Tell Agrab Explained

Tell Agrab
Map Type:Iraq
Relief:yes
Coordinates:33.3389°N 44.8744°W
Map Size:200
Location:Diyala Governorate, Iraq
Type:settlement
Built:3rd millennium BC
Epochs:Bronze Age
Cultures:Jemdet Nasr, Early Dynastic, Akkadian, Larsa
Excavations:1936-1937
Archaeologists:Seton Lloyd
Condition:Ruined
Ownership:Public
Public Access:Yes

Tell Agrab (or Aqrab) is a tell or settlement mound southeast of Eshnunna in the Diyala region of Iraq. It is about 15 miles southeast of Tell Asmar, ancient Eshnunna. It has been suggested that the ancient name of the site was PA.GAR.[1]

History

Tell Agrab was occupied during the Jemdet Nasr and Early Dynastic periods through the Akkadian and Larsa periods. It was during the Early Dynastic period that monumental building occurred, includingthe Shara Temple. There is no evidence that it was occupied after the end of the third millennium BC.

Archaeology

The site of Tell Agrab is encompassed by a 500by rectangle with a height of around . It was surrounded by a fortification wall made of plano-convex bricks and with defensive towers every 19 meters.[2] Though it had been subject to illegal digging earlier with materials from there appearing with Baghdad antiquities dealers, the site was officially excavated between 1935 and 1937 by a team from the Oriental Institute of Chicago which was also working at Eshnunna, Khafajah and Tell Ishchali during that time. The dig was led by Seton Lloyd.[3] [4]

The primary excavation effort was on the large Early Dynastic temple consisting of a main sanctuary with altar and offering table and two smaller subsidiary sanctuaries on the same plan The temple was believed by the excavators to be dedicated to Shara based on a stone bowl fragment inscription "To Shara has Anunu, foreman of (yeo)men, presented (this) as a gift.". However, subsequent research suggests that it may have belonged to a local deity, Iluma'tim, while the name dLAGABxIGI-gunû from the bowl fragment, formerly read as Shara, might instead be Išḫara, which according to Gianni Marchesi and Nicolo Marchetti is more plausible in the light of the distribution of cult centers of these two deities.[5] Only the western end of the temple was studied, the rest being badly eroded. The temple was about square and was surrounded by a wall wide with large supporting buttresses. The presence of sling stones and a sappers tunnel indicated an attack in the Early Dynastic era. Aside from a number of treasure caches, cylinder seals,[6] and a sculptured mace-head of gypsum ornamented with lions' head found, the most notable find was a copper chariot pulled by four onagers, one of the earliest examples known.[7] [8] Three cuneiform tablets in Old Akkadian were also found[9] as well as "two small bronze statuettes of men and one of a woman (all with inlaid eyes of mother of pearl)" as well as tools and weapons made of bronze and the remains of a copper statue that would have originally been 4/5 life size.[10] A metal hoard consisting of "silver wires, rings/coils, ornaments, beads and an enigmatic ‘gold weight'" was found in a long corridor and dated to Early Dynastic II.[11] A single neolithic clay token was also found.[12] A notable find was a green steatite vase, elaborately engraved.[13]

See also

Further reading

https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/oip63.pdf Pinhas Delougaz, "Pottery from the Diyala Region", Oriental Institute Publications 63, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1952,

External links

Notes and References

  1. Marchesi, Gianni and Marchetti, Nicolo, "The Inscriptions on Royal Statues", Royal Statuary of Early Dynastic Mesopotamia, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 155-185, 2011
  2. Allen, Francis O. "The Oriental Institute Archaeological Report on the Near East: Fourth Quarter, 1935", The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, vol. 52, no. 3, pp. 201–14, 1936
  3. Book: Delougaz, Pinhas. Pre-sargonic temples in the Diyala region. Lloyd. Seton. 1942. University of Chicago Press. Chicago, Ill.. English. 1153687033.
  4. "The Oriental Institute Archeological Report on the near East: First Quarter, 1937", The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 256–77, 1937
  5. Book: Marchesi, Gianni. Marchetti. Nicolo. Royal Statuary of Early Dynastic Mesopotamia. Penn State University Press. 2011. 978-1-57506-651-6. 10.1515/9781575066516. 227.
  6. Book: Frankfort, Henry. Stratified cylinder seals from the Diayala region. 1964. The Univ. Pr.. Chicago. English. 249158786.
  7. Hughes, George R., et al., "The Oriental Institute Archeological Report on the Near East: Third Quarter, 1937", The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 97–112, 1938
  8. Book: Littauer, M. A.. Wheeled vehicles and ridden animals in the ancient Near East. 1979. E.J. Brill. J. H. Crouwel. 90-04-05953-9. Leiden. 6031713.
  9. https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/mad1.pdf
  10. Nims, Charles F, "The Oriental Institute Archeological Report on the near East: Fourth Quarter, 1936", The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, vol. 53, no. 3, pp. 199–216, 1937
  11. https://air.unimi.it/bitstream/2434/1028176/2/peyronel_2023_in%20weights%20and%20measures.pdf
  12. Overmann, Karenleigh A., "The Neolithic Clay Tokens", The Material Origin of Numbers: Insights from the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Piscataway, NJ, USA: Gorgias Press, pp. 157-178, 2019
  13. Parker, Richard A., "The Oriental Institute Archaeological Report on the Near East: Second Quarter, 1936", The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 52–72, 1936

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