Tell al-Dhiba'i

Last updated
Tell al-Dhiba'i
Iraq physical map.svg
Archaeological site icon (red).svg
Shown within Iraq
Near East non political.png
Archaeological site icon (red).svg
Tell al-Dhiba'i (Near East)
Location Baghdad Governorate , Iraq
Region Mesopotamia
Coordinates 33°18′36″N44°28′48″E / 33.31000°N 44.48000°E / 33.31000; 44.48000
Typesettlement
History
Periods Isin-Larsa period , Old Babylonian Empire
Site notes
Excavation dates1947, 1962, 1982–1984
ArchaeologistsMuhammed Ali Mustafa, Nahida Abdul Feta

Tell al-Dhiba'i, (also Tell edh-Dhiba'i and Tell adh-Dhiba), is an archaeological site in Baghdad Governorate (Iraq). It lies within the borders of modern Baghdad near Tell Muhammad and 3 kilometers northeast of Shaduppum (Tell Harmal), more specifically in the neighborhood of New Baghdad. [1] Uzarzalulu/Zaralulu has been proposed as the original name of the city. [2] [3] [4] An alternative proposal is Šadlaš. [5] Known rulers of Šadlaš are Sumu-Amnānum, Sumu-numḫim and Sumu-Šamaš. [6] The city was occupied mainly during the Isin-Larsa period and Old Babylonian period. [7] Not to be confused with the Sassanian period site Tell al-Dhiba'i near Uruk. [8]

Contents

Archaeology

The site consists of three mounds covering a rectangular area of about 45000 square meters (300 meters by 150 meters) and rising to 7 meters. The highest mound is to the north. The Directorate-General of Antiquities of Iraq conducted three seasons of excavations, led by Muhammed Ali Mustafa, in 1947, 1962, and 1965. [1] [9] [10] Before excavations began the site, being near Baghdad, had already been extensively dug by illegal workers in some areas in search of tablets and small finds. In 1982–84 an Iraqi State Organization for Antiquities and Heritage team led by Nahida Abdul Feta did some additional excavation on Old Babylonian houses there. A 50 meter by 50 meter section was excavated adjacent to the temple, and a number of cuneiform tablets were found. [11] [12] [13]

History

Five occupation layers were found on the central mound, underlain by scattered Akkadian Empire and Ur III period remains. The city of Zaralulu was known in the Akkadian Empire period. [14] Level IV was marked by the remains large Kassite era foundations that cut into the lower level. The most significant level was Level V, where roughly 100 cuneiform tablets, mostly business or administrative records, and a temple (14.5 by 18.5 meters) of the god Lasimu (or Lassimu) were uncovered. The Level V occupation was destroyed by conflagration and the site abandoned. The tablets were mainly administrative and loan contracts. Date formulas on tablets, including the death of Belakum, king of Eshnunna. He was a contemporary of Sumu-la-El (c. 1880–1845 BC) of Babylon showing this level to date to the early period of the First Dynasty of Babylon. [15] Most of the city rulers had Amorite names. [16] Cylinder seals were also recovered, some the same as at Tell Harmal. [17] [18] The northern and southern mounds had levels III, IV, and V with level III having a large building. The north mound produced a number of tablets and other finds. In total roughly 300 tablets were found at the site "183 administrative documents, 45 receipts, 31 letters, 9 loan contracts, 3 mathematical texts and 8 miscellane". [19] [20] [21] An important discovery was a copper-smith operation including most of its tools including bellows, crucibles, and lost wax molds, dated to the Old Babylonian period. [22] [23] There are some Neo-Babylonian and Kassite graves at surface level of the site.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nippur</span> Archaeological site in Iraq

Nippur was an ancient Sumerian city. It was the special seat of the worship of the Sumerian god Enlil, the "Lord Wind", ruler of the cosmos, subject to An alone. Nippur was located in modern Nuffar 5 miles north of modern Afak, Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Iraq. It is roughly 200 kilometers south of modern Baghdad and about 96.54 km southeast of the ancient city of Babylon. Occupation at the site extended back to the Ubaid period, the Uruk period, and the Jemdet Nasr period. The origin of the ancient name is unknown but different proposals have been made.

Sippar was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its tell is located at the site of modern Tell Abu Habbah near Yusufiyah in Iraq's Baghdad Governorate, some 69 km (43 mi) north of Babylon and 30 km (19 mi) southwest of Baghdad. The city's ancient name, Sippar, could also refer to its sister city, Sippar-Amnanum ; a more specific designation for the city here referred to as Sippar was Sippar-Yaḫrurum (Sippar-Jaḫrurum). The name comes from the Amorite Yaḫrurum tribe that lived in the area along with the Amorite Amnanum tribe. In Sippar was the site where the Babylonian Map of the World was found.

