Northern Birecik (Southeastern Turkey) during the Middle Bronze Age. The Kingdoms of Uršu and Mamma in the Old Assyrian route during Kultepe Ib
Mots-clés :
Middle Bronze Age I-II, Old Assyrian Trade, Babilonian and Syrian cylinder seals, wabartum, BirecikRésumé
The Uršu kingdom is one of the outstanding archaeological questions in the Middle Bronze Age I-II of the Middle-Upper Euphrates region, which connects with the Abarsal problem, more typical of the EB III/IV period in the same area.
The Uršu (Ur-šu) kingdom, cited in Ur III texts as an important kingdom, is located in Samsat Höyük, Kazane Höyük, and traditionally in the Gaziantep area, on the right bank of the river. That is, it is located within a 40-50 km stretch around the middle Euphrates, from Carchemish to further north. Right in the middle lies the pass between Tilbes and Zeugma, where theories suggest there were two cities along the Anatolian route on either bank: Abrum on the left bank and Zaqaria (Zuqarru).
The point about Kazane Höyük is that this site is associated with both Uršu and Abarsal, as well as the Amorite leader Shamshi-Adad (c. 1808-1776 BC), who is thought to have conquered the area sometime during the Middle Bronze Age (MB).
Materials from MB I and MB II north of Birecik modern town (in special two cylinder seals found at Tilbes Höyük) do provide evidence of a link with the caravan route and its possible connection with the kingdom of Uršu and specially the kingdom of Mamma, and suggest the hypothesis that Tilbes Höyük was a wabartum during Kultepe Ib. The occupation of Tilbes Hoyuk during the Middle Bronze Age appears to be long-lasting, but it is interrupted before the Late Bronze Age, with no occupation until an early period of the Achaemenid presence in the region, during the Late Iron Age.
One of the seals from Tilbes Höyük is anepigraphic and could well date between 19th and early 17th centuries BC, connected to the karum of Kultepe, due to its style, and therefore prior to the time of Shamshi-Adad I. The other seal bears an inscription with Middle Babylonian ductus, characteristic of a period after the disappearance of Shamshi-Adad, that is, between the mid-18th and 17th centuries BC, and characteristic of a Middle Bronze II context
Téléchargements
Références
al-Gailani Werr, L. (1988): “Cylinder Seals Made of Clay”. Iraq, 50: 1-24. https://doi.org/10.2307/4200280
Algaze, G. (ed.) (1990): Town and Country in Southeastern Anatolia. II. The Stratigraphic Sequence at Kurban Höyük. Oriental Institute Publications, 110. Chicago Oriental Institute. University of Chicago. Chicago.
Aylward, W. (2013): “The Rescue Excavations at Zeugma in 2000”. In W. Aylward (ed): Excavations at Zeugma, Conducted by Oxford University. The Packard Humanities Institute. Los Altos, CA.
Arnaud, D.; Calvet, Y. and Huot, J.-L. (1979): “Ilšu-ibnišu, orfèvre de l'E.Babbar de Larsa. La jarre L.76.77 et son contenu”. Syria, 56 (1-2): 1-64.
Astour, M.C. (1995): “Overland Trade Routes in Ancient Western Asia”. In J.M. Sasson (ed.): Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. III. Charles Scribner’s sons. New York: 1401-1420.
Barjamovic, G. (2011): A Historical Geography of Anatolia in the Old Assyrian Colony Period. The Carsten Niebuhr Institute, 38. Museum Tusculanum Press-University of Copenhagen. Copenhagen
Barjamovic, G., Hertel, T. and Larsen, M.G. (2012): Ups and Down at Kanesh. Chronology, Histori and Society in the Old Assyrian Period. Nederlands Instituut Voor Het Nabije Oosten. Leiden.
Beckman, G. M. (1995): “The Siege of Uršu Text (CTH 7) and old Hittite historiography”. Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 47: 23-34. https://doi.org/10.2307/1359812
Beitzel, B.J. (1992): “The Old Assyrian caravan road in the Mari royal archives”. In G.D. Young (ed.): Mari in Retrospect: Fifty Years of Mari and Mari Studies. Eisenbrauns. Winona Lake: 35-57.
Can, ?. (2018): Continuity and Change: An Annales approach to the Late Chalcolithic period in North Mesopotamia. Master’s Thesis. Department of Archaeology, ?hsan Do?ramac? Bilkent University, Ankara.
Carter, E. (ed.) (2025): The Kahramanmara? Valley Survey: A crossroads along the Syro-Anatolian Frontier: Vol. I. Monumenta Archaeologica, 51. University of Los Ángeles. Los Ángeles.
Charpin, D. (2003): “La ‘toponymie en miroir’ dans le Proche-Orient amorrite”. Revue d’Assyriologie, 97: 3-34.
Charvàt, P. and Gil Fuensanta, J. (2001): “Seals and Seal Impressions from Tilbes Höyük, South-Eastern Turkey (1996-1999)”. Archiv orientální, 69 (4): 559-570.
