Tell Shech Hamad

Coordinates: 35 ° 38 ′ 36 ″  N , 40 ° 44 ′ 25 ″  E

Tell Shech Hamad​

Syria

Tell Schech Hamad , also Tell Sheikh Hamad, the Assyrian Dur Katlimmu , is a settlement mound in northeast Syria . The focus of the excavations of the ancient city in the former northern Mesopotamia are palatial building complexes from the Central and Neo-Assyrian period from the 13th to the 6th centuries BC. Chr.

location

Tell Schech Hamad is located on a limestone terrace on the east bank of the lower Chabur , which flows into the Euphrates about 60 kilometers south . From the main road between Deir el-Sor and al-Hasakah , 65 kilometers to the south, the secondary route along the eastern bank of the river can be reached via a bridge 20 kilometers south of Tell Schech Hamad or a bridge that crosses the Chabur 10 kilometers to the north. Immediately at the excavation site is the scattered settlement Gharibe, the modern village of Schech Hamed is 5 kilometers further north. Both places were only founded in the 20th century by nomadic ranchers who settled here.

According to pollen analyzes, the climatic conditions of that time are comparable to those of today. Tell Shekh Hamad receives less than the minimum rainfall of 250 millimeters per year required for rain-fed agriculture and was therefore dependent on artificial irrigation to secure food, which was made possible in Assyrian times via a canal running parallel to the east of the Chabur. The river meanders on its lower course in a one kilometer wide area with fertile alluvial soils. The river level is separated from the desert steppe by a first steep step. Irrigated agriculture was possible here and was carried out with a strictly organized economic system, above this level semi-nomadic cattle breeding could be practiced. Two wadis flow into the Chabur near the city.

history

Citadel hill with excavation cut on the western slope. The remains of the Central Assyrian palace left to the elements. Location right on the Chabur

The oldest settlement remains date to the end of the 4th millennium BC. In the area of ​​the citadel. In the 2nd millennium, the place developed to the east into a city that may be identical to Dur-Igitlim, which is known from ancient Babylonian sources . The city had its greatest importance in the Middle and Neo-Assyrian, as well as in the late Babylonian period (between the 13th and 6th centuries BC). The Central Assyrian tablets excavated on the citadel hill from 1978 to 1983 identify the place as the Central Assyrian governor 's seat of Dur-Katlimmu in the Jazira region . It was probably founded by King Sulmanu-ašared I (1263-1234) with the construction of a temple for the city god Salmānu. In the 13th century the city was a provincial center and the seat of a grand vizier (SUKKAL GAL).

In the Neo-Assyrian period, from the 9th century BC BC, the city was enlarged and the Lower City II created. From the 8th century, Dur Katlimmu had a function as a garrison town, the increased importance is evident in the layout of palace buildings and residences. This district was still populated in the 6th century in the late Babylonian period. At that time there were a large number of Aramaeans living in the city, who gave it the second, Aramaic name Magdalu . Although the city was under Babylonian rule, the Assyrians continued to form the elite.

During the Persian period the place lost its importance, from the 6th to the 4th century the lower town was only partially inhabited. The main settlement was in the Parthian- Roman period in the area of ​​Lower City I and the citadel. In the 2nd century BC A Parthian burial ground spread over Lower City II. Most of the grave goods (silver jewelry and gold earrings) date from the Middle Parthian period, around 70 BC. BC to AD 70. After that and until the cemetery was abandoned in the 3rd century, there were hardly any grave goods left.

There was probably a continuity of settlement in the city of Magdalu, whose name was changed to Roman Magdala , until the 3rd century AD. At this time, the area populated again largely matches that of the 2nd millennium BC. BC, as documented by excavation cuts on the citadel hill.

Cityscape

Middle Lower Town II. Unpreserved Neo-Assyrian buildings in the west. View to the southwest of the citadel hill

Neo-Assyrian palace on the northeast corner of the city wall. The citadel hill on the horizon

The highest point is the citadel hill in the south of the city, which rises 25 meters from the river bank. There was a 200 square meter palace (building P) from the Central Assyrian period on the western slope , location of the Central Assyrian archive from the 13th century BC. It was possibly the palace of the Grand Vizier Aššur-iddin . In the Seleucid and early Parthian times, house 5 , also a palace-like building , stood at this point . The functional continuity does not end until House 4 , a simpler residential building that was built in the first half of the 1st century BC. Was built.