Kish is an important archaeological site in Babil Governorate (Iraq), located 80 km (50 mi) south of Baghdad and 12 km (7.5 mi) east of the ancient city of Babylon. The Ubaid period site of Ras al-Amiyah is 8 km (5.0 mi) away. It was occupied from the Ubaid period to the Hellenistic period. In Early Dynastic times the city's patron deity was Ishtar with her consort Ea. Her temple, at Tell Ingharra, was (E)-hursag-kalama. By Old Babylonian times the patron deities had become Zababa, along with his consort, the goddess Bau and Istar. His temple Emeteursag was at Uhaimir.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dur-Kurigalzu</span> Archaeological site in Iraq

Dur-Kurigalzu was a city in southern Mesopotamia, near the confluence of the Tigris and Diyala rivers, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of the center of Baghdad. It was founded by a Kassite king of Babylon, Kurigalzu I and was abandoned after the fall of the Kassite dynasty. The city was of such importance that it appeared on toponym lists in the funerary temple of the Egyptian pharaoh, Amenophis III at Kom el-Hettan". The prefix Dur is an Akkadian term meaning "fortress of", while the Kassite royal name Kurigalzu is believed to have meant "shepherd of the Kassites". The tradition of naming new towns Dur dates back to the Old Babylonian period with an example being Dūr-Ammī-ditāna. The city contained a ziggurat and temples dedicated to Mesopotamian gods, as well as a royal palace which covered 420,000 square meters.

Adab was an ancient Sumerian city between Girsu and Nippur, lying about 35 kilometers southeast of the latter. It was located at the site of modern Bismaya or Bismya in the Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate of Iraq. The site was occupied at least as early as the 3rd Millenium BC, through the Early Dynastic, Akkadian Empire, and Ur III empire periods, into the Kassite period in the mid-2nd millennium BC. It is known that there were temples of Ninhursag/Digirmah, Iskur, Asgi, Inanna and Enki at Adab and that the city-god of Adab was Parag'ellilegarra (Panigingarra) "The Sovereign Appointed by Ellil".

Marad was an ancient Near Eastern city. Marad was situated on the west bank of the then western branch of the Upper Euphrates River west of Nippur in modern-day Iraq and roughly 50 km southeast of Kish, on the Arahtu River. The site was identified in 1912 based on a Neo-Babylonian inscription on a truncated cylinder of Nebuchadrezzar noting the restoration of the temple. The cylinder was not excavated but rather found by locals so its provenance was not certain, as to some extent was the site's identification as Marad. In ancient times it was on the canal, Abgal, running between Babylon and Isin.

Dilbat was an ancient Near Eastern city located 25 kilometers south of Babylon on the eastern bank of the Western Euphrates in modern-day Babil Governorate, Iraq. It lies 15 kilometers southeast of the ancient city of Borsippa. The site of Tell Muhattat, 5 kilometers away, was earlier thought to be Dilbat. The ziggurat E-ibe-Anu, dedicated to Urash, a minor local deity distinct from the earth goddess Urash, was located in the center of the city and was mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Kisurra was an ancient Sumerian tell situated on the west bank of the Euphrates, 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) north of Shuruppak and due east of Kish.

Khafajah or Khafaje, ancient Tutub, is an archaeological site in Diyala Governorate, Iraq 7 miles (11 km) east of Baghdad. Khafajah lies on the Diyala River, a tributary of the Tigris. Occupied from the Uruk and Jemdet Nasr periods through the end of the Old Babylonian Empire, it was under the control of the Akkadian Empire and then the Third Dynasty of Ur in the 3rd millennium BC. It then became part of the empire of the city-state of Eshnunna lying 12 miles (19 km) southwest of that city, about 5 miles (8.0 km) from the ancient city of Shaduppum, and near Tell Ishchali, both which Eshnunna also controlled. It then fell to Babylonia before falling into disuse.

Shaduppum, modern Tell Harmal, is an archaeological site in Baghdad Governorate (Iraq). Nowadays, it lies within the borders of modern Baghdad about 600 meters from the site of Tell Mohammad. In the Old Babylonian period it was part of the kingdom of Eshnunna. Other cities in the kingdom lie not far away including Eshnunna and Tell Ishchali and Khafajah four and six miles away on the left bank of the Diyala River. The site of Tell al-Dhiba'i, thought to be the ancient town of Uzarzalulu, is about 2 kilometers away and of similar characteristics.

