Annotated bibliography

The volume Gli Opifici di Urkesh contains the proceedings of a Round Table held in Florence on November 23, 1999, devoted to the subject of conservation and restoration at Tell Mozan, ancient Urkesh, in northeastern Syria. The first part describes the role of the institutions that participate in the project: the ‘Opificio delle Pietre Dure’ of Florence has joined the Mozan/Urkesh Archaeological Project in order to provide a full-fledged technical support, while the excavations provide the students of the Opificio with an opportunity for intense exposure to the vicissitudes of field work.

The second part provides an overview of the historical, architectural and artifactual context, from which both the conservation laboratory and the activity of the field school receive their full justification.

The third part contains special studies on critical aspects of the conservation and restoration activities, in particular techniques of artifact preservation in the field, a new system for the conservation of mudbrick walls, special uses of digital photography and three-dimensional rendering of the architecture, and functional uses of conservation.

Besides regular members of the Urkesh staff, other authors represented include C. Acidini, G. Bonsanti, M. Michelucci, B. Angeli, P. Pfälzner, P.E. Pecorella, G. Chiari, L. Castelletti. It is edited by S. Bonetti, Director of the Urkesh Conservation Laboratory.

[A16 mentions: pl. XIII (A16.2); p. 85 (A16a15) and pl. XXVI (A16.68)]

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– Laerke Recht, 2013

The structure and the function of Urkesh’s Temple Terrace is widely analysed in the present contribution, aiming to define the limits and features of ancient perception on this monumental structures.

[A16 mentions: p. 97 (Western Service Quarter)]

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– Marco De Pietri, 2019

Report of the major results of the joined mission of UCLA (14^th campaign) and DOG at Urkesh in 2001: a historical analysis of the ‘great interface’ occurred between the Post-imperial Akkadian and the Ur III periods (around 2112 BC) is presented; excavations in Areas A9, A10, A14, A15 and A16 are described; a paragraph is devoted to the presentation of the major finds: two terracotta miniature heads (A14.7 and A15.226), a bronze bucket (A16.29), a hematite cylindrical seal (A9.138), and a male head in stone (A9.149); eventually, bioarchaeological analyses of human remains from Tell Mozan are displayed.

[A16 mentions: pp. 104, 106 and 116 (houses-phase 5); p. 118 (section); pp. 121-122 (burials); pp. 124 (A16f104) and 126 (A16.29)]

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– Marco De Pietri, 2019

Report of DOG’s excavation season in 2004 (connected to the previous UCLA’s 15th campaign in 2002): a wide description is provided about the Royal Palace of Tell Mozan and about the stratigraphy and finds of the ābi.

[A16 mentions: pp. 13-14, 31, 32 (A16.108), 33 (A16.117 and A16q834.1), 34 (A16.c2 and A16.c3), 35 (A16.c1)]

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– Marco De Pietri, 2019

The peculiar ‘digital thought’, implying a ‘digital edition’ of data, is applied at Urkesh also for ceramic recording. This coherent system led to the creation of a ‘digital database of pottery’ which consists of ‘minimal constituents’, ‘frequencies’, and ‘correlations’ allowing a whole understanting of the ceramic assemblage at Urkesh.

[A16 mentions: p. 3 (pottery)]

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– Marco De Pietri, 2019

This volume has as subject the animal figurines recovered from Royal Storehouse AK at Urkesh (Tell Mozan). To the extent that the CATALOGS accurately represent the genera in this corpus, it is a reference tool and a baseline. Moreover, this work presents a typology, a way of classifying terra-cotta animal figurines in a systematic way. The method cannot be taken whole and superimposed on any other body of data. It was nonetheless our thought fiom the beginning that others might find ways to adapt this work and to apply it in different circumstances not necessarily contemporaneous with Mozan nor even within the same geographic, temporal or cultural provenience. In this, I share M. E. L. Mallowan’s sentiment:

