Excavations at Tell Brak.
Vol. 1: The Mitanni and Old Babylonian Periods.
McDonald Institute Monographs.
London: British School of Archaeology in Iraq.
See full text
The volume, presenting the results of the excavations at Tell Brak for what concerns the Mittanian and Old Babylonian periods, consists of 12 chapters presented hereafter.
Chapter 1 introduces the areas excavated on the mound: the Mittanian Palace, the Mittani Temple, Area HH, Trenches A–D, the House contexts in Trench D. Moreover, also the finds from the Palace and the Temple are published, together with a final stratigraphic summary.
Chapter 2 (edited by J. Eidem) presents the inscriptions found on the site.
Chapter 3 (by D. Matthews) displays seals and sealings from Tell Brak and in particular those belonging to the Mittanian period: these are presented according to their typology.
Chapter 4 relates to the presentation of pottery divided into the following types: Early second–millennium pottery (Isin–Larsa); Old Babylonian pottery; Mittanian pottery; Middle Assyrian pottery; first–millennium pottery; Mycenaean stirrup jars (this last by E.B. French).
Chapter 5 focuses on glass, frit and faience materials, offering technical details on the manufacture and on glass analyses (especially by R.H. Brill and H. Shirahata): this latter also allows to present some further archaeological implications (by J. Henderson).
Chapter 6 (by H. McDonald) publishes all the beads found at Tell Brak.
Chapter 7 deals with stone objects: sculpture, alabaster (with a discussion on this peculiar material), travertine and other stones, with a final insight on stone contexts (these latter mostly by H. McDonald).
Chapter 8 presents the metal objects in copper/bronze, lead, gold and silver (by G. Philip) with two sections about a granulated gold fragment (TB 8041; by K.R. Maxwell–Hyslop) and chemical analyses on metals (by C. Shell).
Chapter 9 is about organic materials (ivory, bone, shell, wood, ostrich shells) with two final sections about dendrochronology (by P.I. Kuniholm) and palaeobotany (by M. Charles and A. Bogaard).
Chapter 10 speaks about clay objects (by H. McDonald).
Chapter 11 deals with microstratigraphy and micromorphology of depositional sequences (by W. Matthews, C.A.I. French, T. Lawrence, D.F. Cutler and M.K. Jones).
The last chapter 12 ends with a final historical commentary.
At the end, artefacts drawings, abbreviations and codes for ceramic ware types are attached, together with two appendixes on context information for publishes sherds and beads and a list of Area HH loci.
[M. De Pietri – November 2019]