Cybernetica Mesopotamica
Urkesh Global Record
J6
The Northeastern End of the Temple Terrace and the Betili
Seasons 21 (2008) and 22 (2009)

Version 1a (2024 – Beta release)
Giorgio Buccellati
Patrizia Camatta

J6
J6 started as an expansion of J4 to the south: not having found evidence for a continuation of the revetment wall in J4, we assumed the wall may be further to the south. But it was not so. Hence J6 belongs fully to the Plaza, whereas J4 belongs to the Temple Terrace. The wall that flanks the staircase is thus freestanding, and in some ways it matches the wall to the west of the apron (as I call the wider steps that flank the staircase proper). The western wall is of the same height as the apron, whereas the eastern wall becomes progressively higher than the staircase as one descends the steps to the south.

Flanking the lowermost steps of the staircase, and abutting the wall that flanks the staircase, are two betili, i.e., pointed orthostats, resting at a slight oblique angle against the southern edge of the wall. While rather non-descript in terms of their typology, they are significant because of the prominent place they have and the intriguing comparative parallels one can adduce.