     “It will be seen that the catalogue makes very lengthy reading, and it is hoped that it may prove of some use as a work of general reference, since it has aimed at referring as widely as possible to similar or analogous material discovered on other ancient sites.” (Mallowan 1948)

As for the tone and written style, I have kept in mind field reports that I have found particularly readable, namely, Mallowan’s work on Arpachiya, Chagar Bazar, and Tell Brak (Mallowan 1936, 1937); Parrot’s prose, including his summaries of Mesopotamian archeology (Parrot 1946 I, 1953 II); the Braidwood volumes on the Zagros flank (Braidwood 1983), including the frank and practical evaluations provided by Morales on the figurines from Sarab and Cayonii (for a more complete survey, see Morales 1990). Each of these studies is characterized by expansiveness and by a willingness to share information about context and process as well as artifact; the text moves effortlessly among these three aspects of archzological documentation without straining credulity or compromising the analysis. To the contrary.

Some of these narratives are downright lively. I have wanted this text to be the same, so that the general reader might also find the subject and the treatment inviting. This narrative rather frequently speaks in the first person (singular and plural). This seemed natural and appropriate. I have felt that the personal process of discovery and the way a certain line of reasoning developed would be useful to others engaged in the analysis of artifacts, perhaps the more so as classification procedures are reevaluated.

[A16 mentions: p. 349 (A16q147.1); p. 85 (A16a15) and pl. XXVI (A16.68)]

[Cf. also the topical book on “Animal figurines”.]

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– Marco De Pietri, 2024

At Urkesh some andirons (also called in literature ‘firedogs’) have been uncovered: these finds also strengthen the relationship between Urkesh and the Early Trans-Caucasian culture (ETC), extending in modern Georgia and Armenia. The possible ancient trade routes are reconstructed, also speculating about the system of control of these important zones (mostly the Mardin pass, just to the North of Tell Mozan): to strengthen the idea of contacts between Urkesh, Early Anatolia and ETC, sealings and seals decorations and motifs are compared, underlining communal way of carvings and of portraying images.

[A16 mentions: p. 75 (A16.19)]

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– Marco De Pietri, 2019

This paper investigates the connection between some combustion structures (the tannurs and the andirons) found nearby tombs, on the High Mound of Tell Mozan. After an introduction about the site and the different burial practices of the Middle Bronze age in Syria, the authors describe Mozan as far as its burial areas. In sum, 8 tombs clearly presented traces of fire: the position of the tombs just above the firing places and their proximity to high temperature caused by fire could explain the traces of burning on the human skeletons (it is important to remember that the matrix of the soil all around the graves is mostly composed of clay, a material that conducts heat very well). Another possibility is to consider the firing structures as a landmark denoting the presence of tombs of important people nearby.

[A16 mentions: pp. 138, 139 (A16.84), 140 (A16.78, A16.123 and A16.156), 141 (A16.96)]

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– Marco De Pietri, 2019

After a general introduction on Urkesh, the author discusses the necromantic pit known as ābi and its connection with a ‘lady’, represented by a small ceramic anthropomorphic vessel (A12.108) portraying a female figure. The author describes the item in detail and then moves to interpretation of its function: as already proposed by M. Kelly-Buccellati, “this anthropomorphic vessel […] has suggested contained perfumed oil used during rituals taking place in the ābi”. In conclusion, “the ancient texts make it clear that aromatic substances existed and were used in a variety of contexts beyond modern cosmetic usage […]. This must also have been the case at ancient Urkesh and the broader region of northeastern Syria. The most likely vessels that may have contained such liquids or ointments come from cult contexts, including the monumental channel to contact the deities of the netherworld. The perfumes may have had not only cosmetic uses, but also have been appreciated for their medicinal properties and therefore part of healing rituals” (p. 21).

[A16 mentions: p. 13 (A16.27)]

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– Marco De Pietri, 2019