Tell Ishchali is an archaeological site in Diyala Province (Iraq) a few hundred meters from the Diyala River and 3 miles south by southeast from the ancient city of Khafajah. It is thought to be ancient Nerebtum or Kiti and was part of the city-state of Eshnunna. It is known to have been occupied during the Isin-Larsa period and Old Babylonian period with excavations ending before earlier levels were reached.

Tell Uqair is a tell or settlement mound northeast of ancient Babylon, about 25 kilometers north-northeast of the ancient city of Kish, just north of Kutha, and about 50 miles (80 km) south of Baghdad in modern Babil Governorate, Iraq. It was occupied in the Ubaid period and the Uruk period. It has been proposed as the site of the 3rd millennium BC city of Urum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babylon</span> Ancient Mesopotamian city in Iraq

Babylon was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about 85 kilometres south of modern day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-speaking region of Babylonia. Its rulers established two important empires in antiquity, the 19th–16th century BC Old Babylonian Empire, and the 7th–6th century BC Neo-Babylonian Empire. Babylon was also used as a regional capital of other empires, such as the Achaemenid Empire. Babylon was one of the most important urban centres of the ancient Near East, until its decline during the Hellenistic period. Nearby ancient sites are Kish, Borsippa, Dilbat, and Kutha.

Sippar-Amnanum, modern Tell ed-Der in Baghdad Governorate, Iraq, was an ancient Near Eastern city about 70 kilometers north of Babylon, 6 kilometers northeast of Sippar and about 26 kilometers southwest of modern Baghdad. Occupation dates back to the days of the Akkadian Empire and later the Ur III period but most of the development was during the Old Babylonian period. Early archaeologists referred to the site as "Der" or Dair". In the late 1800s archaeologists proposed that this was the location of the city of Akkad, later disproved.

Me-Turan is an archaeological site in Diyala Governorate Iraq comprising the modern Tell Haddad and the two mounds of Tell al-Sib. In Neo-Assyrian times it was known as Me-Turnat. It was excavated as part of the Hamrin Dam salvage project.

Bakr Awa is a tell, or archaeological settlement mound, in Sulaymaniyah Province, Iraq. It is located near Halabja in the Shahrizor Plain in Iraqi Kurdistan. It is in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains not far from the headwaters of the Diyala River. The site is 40 meters high and consists of a central settlement mound surrounded by a lower city measuring 800 by 600 metres. Other sites in the area include Tell Kunara, Tell Bazmusian, and Tell Shemshara.

Tell Khaiber is a tell, or archaeological settlement mound, in southern Mesopotamia. It is located thirteen kilometers west of the modern city of Nasiriyah, about 19 kilometers northwest of the ancient city of Ur in Dhiq Qar Province and 25 kilometers south of the ancient city of Larsa. In 2012, the site was visited by members of the Ur Region Archaeology Project (URAP), a cooperation between the British Institute for the Study of Iraq, the University of Manchester and the Iraqi State Board for Antiquities and Heritage. They found that the site had escaped looting, and applied for an excavation permit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IM 67118</span> Old Babylonian clay tablet about a problem in geometry

IM 67118, also known as Db2-146, is an Old Babylonian clay tablet in the collection of the Iraq Museum that contains the solution to a problem in plane geometry concerning a rectangle with given area and diagonal. In the last part of the text, the solution is proved correct using the Pythagorean theorem. The steps of the solution are believed to represent cut-and-paste geometry operations involving a diagram from which, it has been suggested, ancient Mesopotamians might, at an earlier time, have derived the Pythagorean theorem.

Tell Muhammad, is an ancient Near East archaeological site currently in the outskirts of Baghdad, along the Tigris river in the Diyala region. It is a very short distance from the site of Tell Harmal to the north and not far from the site of Tell al-Dhiba'i to the northeast. The ancient name of the site is unknown though Diniktum has been suggested. The lost city of Akkad has also been proposed. Based on a year name found on one of the cuneiform tablets the name Banaia has also been proposed.

Tell Yelkhi, is an ancient Near East archaeological site in Diyala Governorate (Iraq). It was examined as part of the Hamrin Dam salvage excavation before it flooded. Other sites a part of that rescue excavation included, Me-Turan, Tell Gubah, Tell Songor, Tellul Hamediyat, Tell Rubeidheh, Tell Madhur, Tell Imlihiye, Tell Rashid, Tell Saadiya and Tell Abada. Some of these sites, including Tell Yelkhi, periodically emerge from the water. The site of Tell Yelhi was settled in the early 3rd millennium BC and occupation continued through the Kassite period late in the 2nd millennium BC. Its name in ancient times is not yet known though Awalki has been suggested.

