Giorgio Buccellati and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati 1996

“Evidence for a Royal Palace at Tell Mozan/Urkesh,”
Orient-Express 1996/3, pp. 72-76.

This contribution briefly summarizes the result of the ninth excavation season at Tell Mozan (Summer 1996), when the team’s efforts concentrated on Building AK (the Royal Storehouse of Tupkish’s Palace [see here for a picture]).

The three main goals are explained: “1) removal of the earliest floor deposit in the Eastern Sector (Area A6); 2) identification of the Eastern perimeter (Area A8); 3) exploration of the presumed administrative quarter to the North (Area A7)” (pp. 72-73).

The excavation led to the discovery of a monumental Entry Way in Area A7, represented by different features: “1) a second round, brick ‘platform’[…]; 2) a 4m wide stone platform […]; 3) a ramp flanking a flight of steps […]; 4) […] continuous floor accumulations running all way from North to South along the same line of the presumed perimetral wall, and extending across this line from East to West” (p. 73).
     Moreover, in area A6 (Eastern Sector of the Storehouse), the team succeeded in reaching the earliest floor of the building and minor sequential modifications of the building have also been understood.
     Furthermore, a Khabur residential area has been uncovered in area A8, the first remains of a private house at Tell Mozan.

As for objects, some important discoveries have been achieved, most of all concerning glyptic material: 1) A1.406, a sealing of endan Tupkish [see here for items]; 2) A6c1, a seal impression showing two standing deities [see here for items]; 3) A6q385.3, portraying two unusual figures standing before an enthroned deity [see here for this item]; 4) a group of conical cups from the porticoed entrance to the Palace; many human and animal terracotta figurines.

The last paragraph presents a discussion about the chronology of Tell Mozan’s glyptic assemblage: typologically, it can be dated ca. 2250/2200 BC, while the radiocarbon “analysis of four samples from the earliest floor deposit pushed down dating to about 2175 BC” (p. 75).