The ruin finds an approximately 10 hectares area are as immediately east Lower Town I referred to. The Neo-Assyrian residential town from the 6th century, the Middle Lower Town II , was excavated 200 meters to the northwest. About 7500 people lived here on 35 hectares. Another 200 meters in the same direction, furthest from the river, forms the neo-Assyrian palace residence with an area of ​​12,000 square meters in the northeast corner of the ancient city (buildings F and W). In the east on the border to the farmland, the city wall was recognized and partially exposed. Outside of that there were suburbs. Dur Katlimmu was the largest settlement on the lower reaches of the Chabur in Neo-Assyrian times.

In Central Assyrian times, the urban area covered only about 25 hectares. The city was expanded from the 9th century. The greatest expansion during the Neo-Assyrian / Babylonian period was around 110 hectares. The four-kilometer-long and three-meter thick outer wall from the 8th / 7th century enclosed an area of ​​around 60 hectares, with thinly populated districts or villages outside.

Today's most striking building complex in the entire city complex is located in Lower City II. The administrative and residential city was generously structured with wide streets and open spaces. Neo-Assyrian palatial buildings (Building G) from the 8th and 7th centuries have been completely excavated there. Wall paintings with plants and animals were found in room B.

Lower City II, Red House. Brick walls in the central area. The courtyard was leveled and covered with new brick slabs, the joints of which were fixed with cement powder in October 2009 (gray coloring of the upper half)

A little to the northwest and partly above the Neo-Assyrian building complex, the Red House, dating back to the time after the fall of the Assyrian Empire, was built with a floor space of 5400 square meters. According to Assyrian cuneiform texts found on the floor with the years of reign 2 and 5 of King Nebuchadnezzar II (605 and 602/603), the house must have been inhabited during the period of the New Babylonian Empire (626-539 BC). The name comes from some red-painted interior walls in the west wing. The three wings of the Red House fulfilled different functions: the north wing served as a warehouse and an economic area. It was connected to the representative east wing via a reception hall. The west wing is seen as a living area; Staircases indicate that there was a second floor above at least some rooms. The building was destroyed by fire.

The clay brick walls, which have already been partially restored, are currently (end of 2009) being rebuilt to a height of up to two meters. The original brick pavement found in the courtyard of the west wing was removed, the area leveled and covered with new brick paving. The work goes beyond the preservation of the existing building and aims to present the facility for tourism.

Research history

In 1879 a fragment of a stele of Adad-nīrārī III came by chance during construction work . to the fore. The results of a subsequent investigation by Hormuzd Rassam are not known. Max von Oppenheim in 1911 and Max Mallowan in 1934 visited Tell. A systematic area exploration only took place in 1975 through a research project at the University of Tübingen ( TAVO ). By chance, villagers found some clay tablets with Central Assyrian cuneiform script in 1977 , whereupon the first excavations began a year later. Until 1984, the lower town II was excavated at the site of the clay tablet finds. A second phase of work, which should make the structure of the entire residential town recognizable, lasted until 1987. After an interruption, the investigations were continued in 1990. The Red House was uncovered from 1993 to 1998. The excavations have been taking place since 1978 under the direction of Hartmut Kühne , who has held a professorship at the Free University of Berlin since 1980 . Up until 2008, a team of his students practiced during the semester break during the summer months. From the excavation campaign in 1984, graves surprisingly came to light in the area of ​​the "Middle Lower Town II", which date from a later era and were initially regarded as an "annoying" side effect. In the following years, almost 600 graves from the Roman Parthian period (200 BC to 250 AD) were recovered. The examinations showed a low child mortality and a high life expectancy; accordingly, the living conditions of the Roman Parthian population of Tell Schech Hamad seem to have been favorable. A social differentiation was derived from the grave forms used (earth grave, adobe grave, pot and sarcophagus). The child mortality among the individuals buried in earth graves was significantly higher than among the others. Individuals from earth graves had more frequent deficiency diseases and degenerative diseases and apparently a lower social status than individuals from the adobe graves. Towards the end of the cemetery usage phase, the entire population seems to have become impoverished.

A collection of 550 Akkadian texts and fragments in cuneiform and 40 texts in Aramaic script was found in one building in 1998 . Both languages, as well as Babylonian and Phoenician, were used at the same time. It is the private archive of a high-ranking bodyguard of King Ashurbanipal (668–631).

