Murat Akar and Demet Kara

      “Constructing and deconstructing public spaces in second-millennium BC Anatolia, the Near East and the Levant was not only a collaborative physical act but also involved deeply embodied ritual symbolism. This symbolism is materialised in the practice of conducting public foundation and termination rituals that unified individual memories in space and time, transforming the physical act into a collective memory: a process that contributed to the formation of political and cultural memory. The recent rescue excavations conducted by the Hatay Archaeological Museum at the hinterland site of Toprakhisar Höyük in Altınözü (in the foothills above the Amuq valley) add to the understanding of the practice of foundation and termination rituals during the Middle Bronze Age and how these moments may have contributed to the political and cultural memory of a rural community living away from the centre. The practice of foundation/termination rituals is archaeologically documented by caches of artefacts from votive contexts stratigraphically linked to the construction and termination of a Middle Bronze Age administrative structure” [Authors' abstract on p. 1].
      Tell Mozan is explicitly mentioned on pp. 18 [“On the other hand, Hurrian identity in the material record also extends back to the third millennium BC, in the form of textual and archaeological data obtained from Khabur sites such as Urkesh, Tell Mozan”] and 19 [“The material culture connections of Toprakhisar Höyük with the Khabur and Upper Tigris regions is also evident in daily cooking practices (to be discussed elsewhere in detail), including the use of distinct decorated horseshoe-shaped hearths similar in style to the hearths and andirons found at sites like Urkesh, Tell Mozan ... and Hirbemerdon Tepe”].

[M. De Pietri – March 2020]