History

Urkesh chronology

Giorgio Buccellati – January 2006

The broad horizons

     The beginnings of Urkesh are still shrouded in mystery. From some ceramic artifacts found in deep soundings and on the surface, as well as from the sheer height of the modern tell, we assign its origins in the Halaf period, towards the end of prehistory. This matches the great significance that Urkesh has in the archaic Hurrian myths.
     The apogee came in the third millennium, while in the early second it began to wane, and was eventually abandoned towards the middle of the second millennium.
     Clicking on the chart to the right will give you additional details.

Phases and strata

     For the periods documented by the excavations, we have a more precise timeline, which is also linked to written documents.
     The chart on the right gives the most up-to-date version of our list of phases and strata (you can read an enlarged version by clicking on it).
     The names of the kings of Urkesh are also given in the chart below.

The list of kings (endans)

     While we do not have a "king list" (by which term we generally refer to a single text that lists kings in ordered sequence), we do have a considerable list of kings who ruled Urkesh.
     They bore the distinctive Hurrian title endan which is so far attested exclusively for Urkesh and for no other Hurrian city, from either the third or the second millennium.
     The chart to the right (an enlarged version is available by clicking on it) gives the list of Urkesh rulers.