Nuzi ware is the type of a ceramic ware which is especially associated with the Mitanni empire (15th to early 13th century BC). It was first identified at Nuzi, modern Iraq. This is a painted prestige pottery that is mostly found in a socially upscale context.
Nuzi ware is typically found from the Orontes River valley in the west, to as far as Babylon in the east. [1] In the south, specimens were also found in Qatna, [2] a city that lies outside the sphere of influence of the Mitanni empire, which indicates that the Nuzi ceramics was also used as trade goods.
Bronze Age pottery in the Middle East is mostly undecorated. The elegantly decorated Nuzi ware, with its delicate vessel shapes thus quickly aroused particular interest among researchers. [3]
Much older Khabur ware, which is mostly undecorated, or has simple geometrical decorations, precedes Nuzi ware in this general area, and it influenced Nuzi to some extent. The fourth and last phase of Khabur ware (around 1500 BC) is generally contemporaneous with Nuzi ware. [4]
Nuzi ware retains some shapes of Khabur ware, also the distinctive bird decorations of Nuzi have some precedence in the Khabur ware. At Tell Brak, Khabur ware occurs in parallel with white-on-dark painted Nuzi ware, which continues after the disappearance of Khabur ware at this site. [4]
White, painted patterns on a dark background are typical. The background can be dark brown to black. Various ceramic shapes are attested, but tall, slender vessels and goblets are particularly popular. These vessel shapes have a long tradition in Syria and Mesopotamia, so this seems to indicate that Nuzi ware represents a local development in northern Mesopotamia. The surface decorations can also be traced back to Mesopotamian models. [5]
Especially in Alalakh (modern Tell Atchana) numerous examples of this ceramic came to light, which are decorated with floral motifs. At Nuzi, itself, on the other hand, more geometric patterns are attested. Nevertheless, floral patterns are also documented in the east of the Mitanni area, although not to the same degree. The floral motifs were perhaps influenced by Minoan ceramics. [6]
The name Nuzi ware was suggested by Max Mallowan in 1948. Before that, this ceramic style was known as Hurrian ceramics. In order not to identify the ceramics with any one ethnic group, a more neutral term is now preferred. [7]
According to a 2016 review by Duraid S. Polis, the origin of Nuzi ware was in upper Mesopotamia, and this pottery belongs to the ceramic assemblage of Khabur ware Period 4, as proposed by H. Oguchi. [8] Similar conclusions were also reached by Paul Zimansky (1995), based on his examination at the Tell Hamida site. [9]
Also according to D. Polis, the end of Nuzi ware can be identified by the destruction of the second layer of Nuzi, which also marked the end of the Mitannian kingdom in the fourteenth century B.C.
The Hurrians were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria, upper Mesopotamia and southeastern Anatolia.
Mitanni, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat in Assyrian records, or Naharin in Egyptian texts, was a Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria and southeast Anatolia with Indo-Aryan linguistic and political influences. Since no histories, royal annals or chronicles have yet been found in its excavated sites, knowledge about Mitanni is sparse compared to the other powers in the area, and dependent on what its neighbours commented in their texts.
Shuttarna II was a king of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni in the early 14th century BC.
The Khabur River is the largest perennial tributary to the Euphrates in Syria. Although the Khabur originates in Turkey, the karstic springs around Ras al-Ayn are the river's main source of water. Several important wadis join the Khabur north of Al-Hasakah, together creating what is known as the Khabur Triangle, or Upper Khabur area. From north to south, annual rainfall in the Khabur basin decreases from over 400 mm to less than 200 mm. This has made the river a vital water source for agriculture throughout history. The Khabur joins the Euphrates near the town of Busayrah.
Qatna was an ancient city located in Homs Governorate, Syria. Its remains constitute a tell situated about 18 km (11 mi) northeast of Homs near the village of al-Mishrifeh. The city was an important center through most of the second millennium BC and in the first half of the first millennium BC. It contained one of the largest royal palaces of Bronze Age Syria and an intact royal tomb that has provided a great amount of archaeological evidence on the funerary habits of that period.
