Callaway,P resident u
rn
GeorgeM . Landes,S ecretary JoyU ngerleider-MayersonF, irst Vice
Charles U. Harris, President
Treasurer ~~fr
ElizabethB . Moynihan, Chairmano f the Carol Meyers,S econd Vice President
Boardo f EdgarK rentz,S ecretary-Tieasurer
7rustees
Mitchell S. Rothman,A dministrative
Director BaghdadC ommittee for the Baghdad
Cynthia J.E iseman, Development and School.
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Oriental Institute, University of ResearchI nstitute (CAARI).
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IL6 0637. Stuart Swiny,D irector
Charles U. Harris,P resident
American Center of Oriental Research AndrewO liver, Jr.,V ice President
ASOR Newsletter; JamesA . Sauer,E ditor (ACOR). Ellen Herscher,S ecretary
Biblical Archaeologist;E ric M. Meyers, P O. Box 2470, JebelA mman, Amman Norma Kershawf, reasurer
Editor Jordan.
Bulletin of the American Schools of David W McCreery,D irector Damascus AdvisoryC ommittee.
Oriental Research;W alterE . Rast, Gough W Thompson, Jr.,P resident Giorgio Buccellati, Chairman
Editor LawrenceT . Geraty,V ice President Center for MesopotamianS tudies,
Journalo f Cuneiform Studies;E rle Nancy Lapp,S ecretary University of California,4 05 Hilgard
Leichty,E ditor Anne Cabot Ogilvy, freasurer Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024.
Biblical
Archaeologist
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2 BIBLICALA RCHAEOLOGIST/MARCH1 985
MilwaukeeP ublic Museum Rudolph Dornemann
H.
Harvey Weiss
the Authors
Introducing
Harvey Weiss is Associate Professor of Near Eastern Archae-
ology at Yale University. From 1966 to 1973 he studied As- Readers,T akeN ote!
syriology, archaeology,a nd anthropology at the University of
Pennsylvania,a nd conductedf ield work in western Iran.H e has All subscriptiosne rvicesf orA SORp eriodicalas ren ow
directed the T11lL eilan Project since 1978. He is also Guest beingh andledb yF ulcoI nc.P leasea ddresas nys ubscrip-
Curator of the Smithsonian Institution exhibition "Eblat o tion correspondenctoe:
Damascus,"w hich opens in the United States in Septembera nd ASOR SubscriptionS ervices
will travel to a number of major museums over the next two DepartmentB B
P. O. Box 3000
years, and he is currently editing the catalog for the exhibit.
Denville, NJ 07834
With this article he wishes "to thank his Syrian friends and
colleagues in the Directorate-Generalo f Antiquities, in the Annual subscriptionst o the ASORN ewsletter are $15. Students
municipalities of Kamishli and Qahtaniyeh, and in the village and retireesa re chargedo nly $11.B oth must pay $2 more for
of Tell Leilan for their generous support, assistance, and overseass ubscriptions.
hospitality." Annual subscriptionsf or BiblicalA rchaeologista re $16 for indi-
viduals and $25 for institutions. Therei s a special rate of $14 for
The well-known scholar Jean Bottero is Directeur d'ttudes at students and retirees. Outside the US., US. possessions, and
Canada, add $2 for annual subscriptions.
the tcole Pratique des Hautes ttudes (Assyriologie)i n Paris.
Among his many important contributions, he has published Annual subscriptionst o the Bulletin of the American Schools of
the TextesE conomiquese t Administratifsd es ArchivesR oyales OrientalR esearcha re $35, although students and retireesp ay only
de Mari (ImprimerieN ationale, 1957). $27. An additional $2 is chargedf or subscriptionsm ailed outside
the U.S., U.S.p ossessions, and Canada.I nstitutional subscriptions
are $45 in the US., its possessions, and Canada;f oreigns ubscrip-
RudolphH . Dornemann is Curatoro f History and Head of the tions are $50.
History Section at the Milwaukee Public Museum. With a
Advertisinign BiblicalA rchaeologisits nowh andledb y
Ph.D. from the University of Chicago,h e has extensive archae-
the ASORP ublicationOs ffice.C orrespondensche ouldb e
ological field experience and has directed several excavations, addressetdo :
most recently the excavations at T11lH adidi from 1974-1978. ASORP ublicationOs ffice
His experience in Jordaniana rchaeology, including the first P. O. Box H.M., Duke Station
directorship of the American Center of Oriental Research in Durham, NC 27706
Amman, Jordan, led to his book The Archaeology of the Wew elcome inquiries about ad placement and will providea rate
Transjordani n the Bronze and Iron Ages (Milwaukee Public card on request. Writet o us at the addressa bove or call (919)
Museum, 1983). A recently completed monograph for the 684-3075.
