Tell al-Dhiba'i, also spelled Tell edh-Dhiba'i, is an archaeological site in
Baghdad Governorate
Baghdad Governorate ( ar, محافظة بغداد ''Muḥāfaẓät Baġdād''), also known as the Baghdad Province, is the capital governorate of Iraq. It includes the capital Baghdad as well as the surrounding metropolitan area. The governor ...
(
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
). It lies within the borders of modern
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
near
Tell Muhammad and 3 kilometers northeast of
Shaduppum
Shaduppum (modern Tell Harmal) is an archaeological site in Baghdad Governorate (Iraq). Nowadays, it lies within the borders of modern Baghdad.
History of archaeological research
The site, 150 meters in diameter and 5 meters high, was excavated ...
(Tell Harmal), more specifically in the neighborhood of
New Baghdad New Baghdad or Baghdad Al-Jidida ( ar, بغداد الجديدة) is one of nine administrative districts in Baghdad, Iraq. This district has nine Neighborhood Advisory Councils (NAC) and a District Advisory Council. It is located east of the city c ...
.
ustafa, M.A., "Soundings at Tell al-Dhiba’i", Sumer, vol. 5, iss. 2, pp. 173–88, 1949 Uzarzalulu has been proposed as the original name of the city. An alternative proposal is Šadlaš. The city was occupied mainly during the
Isin-Larsa period
The Isin-Larsa period (circa 2025-1763 BCE, Middle Chronology, or 1961-1699 BCE, Short Chronology) is a phase in the history of ancient Mesopotamia, which extends between the end of the Third Dynasty of Ur and the conquest of Mesopotamia by King H ...
and
Old Babylonian period
The Old Babylonian Empire, or First Babylonian Empire, is dated to BC – BC, and comes after the end of Sumerian power with the destruction of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the subsequent Isin-Larsa period. The chronology of the first dynasty ...
.
Archaeology
The site consists of three mounds covering a rectangular area of about 45000 square meters and rising to 7 meters. The highest mound is to the north. The Directorate-General of Antiquities of Iraq conducted three seasons of excavations, led by Muhammed Ali Mustafa, in 1947, 1962, and 1965.
[ Before excavations began the site, being near Baghdad, had already been extensively dug by illegal workers in some areas in search of tablets and small finds. In the 1983-84 season the Iraqi State Organization for Antiquities and Heritage did some additional excavation on Old Babylonian houses there.
]
History
Five occupation layers were found on the central mound, underlain by scattered Akkadian Empire
The Akkadian Empire () was the first ancient empire of Mesopotamia after the long-lived civilization of Sumer. It was centered in the city of Akkad (city), Akkad () and its surrounding region. The empire united Akkadian language, Akkadian and ...
and Ur III period
The Third Dynasty of Ur, also called the Neo-Sumerian Empire, refers to a 22nd to 21st century BC (middle chronology) Sumerian ruling dynasty based in the city of Ur and a short-lived territorial-political state which some historians consider t ...
remains. Level IV was marked by the remains large Kassite
The Kassites () were people of the ancient Near East, who controlled Babylonia after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire c. 1531 BC and until c. 1155 BC (short chronology).
They gained control of Babylonia after the Hittite sack of Babylon ...
era foundations that cut into the lower level. The most significant level was Level V where roughly 100 cuneiform tablets and a temple (14.5 by 18.5 meters) of the god Lasimu (or Lassimu) were uncovered. The tablets were mainly administrative and loan contracts. Date formulas on tablets, including the death of Belakum, king of Eshnunna
Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar in Diyala Governorate, Iraq) was an ancient Sumerian (and later Akkadian) city and city-state in central Mesopotamia 12.6 miles northwest of Tell Agrab and 15 miles northwest of Tell Ishchali. Although situated in th ...
, show this level to date to the early period of the First Dynasty of Babylon. Most of the city rulers had Amorite
The Amorites (; sux, 𒈥𒌅, MAR.TU; Akkadian: 𒀀𒈬𒊒𒌝 or 𒋾𒀉𒉡𒌝/𒊎 ; he, אֱמוֹרִי, 'Ĕmōrī; grc, Ἀμορραῖοι) were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking people from the Levant who also occupied lar ...
names. Cylinder seals were also recovered. The northern and southern mounds had levels III, IV, and V with level III having a large building. The north mound produced a number of tablets and other finds. In total roughly 300 tablets were found at the site. An important discovery was a copper-smith operation including most of its tools.[Davey, Christopher J. "Tell edh-Dhiba’i and the southern Near Eastern metalworking tradition." The Beginning of the Use of Metals and Alloys (1988): 63-8] There are some Neo-Babylonian
The Neo-Babylonian Empire or Second Babylonian Empire, historically known as the Chaldean Empire, was the last polity ruled by monarchs native to Mesopotamia. Beginning with the coronation of Nabopolassar as the King of Babylon in 626 BC and bein ...
and Kassite graves at surface level of the site.
See also
*Cities of the ancient Near East
The earliest cities in history were in the ancient Near East, an area covering roughly that of the modern Middle East: its history began in the 4th millennium BC and ended, depending on the interpretation of the term, either with the conquest by ...
*IM 67118
IM 67118, also known as Db2-146, is an Old Babylonian clay tablet in the collection of the National Museum of Iraq that contains the solution to a problem in plane geometry concerning a rectangle with given area and diagonal. In the last part of ...
References
{{Reflist
Archaeological sites in Iraq