Collon, D. (1975): The Seal Impression from Tell Atchana/Alalakh. Alter Orient und Altes Testament, 27. Verlag Butzon & Bercker Kevelaer and Neukirchener Verlag. Neukirchen-Vluyn.
Cooper, L. (2007) “Early Bronze Age burial types and social-cultural identity within the northern Euphrates Valley”. In E. Peltenburg (ed.): Euphrates River Valley settlement. The Carchemish Sector in the Third Millennium BC. Oxbow Books. Oxford: 55-72.
Deimel, A. (1914): Pantheon Babylonicum. Pontificio Istituto Biblico. Roma.
Desreumaux, A., Gaborit, J. and Caillou, J.-S. (1999): “Nouvelles découvertes à Apamée d'Osrhoène”. Académie des Inscriptions et de Belles-Lettres, Comptes-rendus des séances de l'année 1999, 143 (1): 75-105.
Emre, K. (1995): “Pilgrim-flasks from Level I of the Karum of Kanish”. Bulletin of the Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan, 8: 173-200.
Forlanini, M. (2006): “Étapes et itinéraires entre Assur et l’Anatolie des marchandes paléo-Assyriens: nouveaux documents et nouveaux problèmes”. Kaskal, 3: 147–175.
Frankfort, H. (1939): Cylinder Seals. Macmillan and Co. London.
Gawlikowski, M. (1996): “Thapsacus and Zeugma the Crossing of the Euphrates in Antiquity”. Iraq, 58: 123-133. https://doi.org/10.2307/4200424
Gelb, J. (1977): Typology of Mesopotamian Seal Impressions. In McG. Gibson and R.D. Biggs (eds.): Seals and Sealings in the Ancient Near East. Undena Publications. Malibu.
Gil Fuensanta, J. (1999): “Memorias de la Misión Arqueológica Española en Turquía y el Proyecto Tilbes, 1998 (IV)”. Boletín de la Asociación Española de Orientalistas, 35: 259-276.
Gil Fuensanta, J. and Crivelli, E. (2008): “Trabajos de la misión arqueológica española en Turquía (XIV): El Proyecto Tilbes, 2008”. Boletín de la Asociación Española de Orientalistas, 44: 233-249
Gil Fuensanta, J.; González Salazar, J.M. and Seva, R. (1997): “La Misión Arqueológica Española en Turquía (II): prospección y excavaciones en Tilbes Höyük, 1996”. Boletín de la Asociación Española de Orientalistas, 33: 205-225.
Gil Fuensanta, J. and Mederos Martín, A. (2024): “At the mercy of the waters of the Turkish Euphrates: Tilbes Höyük and its possible performance as a regional sanctuary of a goddess during the 3rd-2nd millennia BC in Northern Mesopotamia”. In D. Brandherm y T. Zimmermann (eds.): Water Supply and Water Management in the Metal Ages (UISPP, Metal Ages, Ankara, 2022). Archaeopress. Oxford: 68-80.
Gil Fuensanta, J; Rothman M.S. and Bucak, E. (1999): “1998 Salvage Excavations at Tilbes Höyük”. Kazi Sonuclari Toplantisi XXI (Cilt 1). T.C. Kültür Bakanligi. Ankara: 157-166.
Gil Fuensanta, J.; Mederos Martín, A. and Uktamovich Muminov, O. (2019): “Santuarios del Bronce Antiguo I-III y ritos de enterramiento en Tilbes Höyük, Sureste de Turquía”. Cuadernos de Prehistoria y Arqueología de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 45: 51-68. http://dx.doi.org/10.15366/cupauam2019.45.003
Haas, V. (1985): “Grundzüge der Geschichte des oberen Haburgebietes”. In S. Eichler, V. Haas, D. Steudler, M. Wäfler and D. Warburton (eds.): Tall al-Hamidiya 1, Vorbericht 1984. Universitätsverlag-Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht. Freiburg/Schweiz-Göttingen: 31-44.
Herrmann, V.R.; Manning, S.W.; Morgan, K.R.; Soldi, S. y Schloen, D. (2023): “New evidence for Middle Bronze Age chronology from the Syro-Anatolian frontier”. Antiquity, 97 (393): 654–673 https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2023.30
Hoffner Jr., H. A. (1997): “Hittites”. In E. M. Meyers (ed.): The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. vol. 3. Oxford University Press. New York-Oxford: 84-88
Kaschau, G. (1999): Lidar Hüyük. Die Keramik Der Mittleren Bronzezeit. Verlag Philipp Von Zabern. Mainz.
Klengel, H. (1965): Geschichte Syriens I. Akademie-Verlag. Berlin.
Krebernik, M. (1987-1990): “Mamma, Mammi, Mammítum”. In D.O. Edzard (ed.): Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie, VII. Walter de Gruyter. Berlin-New York: 330-331.
Larsen, M.T. (1967): Old Assyrian Caravan Procedures. Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Institut. Istanbul.
Larsen, M.T. (1977): “Seal Use in the Old Assyrian Period”. In McG. Gibson and R.D. Biggs (eds.): Seals and Sealing in the Ancient Near East. Undena Publications. Malibu: 89-105.