Nuzi was an ancient Mesopotamian city southwest of the city of Arrapha, located near the Tigris river. The site consists of one medium-sized multiperiod tell and two small single period mounds.
Urkesh, also transliterated Urkish, is a tell, or settlement mound, located in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains in Al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria. It was founded during the fourth millennium BC, possibly by the Hurrians, on a site which appears to have been inhabited previously for a few centuries. The city god of Urkesh was Kumarbi, father of Teshup.
Tell Brak was an ancient city in Syria; its remains constitute a tell located in the Upper Khabur region, near the modern village of Tell Brak, 50 kilometers north-east of Al-Hasaka city, Al-Hasakah Governorate. The city's original name is unknown. During the second half of the third millennium BC, the city was known as Nagar and later on, Nawar.
Tell Barri is a tell, or archaeological settlement mound, in north-eastern Syria in the Al-Hasakah Governorate. Its ancient name was Kahat as proven by a threshold found on the south-western slope of the mound. Tell Barri is situated along the Wadi Jaghjagh, a tributary of the Khabur River.
Shaushtatar was a king of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni in the fifteenth century BC. Two tablets of Shaushtatar, legal decisions, were found at Alalakh. They mention Niqmepa, the king of Alalakh, providing a synchronism. A tablet of Shaushtatar was found at Tall Bazi, granting land.
Ekallatum (Akkadian: 𒌷𒂍𒃲𒈨𒌍, URUE2.GAL.MEŠ, Ekallātum, "the Palaces") was an ancient Amorite city-state and kingdom in upper Mesopotamia.
Tell Arbid is an ancient Near East archaeological site in the Khabur River Basin region of Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria, about 50 kilometers north northeast of modern Al-Hasakah. It is located 45 kilometers south of Tell Mozan, the site of ancient Urkesh and about 15 kilometers from the site of Chagar Bazar. The Halafian site of Tell Arbid Abyad is a short distance away.
The Hassuna culture is a Neolithic archaeological culture in northern Mesopotamia dating to the early sixth millennium BC. It is named after the type site of Tell Hassuna in Iraq. Other sites where Hassuna material has been found include Tell Shemshara.
Khabur ware is a specific type of pottery named after the Khabur River region, in northeastern Syria, where large quantities of it were found by the archaeologist Max Mallowan at the site of Chagar Bazar. The pottery's distribution is not confined to the Khabur region, but spreads across northern Iraq and is also found at a few sites in Turkey and Iran.
Tell Sheikh Hamad, also Dur-Katlimmu, is an archeological site in eastern Syria on the lower Khabur River, a tributary of the Euphrates.
Tell Taban is an archaeological site in north-eastern Syria in the Al-Hasakah Governorate. It is the site of the ancient city of Ṭābetu.
Adad-Nirari or H̱addu-Nirari, was a king of Qatna in the 14th century BC.
Tell Djassa is an archaeological site in Syria, in the Khabur River basin, in the area of the Khabur Triangle in Upper Mesopotamia.
Shuwala (Šuwala) was a Hurrian goddess who was regarded as the tutelary deity of Mardaman, a Hurrian city in the north of modern Iraq. She was also worshiped in other Hurrian centers, such as Nuzi and Alalakh, as well as in Ur in Mesopotamia, Hattusa in the Hittite Empire and in the Syrian cities Emar and Ugarit.
Ḫabūrītum (dḫa-bu-ri-tum) was a goddess of the river Khabur worshiped in ancient Syria. She was incorporated into the Mesopotamian pantheon in the Ur III period. Her original cult center was most likely Sikani, which in the early third millennium was located in an area ruled by Hurrians. Not much is known about her character. In Mesopotamian texts she appears chiefly in association with other deities worshiped in Syria, such as Dagan and Ishara.