“The Urkesh Temple Terrace: Function and Perception,”
in J. Becker, R. Hempelmann, and E. Rehm (eds.), Kulturlandschaft Syrien – Zentrum und Peripherie – Festschrift für Jan-Waalke Meyer, AOAT 371, Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, pp. 87-121.
The Urkesh’s Temple Terrace is deeply investigated and explained in this paper: it represents indeed one of the most important (and well-preserved) complexes of the third millennium BC and allows to reconstruct the cultic landscape of ancient Urkesh.
Paragraph 1 focuses on the plaza JP, a vast urban and architectural space: the author presents at first some questions about archaeological strategy, stating some key points: 1) a vertical and methodical stratigraphic excavation [see Grammar]; 2) a digital record and publication [see Digital thought]; 3) necessity of proper conservation [Preservation].
Moreover, on a theoretical way, the excavation in this area allowed the author to develop two perspectives: 1) a perceptual analysis and 2) a distributional analysis.
Paragraph 2 presents a considerable amount of fourth-millennium BC sherds found in the terrace area (related to a stone wall pre-dating that of the later monumental complex) together with few sealings, describing these materials as a ‘curtain’ between the ‘Protoliterate’ period and the wider development of the site in the third millennium BC.
Paragraph 3 deals with the
third millennium BC at Urkesh, when the site deeply increased and the monumental complex of the temple further developed (sub-paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 focus respectively on the ‘long-durée chronology’, the structural aspects of the flank wall of the staircase and the ‘architectural ideogram’ patterned along the surrounding wall [for this last topic see Buccellati 2009]).
Paragraph 4 describes the sacral space during the Mittanian period (ca. 1400 BC), when a contraction of this area occurred (the monumental structure being reduced and modified with the construction of a new, smaller Western staircase, the infilling of the Plaza and the movement to novel Western service quarters).
Paragraph 5 presents a strong effort in interpreting the perspective that ancient Urkesh’s people had of this sacral space, avoiding any modern superimposition in the understanding; another important goal was the presentation of the site to the public, with the installation in situ of panels explaining the different spots [offering panoramic views of ‘the site as a book’: see Site presentation and The itinerary] and realizing ‘footnotes’ in various junctures of the most important structures of the site (on August 2018, Tell Mozan got also the honour of an official visit of Syrian First Lady, Dr. Asmaa al-Assad).
Paragraph 6 moves from the perceptions explained in the previous paragraph to the interpretation of function of different areas of the sacral place: the Plaza (and the buffer zones), the staircase, the ‘architectural logograms’ and the ‘apron’ (interpreted as a ‘seating area’).