By 2004, 25,000 square meters of the lower town II had been excavated. Instead of the expected residential buildings, a few representative buildings and palace-like structures were found, over which there was a Parthian burial ground. 800 graves were identified and 500 of them were uncovered. So far, there are only indications of the location of the residential areas for the common population, which resulted from a geomagnetic survey of a further 40 hectares carried out from 1999 to 2003 .

literature

• Hartmut Kühne (Ed.): The recent environment of Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad and data on the environmental reconstruction of the Assyrian city of Dūr-Katlimmu. Reports of the Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad / Dūr-Katlimmu excavation 1. Reimer, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-496-00499-1 .
• Hartmut Kühne: Magdalu / Magdala. Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad from the Post-Assyrian Period to the Roman Empire. Reports of the Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad / Dūr-Katlimmu excavation 2. Reimer, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-496-02504-2 .
• Peter Pfälzner : Central and Central Assyrian ceramics. A chronological, functional and economic production analysis. Reports of the Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad / Dūr-Katlimmu excavation 3. Reimer, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-496-02505-0 .
• Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum : The Central Assyrian Letters from Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad. Reports of the Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad excavation, Dūr-Katlimmu 4. Reimer, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-496-02586-7 .
• Mirko Novák , Andreas Oettel , Carsten Witzel: The Parthian-Roman cemetery of Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad, Magdala. Reports of the Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad excavation, Dūr-Katlimmu 5. Reimer, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-496-02681-2 .
• Karen Radner : The Neo-Assyrian Texts from Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad. Reports of the Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad / Dūr-Katlimmu excavation 6. Reimer, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-496-02746-0 .
• Florian Janoscha Kreppner: The ceramics of the »Red House« Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad / Dūr-Katlimmu. A look at the pottery of northern Mesopotamia from the second half of the 7th and 6th centuries BC Reports of the Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad / Dūr-Katlimmu excavation 7. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-447-05399-2 .
• Hartmut Kühne (Ed.): Environment and subsistence of the Assyrian city Dūr-Katlimmu on the Lower Untābūr (Syria). Reports of the Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad / Dūr-Katlimmu excavation 8. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-447-05700-4 .
• Wolfgang Röllig : Agriculture and livestock farming on the Lower Ḫābūr in Central Assyrian times. Reports of the Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad / Dūr-Katlimmu excavation 9. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-447-05719-6 .
• Florian Janoscha Kreppner, Jochen Schmid: Stratigraphy and architecture of the »Red House« by Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad / Dūr-Katlimmu. Reports of the excavation Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad / Dūr-Katlimmu 11. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-447-10058-8 .
• Heide Hornig: The Parthian-Roman cemetery of Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad / Magdala 2. The anthropological evidence. Reports of the Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad / Dūr-Katlimmu excavation 13.1. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-447-06214-5 .
• Benjamin Wehry: Between Orient and Occident. The arsacid cemetery of Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad / Magdala. Reports of the Tall Šēḫ Ḥamad / Dūr-Katlimmu excavation 13.2. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-447-10023-6 ( PDF document ).

Web links

• Excavation in Tell Shekh Hamad. Institute for Near Eastern Archeology at the Free University of Berlin
• Hartmut Kühne: The Collapse of the Assyrian Empire and the Evidence of Dur-Katlimmu , lecture

Individual evidence

1. ^ Andreas Oettel: Rome on the Ḥābūr. Reflection on the process of Romanization in Eastern Syria. In: Dominik Bonatz, Rainer M. Czichon, F. Janoscha Kreppner (eds.): Locations : Collected writings on the archeology and history of the ancient Near East . ad honorem Hartmut Kühne. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2008, pp. 225–232
2. ^ Building conservation 2008. Institute for Near Eastern Archeology at the Free University of Berlin
3. ↑ Max Mallowan: The Excavations at Tall Chagar Bazar, and an Archaeological Survey of the Habur Region, 1934-5 In: Iraq, Vol. 3, No. 1. 1936, pp. 1-85.
4. ↑ Hartmut Kühne: On the historical geography at the lower Ḫābūr. Preliminary report on an archaeological site visit. In: Archive for Orient Research, Vol. 25, double volume 1974–1977, pp. 249–255.
5. ↑ Bettina Jungklaus : Excursus: Paleopathology . With contributions by Bettina Jungklaus. In: Heide Hornig (ed.): The Parthian / Roman cemetery of Tell Schech Hamad / Magdala, Part II The anthropological evidence . Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-447-06214-5 , p. 104-114 .
6. ↑ Bettina Jungklaus: Tell Schech Hamad project (Syria) anthropologie-jungklaus.de (accessed on June 4, 2017)
7. ↑ Wolfgang Röllig : excavation of the ancient oriental seminary in north-east Syria. University of Tübingen ( Memento from February 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive )