Giorgio Buccellati 2000

This contribution displays, along 6 plates [i.e. images of archaeological artefacts correlated with explanatory texts] describing the most relevant objects found at Urkesh.

After a first introduction, stressing the importance of the discovery of Tar’am-Agade’s sealings, Plate 1 offers an image on the so-called ‘Monna Lisa’ [see here for picture of the original masterpiece] of Urkesh, i.e. the clay figurine (A12.30) portraying a woman (probably an idol of a local deity), found in a pit slightly post-dating the abandonment of the Royal Palace of Urkesh, being therefore datable to the 23^rd century BC. It shows both naturalistic (as for the earrings resembling A10.221, from the Palace) and expressionistic elements (recognisable e.g. in her facial traits).

Plate 2 describes the Royal Palace of Urkesh, discussing its identification and its structure consisting of a residential wing (AR), a service wing (AK) an absidal structure (the ābi and a city wall surrounding all the buildings (see Royal Palace).

Plate 3 presents the newly discovered sealings (A13.9, A13.28 [see here for pictures], A13q106.1 and A13q97.8 [see here for pictures], with the composite drawing A13c1 [see here]) of Tar’am-Agade, daughter of Naram-Sin (23^rd century BC). They were found in the Royal Palace and testify direct contacts between Northern and Southern Mesopotamia (between Urkesh, Ebla and Akkad, a triangle-shaped network [see map] which could resemble that current network between Paris, Bruxelles and Milano [see scheme]) – [For this topic cf. Buccellati and Kelly-Buccellati 2001].

Plate 4 displays the sealings of Ishar-beli (A13.28 [see here for pictures] and A12q538.1-3 [see here for pictures]), coeval to those of Tar’am-Agade, describing the peculiar shape and presence of a rampant horse in the middle of the scene, connecting Akkadian and Hurrian features.

Plate 5 exposes the conservation and preservation techniques invented especially for Urkesh architectural remains (the walls of the Royal Palace) – [For this topic cf. Bonetti and Buccellati 2003 ; Buccellati, G. 2000; Buccellati, G. 2006a; Buccellati, G. 2006b; Buccellati, G. 2014a; Buccellati, G. 2014b].

Plate 6 deals with the peculiar expressionism of Urkesh art, well represented by a clay figurine (A7.507 [see here for pictures) portraying probably a common man resembling, at a glance, the ‘Scream’ of Eduard Munch [see here for picture of the original masterpiece]: “It is often, in Urkesh art, that we find the stressing of an expressive gesture […]. Urkesh artists had an extraordinary ability to render realistically the most minute details. Thus expressionism is to be understood as a free stylistic choice, very close to our modern sensibility” (plate 6).