University of Chicago is the first majorp ublication coming out Biblical Archaeologist is not responsible for errors in copy prepared
of his involvement with Syrian archaeology for the past two by the advertiser. The editor reserves the right to refuse any ad.
decades: A Neolithic Village at Tell El Kowm in the Syrian Ads for the sale of antiquities will not be accepted.
Desert will be published later this year.
4 BIBLICALA RCHAEOLOGIST/MARCH1 985
Lawrence T Geraty
From the Editor's Desk
It
is a special pleasure for me to welcome with this
issue a new Associate Editor,L awrenceT . Geraty,o f
Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan.
Larryb rings a distinguished recordo f excavation in issue on Ebla (volume 47, number 1)a nd continued with
Jordant o this task. His work at Tell Hesban is now in the subsequent issues on Mari (volume 47, number 2) and
final publication phase and he has undertakena new and Dura-Europos( volume 47, number 3). Weh ope that these
exciting projecta t Tell Umeiri in the vicinity of Amman. have been helpful and that they will prove to be a useful
He is a scholar of broadh umanistic interest with a strong guide for some of the materials in the exhibition. In the
commitment to the scientific and interdisciplinary as- present issue we are especially pleased to provider eports
pects of the archaeological endeavor.A professor of Old on new and important excavation work in Syria by Pro-
Testament and archaeology at Andrews, he is also an fessor HarveyW eiss of YaleU niversity (onT ell Leilan)a nd
excellent teacher and lecturer and is another one of the by Dr. RudolphH . Dornemann of the Milwaukee Public
many students of the late G. ErnestW right,f oundero f the Museum (on Tell Hadidi). (Dr.W eiss, by the way, is guest
magazine. I know that Dr. Wright would be especially curatoro f the Smithsonian exhibit and editor of its cata-
pleased at the thought that now two of his former stu- log.) If the two articles on these sites do not whet the
dents arec hargedw ith publishing BiblicalArchaeologist readers'a ppetite for Syrian archaeology,t hen surely the
forty-eighty ears after its inception. essay by ProfessorJ eanB ott6roo n Mesopotamian cuisine
I'dl ike to take this opportunity to express my thanks will. The article by ProfessorB ottero originally appeared
to James Flanagan of the University of Montana who in the fine French magazine L'histoire.I t has been trans-
served as Associate Editor these past two years. Dr. lated by Jonathan Glass and then fully adapted by our
Flanagan remains a member of our Editorial Board. I'd editorial staff. We are grateful to the editors of L'histoire
also like to welcome two new members of the board,D r. for their kind permission to publish this new version.
Seymour Gitin, Director of the W. Albright Institute of As a final note, I'mp leased to announce that the Mari
F.
Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, and Dr. David issue of BA was recently given an awardf or outstanding
McCreery,D irector of the American Center of Oriental design andp roductionb y PICA (the PrintingI ndustrieso f
Research in Amman. Hopefully both of them will be the Carolinas and America). We'ren aturally gratified by
steering many new authors to publish their exciting this and other evidence that the high quality of BA
discoveries in these pages. continues to be recognized.
With this issue we conclude a series of presentations
on Syrian archaeology-a project meant to precede the
opening this September of a special traveling exhibition
on Syrian archaeology sponsored by the Smithsonian Eric M. Meyers
Institution. This series began last year with a special Editor
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST/MARCH 1985 3
Rediscov-
Tell
ering
Leilan
Hormuzd Rassam.
In 1846, Hormuzd Rassam,a resident of Mosul, in northern
Mesopotamia, signed on with Austen Henry Layard, a
young English explorers ent out by his governmentt o retrieve
antiquities for the British like those that the Frenchh ad just
begun to extract from the mounds of northern Mesopotamia.
