  Shown within Iraq | |
| Location | Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 30°58′0″N 45°47′20″E / 30.96667°N 45.78889°E |
| Type | settlement |
| History | |
| Founded | 2nd millennium BC |
| Periods | Isin-Larsa, Old Babylonian |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 2019, 2021 |
| Archaeologists | Alexei Jankowski-Diakonoff |
| Condition | Ruined |
| Ownership | Public |
| Public access | Yes |
Tell Dehaila (also Telūl al-Deḥaila, Arabic: تل دحيلة) is an ancient Near East archaeological site in Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq. It is located about 30 kilometers west of the ancient city of Ur on the banks of the ancient Eridu Canal and about 25 kilometers north of the ancient city of Eridu. The canal connects to Uruk in the north and to the south proceeds on to Eridu and then on to the site of Tell Leḥem. Remains at the site date mainly to the Isin-Larsa and Old-Babylonian periods.
Archaeology
The site is EP-34 in the Wright's survey of the Euphrates flood plain. The survey found and extent of about 45 hectares and late Isin-Larsa and Old Babylonian pottery shards. The survey found "drains lined with baked brick in former streets, building foundations of both baked and mud brick, and localized concentrations of basalt, copper, ceramic slag".[1]: 330
The city wall enclosed site is oval shaped and covers an area of about 57 hectares with 37 hectares being urbanized.[2] Three small mounds (4.5 hectares, 6.6 hectares, and 12.5 hectares) stretch out in a line beginning 200 meters to the west. On the opposite side of the Eridu Canal there is a 5 hectare mound with a sizable (113 meter by 137 meter) building. A 130-meter barrage extended through the city wall into the Eridu Canal. There are five small one hectare sites in a nearby marsh. As the Eridu Canal shifted to the east the site expanded into its former bed. Eventually the Euphrates river was tapped to supply water.[3] It was excavated by a Russian team for two seasons, in 2019 and 2021.[4][5] In the second season two soundings were excavated to virgin soil. Evidence of monumental mudbrick construction was found including walls up to four meters wide.[6]
History
The site was occupied in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC, during the Isin-Larsa and Old Babylonian periods, primarily the Sealand and early Kassite periods. There was some minor occupation in the 1st century BC. It has been suggested as the possible location of the capital of the First Sealand dynasty. Sealand pottery was found at the site and a known Sealand site, Tell Khaiber is 16 kilometers to the northeast. This pottery type was also found at the Dilmun site of Qal'at al-Bahrain, at Tell Abu Thahab and at Tell Lehem.[7][8][9]
See also
References
- ^ [1] Wright, H. T., "Appendix: The Southern Margins of Sumer. Archaeological Survey of the Area of Eridu and Ur", In: R. M. Adams (ed.), The Heartland of Cities: Survey of Ancient Settlement and Land Use on the Central Flood Plain of the Euphrates, Chicago-London, pp. 295–345, 1981
- ^ Al-Hamdani, Abdulameer, "The Settlement and Canal Systems During the First Sealand Dynasty (1721–1340 BCE)", in Babylonia under the Sealand and Kassite Dynasties, edited by Susanne Paulus and Tim Clayden, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 28-57, 2020 ISBN 9781501517068
- ^ [2] Al-Dafar, A. (al-Hamdani, Abdulami), "Shadow States: The Archaeology of Power in the Marshes of Southern Mesopotamia", Doctoral dissertation, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 2015
- ^ [3]Jankowski, A. I., Calderbank, D., Jotheri, J., & Novikov, V. V., "Results of the Test Season of the Iraqi-Russian Expedition at Tell Dehaila-1", Vostok (Oriens), no. 5, pp. 9-21, 2020 doi:10.31857/S086919080011054-6
- ^ Jankowski-Diakonoff, A., "The Extent of the Ancient Marshes of Southern Mesopotamia", Vostok. Afro-Aziatskie obshchestva: istoriia i sovremennost, (6), pp. 23-35, 2019
- ^ [4] Alexei I. Jankowski-Diakonoff and Jaafar Jotheri, "The Second Season of the Russian-Iraqi Expedition at Tell Dehaila-1 (2021)", Kratkie Soobshchenia Instituta Arkheologii, October 2022
- ^ Clayden, Tim, "Ur in the Kassite Period" in Babylonia under the Sealand and Kassite Dynasties, edited by Susanne Paulus and Tim Clayden, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 88-124, 2020 ISBN 9781501517068
- ^ Boivin, Odette, "The Sealand I in Babylonian historiography", in The First Dynasty of the Sealand in Mesopotamia, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 20-59, 2018 ISBN 978-1501516399
- ^ Gabbay, Uri and Boivin, Odette, "A Hymn of Ayadaragalama, King of the First Sealand Dynasty, to the Gods of Nippur: The Fate of Nippur and Its Cult during the First Sealand Dynasty", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 108, no. 1, pp. 22-42, 2018
Further reading
- [5] Al-Hamdani, Abdulameer, "Kingdom of reeds: The archaeological heritage of Southern Iraqi Marshes", TAARII Newsletter 9.1-2, pp. 15–20, 2014
- Boivin, Odette, "Kār-Šamaš as a South-Western Palace Town of theSealand I Kingdom", NABU, pp. 162–64, 2015
- [6] Boivin, O., "The First Dynasty of the Sealand in History and Tradition", Doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto, Canada, 2016
- Calderbank, Daniel, "Pottery from Tell Khaiber: a craft tradition of the first Sealand dynasty", Moonrise Press Ltd, 2021
- Lambert, W. G., "The Home of the First Sealand Dynasty" Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 26, pp. 208–210, 1974
External links
- Tell Dehaila and its geomorphology - Alexei Jankowski-Diakonoff & Jaafar Jotheri
- The Art of Conservative Rebellion: A Short Introduction to the First Sealand Dynasty By Odette Boivin - ASOR
This page was last edited on 22 May 2024, at 14:13