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Inscriptions from Tell Brak 1986

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

N. J. J. Illingworth
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Extract

The 1986 season of excavations at Tell Brak produced inscribed material on a modest scale. Twelve tablets, complete or broken, were recovered, together with a number of trivial fragments, and one bulla bearing the impression of an inscribed seal. The material was found in two separate archaeological contexts. Two tablets lay in a large room (Room 1) on the north side of the Mitanni fortress or palace on site HH. These pieces, one of which is inscribed with the name of the Mitanni king Tušratta, are of some historical interest. Of particular importance is the mention of a town named Nawar, in view of the discussion, continued over many years, of the possible location of the towns of Urkiš and Nawar, ruled over by the early Human ruler, Atal-šen. The remaining material, comprising ten tablets, some trivial scraps, and a seal impression, were recovered from a context of debris on site FS. The latter group of finds, dating from the Old Akkadian period, consisted mainly of economic and administrative documents. The seal impression is of special interest, as it bears the name of an ensi of Gasur (later Nuzi), the first such officer whose name has been discovered. The material is presented in chronological order, the Old Akkadian tablets (Nos. 12 to 21) and seal impression (No. 22) preceding the tablets of the Mitanni period (Nos. 23 and 24). The numbers assigned to these pieces continue the sequence begun in previous articles by Dr. I. L. Finkel, in which details have been provided of inscriptions found prior to 1986 during the current series of excavations at Tell Brak. I am much indebted to Dr. Finkel, and to Professor W. G. Lambert, for reading through a draft of the present article, and for the many valuable criticisms and suggestions which have resulted. I should also like to thank the Directors of the excavations at Tell Brak, Professor David Oates and Dr. Joan Oates, but for whose efforts the opportunity to work on the material presented here would not have arisen.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 50 , 1988 , pp. 87 - 108
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1988

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References

1 See below, p. 107.

2 See below, p. 98.

3 Finkel, , “Inscriptions from Tell Brak 1984”, Iraq 47 (1985), 187–201 and Plates XXXII–XXXVICrossRefGoogle Scholar; and “Inscriptions from Tell Brak 1985”, above, pp. 83–86 and Plate VIII.

4 These have been published variously by Gadd, C.J. (Iraq 7 (1940), 60 f. and Pl. V)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, O. Loretz (AOAT 3/1, Nos. 69–84), and Finkel (see fn. 3).

5 See Oates, D., Iraq 49 (1987), 180Google Scholar.

6 Westenholz, A., OSP 1, 3f.Google Scholar; cf. Gelb, I.J., MAD 5, xvi, xxGoogle Scholar; Foster, B., Umma in the Sargonic Period, 4 f.Google Scholar

7 Westenholz, loc. cit.; cf. MAD 5, xxiGoogle Scholar; MAD 2, 5.

8 MAD 5, xix fGoogle Scholar; cf. Foster, op. cit., 5 f.

9 See notes to No. 20:10.

10 These have been published by Dr. I. L. Finkel; for Nos. 6 and 7, see Iraq 47 (1985), 191–8Google Scholar; for No. 11, see above, pp. 83–86.

11 Oates, D., Iraq 49 (1987), 180–91Google Scholar.

12 Alalakh, see D.J. Wiseman, AT, Nos. 13, 14, 16, 46-9 and passim; Ugarit, see Nougayrol, J., PRU 3, 27 f.Google Scholar, type 2, “Achats de biens” and subsequent categories; Emar, see Arnaud, D., EMAR 6/3, Nos. 18, 31, 177, 201 and 202Google Scholar.

13 Wiseman, AT, Nos. 13 and 14; see Collon, D., AO AT 27, 131, No. 230Google Scholar.

14 Wiseman, , AT, pp. 6 and 18Google Scholar.

15 Nougayrol, , PRU 3, xl–xliiiGoogle Scholar.

16 For a discussion and drawing of this sealing, see Porada, E., Akkadua 13 (1979), 2–15 and Fig. 2Google Scholar; a second drawing, by Dr.Stein, Diana, has recently been published (Studies Lacheman (Morrison, M. A. and Owen, D. I., eds., Winona Lake, Indiana, 1981), endpapers)Google Scholar.

17 This observation was made by Dr. Diana Stein.

18 The previous discussion of that sealing (Iraq 47, 194Google Scholar) should therefore be disregarded.

19 Nougayrol, , PRU 3, xlii f. and Pl. XVIGoogle Scholar. One seal was judged by Nougayrol on stylistic grounds to be of much later date than the other.

20 The reading re-ḫat in line 5 of No. 6 (Iraq 47, 192Google Scholar) should be emended to gáb-bá, as in No. 23:15.

21 See below, notes to lines 2, 4, 7–12, 19–21. For wills found at Nuzi, see Paradise, J. S., Nuzi Inheritance Practices (diss., Philadelphia, 1972)Google Scholar.

22 Professor Wilhelm is warmly thanked for his valuable contribution to the understanding of No. 24.

23 Thureau-Dangin, F., Tablette de Samarra, RA 9 (1912), 1–4 and Pl. IGoogle Scholar; cf. E. Sollberger/J.-R. Kupper, IRSA, 2Hla.

24 Landsberger, B. (ZA 35 (1924), 228)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Speiser, E. A. (Mesopotamian Origins, 144)Google Scholar, and Thureau-Dangin in a late article (RA 36 (1939), 27Google Scholar) dated the tablet to the Sargonic period, while Thureau-Dangin in his original publication (cf. fn. 23 above) and Ungnad, A. (Subartu, 143Google Scholar) dated it to the Gutian period. Wilhelm, G. (Grund-Züge der Geschichte und Kultur der Hurriter, 13Google Scholar) commented that it was probably of Gutian or early Ur III date.

25 Oates, D., Iraq 47 (1985), 169–72Google Scholar.

26 The problems of ḫalṣu and the related professional title ḫalṣuhlu in the Nuzi texts have been treated at length by Maidman, M. P. in his article “The office of ḫalṣuḫlu in the Nuzi texts”, Studies Lacheman (Morrison, M. A. and Owen, D. I., eds., Winona Lake, Indiana, 1981), 233–46Google Scholar; for ḫalṣu, see 240 ff. See also Lewy, H., JAOS 88 (1968), 160, fn. 77Google Scholar; Zaccagnini, C., The Rural Landscape of the Land of Arraphe, 15–20Google Scholar. For Nuzi references, see Maidman, op. cit. 240, fn. 25 (12 passages); MA, see for example Finkelstein, J.J.JCS 7 (1953), 124, No. 6:8, and 132, No. 48:2 (al-Billa)Google Scholar; Weidner, E., AfO 5 (1928–1929), 98:43Google Scholar; 100:25.26; KAH 1, 3:36 (Adad-nerari I)Google Scholar; 2, 71:27 (Tiglath-pileser I).

27 Zaccagnini, op. cit., 15.

28 Maidman, loc. cit..

29 Maidman, op. cit., 242.