Twoy ears later, Layardw as being lionized by the British press
as the first shipments of Assyrian bas-reliefs and statuary
were unloadeda t the doorso f the British Museum. Layardh ad
Around 1930 the Frenchi nvestigatorA ndre Poidebardt ook this
excavated the sculpture from the great mound of Nimrud,
early aerial photographo f Tell Leilan from the northwest.
where in the first days of his work he found himself in the
palace of king Ashur-nasirpal of Assyria. With these dis-
explorer, Max Freiherr von Oppenheim, began a series of
coveries, and those of the Frencha t nearbys ites, the retrieval
travels across northemrMn esopotamia, during which he de-
of the lost civilizations of Mesopotamiab egan.
cided to undertakee xcavationsa t' Tll Halaf, near the sources
In 1849 Layard published Nineveh and its Remains, an
of the HaburR iver at Ras el cAin. Oppenheim also took note
account of his discoveries and adventures in Mesopotamia
of Tell Leilana nd, mimicking Rassam'so bservation,d eclared
that swiftly became a best-seller among the English upper
Leilant o be "anA ssyrian or still older site"( Oppenheim 1899:
classes. Tnwyoe arsl ater,a t the age of thirty-four,L ayardr etired
141, 167-68). This notice was kept alive in the world of
from Near Eastern archaeology to London, where he soon
ancient Near Easterns cholarshipb y Emil Forrert, he German
enjoyedt he first of many fruits broughtb y his archaeological
Assyriologist, whose widely read study of the history of the
fame-election to the House of Commons. But what
Assyrian provinces again suggested that Leilan may have
happenedt o Hormuzd Rassam?
been an Assyrian capital (Forrer1 921:2 0).
Rassam had supervised the excavations undertaken in
The period between the two WorldW arss aw Frencha nd
Layard'sn ame for the British government, but Layard's
British imperial interests competing for still largers hares of
account of the field work hardly earned for the Mosul native
the land,p eople, andp roductiver esourceso f WestA sia. In the
the fame and wealth that accrued to the dashing Londoner.
wake of their armies and colonial bureaucrats,F rench and
Rassam remained in Mesopotamia where, as the most ex-
British scholars, prominently including historians and ar-
perienced British archaeologicala gent, he was soon charged
chaeologists, poured into Syria and Mesopotamia, continu-
by the British Museum with additional excavationsa t Ashur,
ing the tradition begun some fifty years earlier by Layarda nd
Nineveh, and Sippar.H oping, however,t o secure some of the
his contemporaries.S tartlingd iscoveriesw ere soon made on
limelight surroundingL ayard,R assam undertook a series of
mule-bornet ravelsi n searcho f still more spectaculara ncient Syriant erritoryw ith excavationsa t Tl Hariri( ancientM ari)
and Dura-Europos.F rom 1925 through 1932, one unusual
sites in northern Mesopotamia. On May 21, 1878, he gazed
French investigator, Andre Poidebard,e ven took to the air
southward from a roadside mound in what is now north-
with the Air Ministry of the "Haut-Commissariate n Syrie et
eastern Syriaa nd spotted ThllL eilanr ising abovet he horizon.
au Liban"i n his attempt to trace the frontier wall of the
Anotherm uch largerm oundc ouldb e seen standing Roman empire through the so-called deserts of Syria. One
fiveo rs ix miless outhwardc,a lled" Lailanw,"h ichI was
toldh asa wallr oundit likem osto f theA ssyrians iteso f product of Poidebard'sp rodigious efforts is his folio of more
importanceI. hada greatd esiret o go ande xaminei t, than two hundred aerial photographs of the mounds of
butc ouldn ot affordth e time.I hoped,h oweverw, henI ancient Syria, including Tell Leilan (Poidebard1 934: plate
shouldb e in thatn eighborhooadg aint, o bea blet o visit 160). The TeillL eilan photographs hows the outer City Wall,
it and try it for a short time (Rassam1 897:2 32-33). the Acropolis, and the ziggurat nestled between the Jarrah
Rassam chose to pass Leilan by. Three years later he was and Qatraniw adis. Also visible is another wall, to the north,
absorbedi n his excavationo f the ancient site of Sippar,w here which Poidebardt ook to represent the remains of a Roman
he was knee-deep in more than 60,000 cuneiform tablets. camp.
Knowledge of Leilan did not, however, remain a seren- One hundred years after Rassam'sg aze across the hori-
dipitous note tucked away in Rassam's travel accounts. zon towardsT ll Leilan, YaleU niversity began a new archae-
Shortly thereafter, that inveterate German orientalist and ological projecta t the site.
