Andrew McCarthy

     “This paper will outline the glyptic evidence from Tell Leilan and demonstrate how it corresponds to general and specific trends within the Khabur region towards the end of the 3^rd millennium BC. The evidence from Tell Leilan, along with contemporary sites in the region, clearly shows an indigenous northern Mesopotamian glyptic style in the mid-3^rd millennium Leilan IIId/Early Jezirah 3 (EJZ 3) period, beginning at 2600 BC [...]. The development of this glyptic style accompanies the emergence of cities and a complex administrative system that shares some uniform characteristics as a region, indicative of a regionally interdependent economy developing from its roots in the late Ninevite 5/Leilan IIId period [...]. At the same time, there is evidence of glyptic importation and blending of styles that shows extensive and sophisticated linkages with other regions” [Author's introduction on p. 217].
     Urkesh/Tell Mozan is specifically mentioned in the following pages (relevant passages are highlighted in yellow in the attached PDF):

• 218: “The singular exception to this in the Khabur region is the case of Tell Mozan where a unique glyptic style seems to persist throughout the EJZ 3 and 4 periods. This may be the result of a political agreement between Urkesh and Akkad (perhaps by Naram Sin himself) that allowed for some degree of autonomy and self-determination in exchange for partnership. The distinctiveness of the glyptic could also reflect the Hurrian character of the site and its inhabitants, and thus might not be representative of the lezirah as a whole at this time. While the Tell Mozan glyptic does not seem to have been replaced outright in the Late Akkadian period, it is nonetheless in the EJZ 4b period where we see the synchronous use of Imperial Akkadian sealings and persistent local styles. A sealing cache found at Tell Mozan contained epigraphically and stylistically Naram Sin period sealings alongside two seal impressions with local designs and bearing Hurrian inscriptions (Buccellati and Kelly-Buccellati 2002: 18-9). Therefore, Tell Mozan follows the timing of the increased contact with Akkad coincident with the region-wide Jezirah changes taking place.”
• 219: “Any observable 'decline' is limited to the complete collapse of any sort of complex administrative activity at Leilan or in the region after the Late Akkadian/EJZ 4b, with the exception of some residual glyptic activity in the TC 'Pisé Building' at Tell Brak [...] and persistent, but slightly later, glyptic activity from the 'Pusham House' at Tell Mozan (Pfälzner, this volume: 145). This last point is interesting, as the terminal 3rd millennium glyptic from Mozan may indicate opportunism related to an administrative vacuum following the collapse of the Akkadian imperial system.”
• 222: “. With the exception of a set of sealings from Tell Mozan showing Ur III-influence toward the end of the millennium, the Jezirah is completely void of glyptic objects throughout the post-Akkadian and Ur III periods.”
• 222-223: “When the Old Babylonian glyptic emerges in the Jezirah, the only link between the EJZ 4b and the Old Jezirah (OJ) 1-2 is with the singular example of Ur III-influenced sealings from the 'Pusham Rouse' at Tell Mozan (Dohmann-Pfälzner – Pfälzner 2001: 121; Dohmann-Pfälzner – Pfälzner 2002: 163; Pfälzner 2012: 55; Pfälzner, this volume: 145). Tell Mozan in no way appears to be reflective of the general pattern of occupation and activity in the Jezirah, however. Rather, this evidence seems to show opportunism made possible by the lack of local administration, and without further examples can be considered an anomaly as far as the Jezirah glyptic tradition is concerned.”

[M. De Pietri – August 2022]