Nuzi

Mesopotamia in 2nd millennium BC

Coordinates: 35°18′09″N 44°14′51″E / 35.302495°N 44.247624°E / 35.302495; 44.247624 (Nuzi (Gasur, Yorghan Tepe))

Nuzi (or Nuzu; Akkadian Gasur; modern Yorghan Tepe, Iraq) was an ancient Mesopotamian city southwest of Kirkuk in modern Al Ta'amim Governorate of Iraq, located near the Tigris river. The site consists of one medium sized multiperiod tell and two small single period mounds.

History

The town of Gasur was apparently founded during the Akkadian Empire in the late third millennium. In the middle second millennium Hurrians absorbed the town and renamed it Nuzi. The history of the site during the intervening period is unclear, though the presence of a few cuneiform tables from Old Assyria indicates that trade with nearby Assur was taking place. After the fall of the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni to the Hittites, Nuzi fell to the Assyrians and went into decline. Note that while Hurrian period is well known because those levels of the site were fully excavated, the earlier history is less firm because of only scanty digging.^[1] The history of Nuzi is closely interrelated with that of the nearby towns of Eshnunna and Khafajah.

Archaeology

While tablets from Yorghan Tepe began appearing back as far as 1896, the first serious archaeological efforts began in 1925 after Gertrude Bell noticed tablets appearing in the markets of Baghdad. The dig was mainly worked by Edward Chiera, Robert Pfeiffer, and Richard Starr under the auspices of the Iraqi Museum and the Baghdad School of the American Schools of Oriental Research and later the Harvard University and Fogg Art Museum.^{[2] [3] [4]} Excavations continued through 1931. The site has 15 occupation levels. The hundreds of tablets and other finds recovered were published in a series of volumes. More finds continue to be published to this day.^[5]

To date, around 5000 tablets are known, mostly held at the Oriental Institute, the Harvard Semitic Museum and the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. Many are routine legal and business documents and about one quarter concern the business transactions of a single family.^[6] The vast majority of finds are from the Hurrian period during the second millennium BC with the remainder dating back to the towns founding during the Akkadian Empire. Perhaps the most famous item found is a map of the local region dated to the Akkadian period. An archive contemporary to the Hurrian archive at Nuzi has been excavated from the "Green Palace" at the site of Tell al-Fakhar, 35 kilometres (22 mi) southwest of Nuzi.^[7]

See also

Ancient Near East portal

• Cities of the ancient Near East
• Short chronology timeline

Notes

1. ^ Reallexikon der Assyriologie by Erich Ebling, Bruno Meissner, 1993, Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 311003705X
2. ^ The Joint Expedition of Harvard University and the Baghdad School at Yargon Tepa Near Kirkuk, David G. Lyon, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No 30, 1928
3. ^ Edward Chiera, Joint Expedition with the Iraq Museum at Nuzi. Mixed Texts., University of Pennsylvania Press, 1934
4. ^ Nuzi; report on the excavation at Yorgan Tepa near Kirkuk, Iraq, conducted by Harvard University in conjunction with the American Schools of Oriental Research and the University museum of Philadelphia, 1927-1931, Richard F. S. Starr, Harvard University Press, 1937 and 1939, 2 volumes ISBN 0674629000
5. ^ Joint Expedition With the Iraq Museum at Nuzi VIII: The Remaining Major Texts in the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians, V. 14), M. P. Maidman, David I. Owen, Gernot Wilhelm, Mathaf Al-Iraqi, University of Chicago Oriental Institute, CDL Press, 2003, ISBN 1883053803
6. ^ The Teip-tilla Family of Nuzi: A Genealogical Reconstruction, Maynard Paul Maidman, Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Vol. 28, No. 3, 1976
7. ^ al-Khalesi, Y.M. (1970). "Tell al-Fakhar. Report on the First Season’s Excavations". Sumer 26: 109–126. ISSN 0081-9271. 

References

• Ernest R. Lacheman et al, Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians: Volume 4 - The Eastern Archives of Nuzi and Excavations at Nuzi 9/2, Eisenbrauns, 1993, ISBN 0931464641
• David I. Owen and Ernest R. Lacheman, Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians: Volume 5 - General Studies and Excavations at Nuzi 9/3, Eisenbrauns, 1995, ISBN 0931464676
• David I. Owen and Gernot Wilhelm, Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians: Volume 7 - Edith Porada Memorial Volume, Capital Decisions Ltd, 1995, ISBN 1883053072
• David I. Owen and Gernot Wilhelm, Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians: Volume 8 - Richard F.S. Starr Memorial Volume, CDL Press, 1997, ISBN 1883053102
• David I. Owen and Gernot Wilhelm, Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians: Volume 9 - General Studies and Excavations at Nuzi , CDL Press, 1998, ISBN 1883053269
• Brigitte Lion and Diana L. Stein, Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians: Volume 11 - The Pula-Hali Family Archives, CDL Press, 2001, ISBN 1883053560
• G. R. Driver and J. Miles, Ordeal by Oath at Nuzi, Iraq, vol. 7, pp. 132, 1940
• J. Paradise, A Daughter and Her Father’s Property at Nuzi, Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 32, pp. 189–207, 1980

External links

• The Semitic Museum at Harvard
• On archeological discoveries in Nuzi
• History of the Baghdad School of ASOR 1923-1969