Glyptics

Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati – September 2024

The functional setting

Excavation unit A12 is located southeastern of the royal palace AK and was antecedent to the royal palace. We have concluded this because the southern wall of the palace in Area H is skewed to avoid the important necromantic pit excavated in A12 (ābi in Hurrian). Also the necromantic pit has a different orientation than the palace AK. Additionally, the southern wall of this sector of the palace also avoids a large pit that we have identified as a favissa containing ritual objects no longer in use (Buccellati and Kelly-Buccellati 2000 “Palace”).^{Note 1}

In this pit (A12a11, a favissa) there were small whole ceramic vessels (a small carinated cup A12.27, a small jar A12.28, and a high necked jar A12.29. The objects included the head of a horned animal (A12.12), a pin (A12.9) and a bead (A12.10). In this favissa one seal impression was found (A12.8) which had an inscription.

From near the bottom we found an almost intact clay statue of a nude woman (A12.30). The figure is 29 cm tall with the final portion of the base broken. The lower half is cylindrical but we did not find the base in the pit. The head of the figure is intact with only parts of her applied eyes broken away. Her ears are large and emphasized through a series of holes that may have held earings made of a different material. On the very top of her head she has a deep depression that may have held some material that could have been part of a ritual or may have been an anchor for a wig made out of a different material. It was not clear what type of ritual she could have supported.

Also constructed previous to the palace was the ābi where necromantic rituals were enacted (Kelly-Buccellati 2002 “Hurritischer”).^{Note 2} The stone structure consists of two chambers: the circular one, constructed first, and the square chamber added later. Inserted in the western wall of the square chamber was a steep, narrow stairway accessed through a short stone-lined passage. One vessel discovered in the structure has obvious ritual connections. It is a small anthropomorphic jar of a nude female (A12.108). The contents of the vessel were accessed through a small jar shape at the top of her head. It is very interesting that the statue in the favissa and this vessel both had a place on the top of the head that either contained something important (A12.30) or could access the interior of the vessel as in A12.108. It is possible that the small vessel in the shape of a nude woman contained perfume mentioned in the texts concerning rituals in the ābi (Recht 2014 “Perfume”).^{Note 3}

The sealings excavated in A12

Even given the importance of the two nude figures found in A12 there were not many seal impressions excavated there. This is not unique in Urkesh as areas outside the work areas of the AK palace usually had few if any, seal impressions. Obviously this is due to the fact that sealed containers were usually opened in other areas. Most seal impressions found in A12 were very fragmentary, uninscribed, and had no clear iconography. This seems to indicate that sealed containers and bullae were not opened in A12, but probably nearby and only accidentally came into the A12 area. The inscribed seals may have been different.

There were 3 inscribed seal impressions found in A12: A12.8, A12.82, A12q538.1.

A12.8 has a seated figure facing left; it may be that this figure is Shamash but this is not certain. On the opposite side of the inscription box is a standing figure facing right with one arm raised. This seal impression was found in the favissa (A12a11).

A second fragment of an inscribed seal impression was found in the ābi (A12.82). A seated deity with rays emanating from one shoulder only can be identified with Shamash. While we do not have all the seal iconography it may have been a presentation scene to to this deity. Unfortunately we do not have all the name of the seal owner in the inscription but the end of his name is “....tupsher”.

In A12q538.1 is from f268 where there were three seal impressions found. The iconography of one inscribed seal, A12q538.1, shows in one rolling a bullman who appears to be fighting while in the second rolling there are two standing animals with long tails back to back; one with hoofs is a bull. Behind this figure is an inscription box with unclear signs; the box may have an animal facing right below.

Seal impression A12q538.1.7 is a scene with a prancing horse before a seated figure with his hand extended toward the horse. Part of a bull horn shows on another part of the rolling. This is more than likely the Ishar-beli seal. A third seal impression excavated in this A12q (A12q538.1.8) appears not to have come from an inscribed seal. Little of the image is preserved; this includes a prancing animal and the arm of a figure fighting this animal.

Found in cleaning a baulk is a seal impression, A12q710.1, which does have similarities to Queen Uqnitum’s iconography. It shows a seated figure facing right holding a conical cup, a portion of a table with something placed in the left hand corner, figure facing left with one arm extended. In the Queen’s seals q7 and presumably q8 she is holding a conical cup and seated facing right before a table. However in q7 her daughter is a smaller figure between the queen and the table. Also in her scenes with a table it is a bird table. This sealing from A12 is not one of the known seals of the queen but its closeness to her iconography hints at a connection.

The fact is that in A12 we appear to have seal impressions of two important royal figures: Queen Uqnitum and Ishar-beli. It may be that they had special relations with the activities in the ritual structure.

Iconography

Other seal impressions reflect prominent motifs that we had excavated in the Tupkish palace. So for instance A12.34 is a drinking scene. Crossed animals is an earlier motif but a seal with this motif was still being used. (A12.44). We see an earlier style and motif also in A12q542.4. The motif of a winged gate is often found and one came from A12 (A12.161). The bird table is a common motif found in A12 also (A12q309.1).

A seal with an unusual motif is A12.52 with two seated persons one with what appears to be a stringed instrument and between them a series of vessels. A12.66 is a sealing that had a strong impression of a piece of cloth; while cloth impressions are fairly common in the Urkesh seal impressions, this example is clearer than usual.

Style

The style of the seal A12.82 with its heavily patterned details of the god’s garment and the stool decoration indicate that it can be dated to the late Akkadian period or the beginning of Ur III. A12.110 in A12f343 is also a late Akkadian seal with a patterned border separating two sections of the image. This came from the same feature as the anthropomorphic nude female vessel but the preserved iconography does not allow us to connect the scene with the ābi or the favissa.

Notes

Note 1: Buccellati and Kelly-Buccellati 2000 “Palace”.
Note 2: see Kelly-Buccellati, Marilyn “Ein hurritischer Gang in die Unterwelt,” Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin 2002 (134), pp. 131-148.
Note 3: see Recht, Laerke, “Perfume, women and the underworld in Urkesh. Exploring female roles through aromatic substances in the Bronze Age Near East,” Journal of Intercultural and Interdisciplinary Archaeology (2014), pp. 11-24.