Lawrence, D. and Ricci, A. (2016): “Long-term settlement trends in the Birecik-Carchemish Sector”. In T. Wilkinson, E. Peltenburg and E. Wilkinson (eds.): Carchemish in Context: the Land of Carchemish Project 2006–2010. Oxbow. Oxford: 38-67.
Manning, S.W., Kromer, B., Ramsey, C.B., Pearson, C.L., Talamo, S., Trano, N. and Watkins, J.D. (2010): “14C record and wiggle-match placement for the Anatolian (Gordion Area) Juniper tree-ring chronology ~1729 to 751 CAL BC, and typical Aegean/Anatolian (growing season related) regional 14C offset assessment”. Radiocarbon, 52 (4): 1571-1597. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200056320
Matouš, L. and Matoušová-Rajmová, M. (1984): Kappadokische Keilschrifttafeln mit Siegeln aus den Sammlungen der Karlsuniversität in Prag. Karlsuniversität. Prag.
Mazzoni, S. (1992): Le impronte su giara eblaite e siriane nel Bronzo Antico. MSAE, I. Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza". Roma.
Meijer, D.J.W. (2000): State and Trade. Subartu, VII. Brepols.
Meijer, D.J.W. and van Loon, M.N. (ed.) (1988): Hammam et-Turkman I. Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Institut. Istanbul.
Michalowsky, P. and Misir, A. (1998): “Cuneiform texts from Kazane Höyük”. Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 50: 53-58.
Michel, C. (2001): Correspondance des marchands de Kanish au début du IIe millenaire avant J.-C. Éditions du Cerf. Paris.
Miller, J.L. (2001): “Anum-Hirbi and His Kingdom”. Altorientalische Forschungen, 28 (1): 65-101.
Morgan, K.R. and Richardson, S. (2020): “Wine from Mamma: alluharum-pots in 17th-century BC trade networks”. Iraq, 82: 179-205. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/irq.2020.6
Newton, M.W. and Kuniholm, P.I. (2004): “A Dendrochronological Framework for the Assyrian Colony Period in Asia Minor”. Turkiye Bilimler Akademisi Arkeoloji Dergisi, 7: 165-176.
Palmisano, A. (2015): Spatial Approaches to the Political and Commercial Landscape of the Old Assyrian Colony Period. Ph.D. Thesis. University College London. London.
Palmisano, A. (2018): The Geography of Trade. Landscapes of competition and long-distance contacts in Mesopotamia and Anatolia in the Old Assyrian Colony Period. Archaeopress. Oxford.
Reade, J. (2001): “Assyrian king lists, the royal tombs of Ur, and Indus origins”. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 60 (1): 1-29. https://doi.org/10.1086/468883
Reiner, E. (1973): “Inscription from a Royal Elamite Tomb”. Archiv für Orientforschung, 24: 87-102.
Richter, T. (2004): “Die Ausbreitung der Hurriter bis zur altbabylonischen Zeit: eine kurze Zwischenbilanz”. In J.W. Meyer and W. Sommerfeld (eds.): 2000 v. Chr. - Politische, wirtschaftliche und gesellschaftliche Entwicklung im Zeichen einer Jahrtausendwende. Colloquien der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 3. Saarbrücker Verlag-Druckerei. Saarbrücken: 263-311.
Sallaberger, W. (2007): “From Urban Culture to Nomadism: a history of Upper Mesopotamia in the Late Third Millennium”. In C. Kuzucuo?lu and C. Marro (eds.): Sociétés humaines et changement climatique à la fin du troisième millénaire: une crise a-t-elle eu lieu en Haute Mésopotamie? (Lyon, 2005). Varia Anatolica, 19. Paris: 417-456;
Sollberger, E. and Kupper, J.R. (1971): Inscriptions royales sumériennes et Akkadiennes. Litératures Anciennes Du Proche-Orient, 3. Éditions du Cerf. Paris.
Tallqvist, K. (1938): Akkadische Götterepitheta. Societas Orientalis Fennica. Helsingforsiae.
van der Toorn, K. (1995): “The Domestic Cult at Emar”. Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 47: 35-50. https://doi.org/10.2307/1359813
Veenhof, K.R. (1972): Aspects of Old Assyrian Trade and its Terminology. Studia et Documenta, 10. E.J. Brill. Leiden.
von Weiher, E. (1971): Der babylonische Gott Nergal. Alter Orient und Altes Testament, 11. Verlag Butzon & Bercker Kevelaer und Neukirchener Verlag des Erziehungsvereines. Neukirchen-Vluyn.
Wagner, J. (1976): Seleukeia am Euphrat/Zeugma. Ludwig Reichert Verlag. Wiesbaden.
Yasenovskaya, A.; Shelestin, V. and Nemirovsky, A. (2021): “The iconographical and mythological contexts of serpent(s)-fighting scene on the Old Assyrian seal impression from Kültepe (the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts I 2 b 1591)”. Studia antiqua et archaeologica, 27 (2): 403-423.