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST/MARCH 1985 5
Tell
Leilan
05~
Leilanp hotographedf rom the west. Seen
from a distance the modern village, which is
built on top of the Acropolis,p robably looks BY WEISS
much as the site did in antiquity HARVEY
T
ell Leilan is certainly one Tel Brak (43 hectares).T he gates of site. In association with the Metro-
of the more imposing sites the city were on the north, south, politan Museum of Art in New York,
in northern Mesopotamia. and east, while on the west the three full seasons of excavation
Situated on the left bank ancient river probablyp rovideda (1979, 1980, and 1982)h ave since
of the WadiJ arrahi, n the heart of the protective shoulder. The site is been conducted. These excavations
fertile Habur Plains of northeastern dominated by a 15-hectareA cropolis, have tested four areas of the site.
Syria, the massive extant walls rise which probablyf eatured large public The Acropolis-northeasth as been
more than 15 meters above the level buildings in its northern section and the focus of horizontal excavations,
of the plain, and enclose an area of a "ziggurat"to the south. while three stratigraphics oundings
some 90 hectares (900,000 square In 1978, with the cooperation of have also been undertaken:O pera-
meters), making it one of the largest the Directorate-Generalo f Anti- tion 1, a 4.5-meter-wides tep trench,
ancient sites in northern Mesopo- quities in Damascus, YaleU niver- now almost 16 meters deep, which
tamia, even largert han Ebla (56 sity began its work at Tell Leilan goes down the northwest slope of
hectares), Ashur (50 hectares), and with a topographics urvey of the the Acropolis;a small sounding
6 BIBLICALA RCHAEOLOGIST/MARCH1 985
might provide evidence for the site's
historical role, this areah as become
one of the central research loci of
t the Tell Leilan Project.
Gate? Gate?
Initial explorations in 1979,
barely scratching its surface, allayed
all previous fears that the Leilan
Acropolis was cappedb y a Roman-
period fortress.A t 50 centimeters
4 down, the trained excavatori s able
Acropolis-nortil east LowerT own Gate?
to articulate the tops of massive,
Operation 1 , sun-driedm udbrick walls erected
-
some 4,000 years ago. Three building
11
levels of such collapsed structures
Operation5 7F02
r- have now been identified within our
(cid:127) Operation2 excavations on the Acropolis-
northeast.
Acropolis \
5k Building Level I. Immediately under
the surface, Building Level I com-
prises the remains of a mudbrick
platform or paving, now only a few
courses high in some places. This
Ziggurat
surface and its brickwork were set
,
Gate against the collapsed southern facade
of an earlier building level, Building
LevelI I (see stratigraphics ection).
A Laters urfaces related to the Building-
Gate?
Level-Ib rick platform have also been
identified elsewhere within the col-
lapsed walls of Building Level II, and
associated with these surfaces are
potsherds of the "Haburw are"v ariety
that is securely dated to the nine-
teenth century B.C. These same
kinds of ceramics also comprise the
assemblages of Building Level II and
Building Level III.T his then is the
terminal occupation on the Acrop-
Topographical map of Tell Leilan showing areas of excavation as of the 1982 season.
olis, perhaps representing scrappy,
insubstantial habitations, possibly
(designated5 7F02)i n the Lower Tell Leilan in the Second of squatters or temporarys ettlers
Town;a nd Operation 2, a small Millennium B.c.: Excavationso n who were seeking shelter within the
sounding at the City Wall. the Acropolis-northeast ruins of large, recently collapsed
In the first part of this paperI Three seasons of excavation on the buildings. These ruins are now
shall briefly present some results of Leilan Acropolis now provide new known to be the remains of a major
the excavation of the Acropolis- data for the significance of Leilan, second-millennium-B.c.t emple.
northeast, and then discuss what its ancient name, and its role on the Building Level II. Thirteen hundred
these suggest for our understanding Habur Plains of the early second square meters of the Building-Level-
of the site during the early second millennium The topography of II temple have now been retrieved,
B.c.
millennium B.C.I n the second part I the Acropolis suggests that large with an equivalent areap robably
shall summarize what we have public buildings are situated within remaining to be excavated.T he nor-
learned in the three soundings, and the northeast quadrant.F ort he pur- thern facade of the temple presented
consider what this may tell us about poses of establishing the chronology an imposing configuration of niches
northern Mesopotamia in the third of settlement within the site and its and engaged columns arrangedi n
millennium B.C. Acropolis, as well as testing loci that panels, alternately spiral and plain-
continued on page 12
BIBLICALA RCHAEOLOGIST/MARCH1 985 7
The north facade of the Building-Level-ItIe mple on the Acropolis-northeaste xtends for more than 50 meters and is decorated with an
impressive series of niches and engaged columns that are either plain-faced or spiral. The east side of the facade is shown above and the west
side is below
8 BIBLICALA RCHAEOLOGIST/MARCH1 985