References

  1. 1 2 Mustafa, M.A., "Soundings at Tell al-Dhiba’i", Sumer, vol. 5, iss. 2, pp. 173–88, 1949
  2. ↑ Abdullah, A.K., "The paramount god and the old name of Al-Dhiba’i", Sumer, vol. 23, no. 1-2, pp. 189–92, 1967
  3. ↑ Matoušová , M., "Running Adad", Sumer, vol. 22, iss. 1-2, pp. 115-117, 1966
  4. ↑ Viaggio, Salvatore, "Tell adh-Dhiba’i / Zaralulu", Geo-Archeologia, vol. 2000/1, pp. 27-41, 2000
  5. ↑ Rashid, F., "The old name of Tell Al-Dhiba’i", Sumer, vol. 23, no. 1-2, pp. 177*-82*, 1967 [in Arabic]
  6. ↑ Boer, Rients de, "Beginnings of Old Babylonian Babylon: Sumu-abum and Sumu-la-El", Journal of Cuneiform Studies 70.1, pp. 53-86, 2018
  7. ↑ Al-Hashimi, R., "New light on the date of Harmal and Dhiba’i", Sumer, vol. 28, no. 1-2, pp. 29–33, 1972
  8. ↑ R. McC. Adams and H. Nissen, "The Uruk Countryside: The Natural Setting of Urban Societies", Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972 ISBN   0-226-00500-3
  9. ↑ Al-Gailani, L., "Tell Al-Dhiba’i", Sumer, vol. 21, iss. 1-2, pp. 33–40, 1965
  10. ↑ Jeffery Orchard, "Recent Archaeological Activity in Iraq: A Review", Iraq, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 104–09, 1963
  11. ↑ Hamoudi, K.K., Al-Khayaat, A.A. and Mihawish, N.G., "Excavations at Tell Al-Dhiba’i", Sumer, vol.46, pp. 91*–112*, 1989–90 [in Arabic; English translation in Supplement to Sumer 46 (1999): 20–27]
  12. ↑ "Excavations in Iraq, 1981-82", Iraq, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 199–224, 1983
  13. ↑ "Excavations in Iraq, 1983-84". Iraq, vol. 47, pp. 215–39, 1985
  14. ↑ Gentili, P., "Sargonic Names in the Diyala Region and Beyond", Cuneiform Digital Library Preprints 12, 2008
  15. ↑ Isma’el, Khalid Salim, and Eleanor Robson, "Arithmetical Tablets from Iraqi Excavations in the Diyala", in Your Praise Is Sweet: A Memorial Volume for Jeremy Black from Students, Colleagues and Friends, British Institute for the Study of Iraq, pp. 151–64, 2010
  16. ↑ Baqir, T., "Date formulae from Dhiba’i", Sumer, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 140–3, 1949
  17. ↑ Matoušová-Rajmova, M., "Some cylinder seals from Dhiba’i and Harmal", Sumer, vol. 31, no. 1-2, pp. 49–66, 1975
  18. ↑ Beatrice, Teissier, "Tbe Old Babylonian Period", Ancient Near Eastern Cylinder Seals from the Marcopoli Collection, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 20-27, 1984
  19. ↑ Baqir, T., "Tell Dhiba’i: new mathematical texts", Sumer, vol. 18, iss. 1-2, pp. 11–14, 1962
  20. ↑ Khalid Salim Isma’el and Eleanor Robson, "Arithmetical tablets from Iraqi excavations in the Diyala.", YOUR PRAISE IS SWEET, British Institute for the Study of Iraq, pp. 151-164, 2010
  21. ↑ Abdul Karim and Abdullah Ahmad, "Old Babylonian Loan Contracts in the Iraq Museum from Tell Al-Dhiba'i and Tell Harmal", University of Baghdad, 1964
  22. ↑ Davey, C. J., "The Metalworker's Tools from Tell Edh Dhiba'i.", Bulletin of the Institute of Archaeology, London University, vol. 20, pp. 169-185, 1983
  23. ↑ Davey, Christopher J. "Tell edh-Dhiba’i and the southern Near Eastern metalworking tradition." The Beginning of the Use of Metals and Alloys (1988): 63-8
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.