Tell Dehaila
تل دحيلة | |
  Shown within Iraq  Tell Dehaila (Near East) | |
| Location | Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 30°58′0″N 45°47′20″E / 30.96667°N 45.78889°E |
| Type | archaeological site, tell, settlement site |
| 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 tell, or archaeological site in Iraq. Remains at the site range from the Isin-Larsa/Old-Babylonian to Neo-Babylonian periods.
Location[edit]
It is located in Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq, about 30 kilometers west of the ancient city of Ur. The settlement is in the bend 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.
The term Eridu Canal comes from Sumerian id2.edin.eriduga(NUN)ki, literally Eridu Plain Canal, but meaning 'waterway' of any kind. Actually it was a natural branch of Euphrates, while human maintenace effort had varied over time. Jankowski-Diakonoff uses the Eridu River term.[1]: 32
Archaeology[edit]
The site is EP-34 in the Wright's survey of the Euphrates flood plain. The survey found an extent of about 45 hectares and late Isin-Larsa/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".[2]: 330
The city wall enclosed site is oval shaped and covers an area of about 57 hectares with 37 hectares being urbanized.[3] 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.[4]
The site was excavated by the Iraqi-Russian Multidisciplinary Project (IRMP) team for three seasons, in 2019, 2021, and 2023.[5][1][6] 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. Neo-Babylonian pottery shards are found on surface.[7] In the 2023 season new hi-res aerial orthoimagery has been collected.[6]
History[edit]
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.[8][9][10]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Jankowski, A.I. (2019). "Болотная область Южного Двуречья" [The Extent of the Ancient Marshes of Southern Mesopotamia] (PDF). Vostok. Afro-aziatskie obshchestva: istoriia i sovremennost Восток. Афро-азиатские общества: История и современность [Oriens] (in Russian) (2019 №6): 23–35. doi:10.31857/S086919080007749-0. ISSN 0869-1908.
- ^ [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
- ^ Jankowski-Diakonoff, A.I.; Calderbank, D.; Jotheri, J.; Novikov, V.V. (2020). "Результаты пробного сезона Российско-Иракской экспедиции на телле Дехайла-1" [Results of the Test Season of the Iraqi-Russian Expedition at Tell Dehaila-1] (PDF). Vostok. Afro-aziatskie obshchestva: istoriia i sovremennost Восток. Афро-азиатские общества: История и современность [Oriens] (in Russian) (2020 №5): 9–21. doi:10.31857/S086919080011054-6.
- ^ a b "Российско-Иракская комплексная экспедиция в 2023 г" [Iraqi-Russian Multisciplinary Project in 2023] (Press release) (in Russian). Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 2023-11-27.
- ^ Jankowski-Diakonoff, A.I.; Amirov, Sh.N.; Menshikov, M.Yu.; Jotheri, J. (2022). "Второй сезон Российско-Иракской экспедиции на Телле Дехайла-1" [The Second Season of the Russian-Iraqi Expedition at Tell Dehaila-1] (PDF). Kratkie Soobshchenia Instituta Arkheologii Краткие сообщения Института археологии [Brief Communications of the Institute of Archaeology] (in Russian). 267: 44–58. doi:10.25681/IARAS.0130-2620.267. ISSN 0130-2620.
- ^ 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[edit]
- [3] 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
- [4] 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