Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati 1990

“A New Third Millennium Sculpture from Mozan,”
in A. Leonard and B. Williams (eds.), Essays in Ancient Civilization Presented to Helene J. Kantor , SAOC 47, Chicago: University Press, pp. 149-54, pl. 26.

In this paper a small double-side stele is presented, for sure one of the best sculptural objects from Tell Mozan.

After an introduction describing surface surveys conducted in the Khabur area, the topography of Tell Mozan is defined as composed of a High Mound and an Outer City, the tell extending for ca. 18 hectares reaching 25 m in height (High Mound), whenever presenting a much larger area if we include the total area of the Outer City, ca. 135 hectares(!).

Soundings performed in Area K, along the city wall, are described, while a proper excavation has been conducted on the top of the mound in Area B. During the investigation of Temple BA (whose structure is briefly described in this paper), the archaeologists found a sculpture (B1.19) carved on a piece of calcareous stone, triangular in section and measuring 11.2 cm wide by 9 cm high. The piece can be dated, on the base on stratigraphic elements, to EDIII or to the Akkadian period.

On one side (Side A), cattle are portrayed, while on the other (Side B) is a scene of plowman surrounded by the hindquarters of his draft animal and the hindquarters of a dog. As stated by the author, “plowing scenes appear in southern Mesopotamia in the Uruk period and then in Akkadian times. In Syria, a recent relief found at Halawa should be mentioned along with the Mozan stele [see W. Orthmann, “Tell Halawa 1982”, AfO 31 (1984), pp. 142-146]” (p. 153).

A ‘dramatic movement’ can be seen on Mozan’s stele and “the subject matter of the Mozan stele appears to be a simple statement of country life, [but] I think that it can be connected with those monuments of the Protoliterate period which stress the fruitfulness of the field and herds” (p. 153).

After a remark about the naturalistic features of the representation, the author concludes declaring how “the Mozan stele can be placed in an intermediary position between those stylistic characteristics of EDIII art and those of the Akkadian period and as such present us with fresh and innovative aspects of northern Syrian art in the third millennium” (p. 154).