Tell Kunara is an ancient Near East archaeological site about southwest of

Sulaymaniyah Sulaymaniyah, also spelled as Slemani ( ku, سلێمانی, Silêmanî, ar, السليمانية, as-Sulaymāniyyah), is a city in the east of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, not far from the Iran–Iraq border. It is surrounded by the Azmar, G ...

in the Kurdistan region of

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 the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

. It lies on the

Tanjaro The Tanjaro ( ar, نهر تنجيرو), also spelled Tanjero, is a river in the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. It arises near the city Sulaymaniyah through the confluence of the rivers ''Kiliasan'' and ''Kani-Ban'' and flows into the Darbandikhan Dam ...

River. The site was occupied from the

Chalcolithic The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...

period to the early second millennium BC.

History

The site was occupied in the

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...

Ur III 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 ...

, and

Isin-Larsa 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 ...

periods. The excavators have speculated that the city, with its monumental buildings, was the capital of the

Lullubi Lullubi, Lulubi ( akk, 𒇻𒇻𒉈: ''Lu-lu-bi'', akk, 𒇻𒇻𒉈𒆠: ''Lu-lu-biki'' "Country of the Lullubi"), more commonly known as Lullu, were a group of tribes during the 3rd millennium BC, from a region known as ''Lulubum'', now the Sha ...

state. There were three occupational levels (levels 1 and 2 have been radiocarbon dated) *Level 1 – Middle Bronze Age (2000–1900 BC) (in Area C) *Level 2 – end of Early Bronze (2200–2000 BC) (in Areas A and B) *Level 3 – Early Bronze Age (2350–2200 BC) (in Areas A and D) Epigraphic evidence shows the city had an ensi (governor) but under what auspices is unknown at present.

Archaeology

Tell Kunara consists of two oval mounds, the western one higher than the eastern, separated by a modern road. The eastern mound is designated as the Lower Town. Overall the site extends to roughly 600 meters by 400 meters or about 10 hectares. The site was first visited in 1943 when Sabri Shukri of the Iraqi General Directorate of Antiquities in Baghdad conducted a survey, issuing a report dated November 10, 1943. The site was examined as part of a larger survey by C. Kepinski in 2011. A geomagnetic survey at Tell Kunara showed signs of a monumental (60 meters by 30 meters) building in the Lower Town It has been excavated since 2012 by a

French National Center for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...

team led by Christine Kepinski and Aline Tenu. Work was then conducted in 2013 and again in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. A few 10 centimeter by 10 centimeter

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sh ...

tablets were found in 2015 (most concerning flour) and another group in 2018 (most concerning grain). Quantities were listed in a new type of gur (volume measure) not previously attested as opposed to the expected Akkadian Gur."Tenu, Aline, et al. "Kunara, a third millennium town in the peaks of Zagros. Preliminary report on the third excavation campaign (2015)". ''Akkadica'' 137.2, pp. 109–182, 2016Tenu, Aline, et al. "Kunara. Preliminary report on the fifth excavation campaign (2017)". ''Akkadica'' 2019.Tenu, Aline. "The 2016–2017 Excavation Seasons in Kunara (Iraqi Kurdistan)". 11th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, 2018 *Area A – On the upper mound. A monumental building was found, with a 2.6 meter wide wall built on a very large stone base foundation. The walls were constructed of "layers of rectangular mud bricks, protected by diluted bitumen and jointed with a mortar containing crushed bones, alternated with about 0.60 m of

pisé Rammed earth is a technique for constructing foundations, floors, and walls using compacted natural raw materials such as earth, chalk, lime, or gravel. It is an ancient method that has been revived recently as a sustainable building method. ...

". The building, which overlays an earlier one with similar plan, was fronted by a 100 square meter courtyard with included a 10-meter

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

pipe for drainage. The top of the mound had first been sealed and leveled by a several meter thick layer of sand. Small finds included a bronze pendant. *Area B – In the Lower Town, designed to explore the monumental building identified by the survey. A simple poorly preserved building was found on Level 1. On level 2 lay the monumental building that had appeared on the survey. It had 1.6 meter thick wall footings made out of massive stones with facing stones. The remains of the building on Level 3 had large walls on a completely different orientation. Small finds included a finely carved greenish Akkadian period stone

cylinder seal A cylinder seal is a small round cylinder, typically about one inch (2 to 3 cm) in length, engraved with written characters or figurative scenes or both, used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally ...

. *Area C – A large but shallow excavation at the outer edge of the site, to the south, Level 1 remains are fragmentary but appear to be related to food production. Levels 2 and 3 so portions of a monumental building with walls 1.4 meters in width. At the lowest floor were many storage jars. *Area D – several narrow trenches on the slope of the Lower Town to look for a defensive wall and examine the interrelationship with the Upper Town. Small finds here included beads, an obsidian flint, a lithic arrow head of Akkadian type.

Excavation photographs

File:Oct. 2015, French excavations at Tell Kunara, Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300-2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.jpg, Oct. 2015, French excavations at Tell Kunara, Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300–2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq File:Oct. 2015, French excavations at Tell Kunara. Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300-2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.jpg, Oct. 2015, French excavations at Tell Kunara. Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300–2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq File:Wall. Excavations at Tell Kunara, Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300-2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.jpg, Wall. Excavations at Tell Kunara, Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300–2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq File:Excavations at Tell Kunara. Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300-2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Republic of Iraq. October 3, 2019.jpg, Excavations at Tell Kunara. Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300–2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Republic of Iraq. October 3, 2019 File:Excavations at Tell Kunara. Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300-2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah, Republic of Iraq. October 3, 2019.jpg, Excavations at Tell Kunara. Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300–2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah, Republic of Iraq. October 3, 2019 File:Drainage system. Excavations at Tell Kunara. October 3, 2019. Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300-2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah, Republic of Iraq.jpg, Drainage system. Excavations at Tell Kunara. October 3, 2019. Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300–2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah, Republic of Iraq File:Foundation-walls. Excavations at Tell Kunara. October 3, 2019. Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300-2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah, Republic of Iraq.jpg, Foundation-walls. Excavations at Tell Kunara. October 3, 2019. Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300–2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah, Republic of Iraq File:French Excavations at Tell Kunara. Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300-2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Republic of Iraq, October 3, 2019.jpg, French Excavations at Tell Kunara. Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300–2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Republic of Iraq, October 3, 2019 File:A dagger, a turquoise piece, and a skeleton. Excavations at Tell Kunara, Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300-2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq.jpg, A dagger, a turquoise piece, and a skeleton. Excavations at Tell Kunara, Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300–2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq File:Excavations at Tell Kunara. October 3, 2019, Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300-2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah, Republic of Iraq.jpg, Excavations at Tell Kunara. October 3, 2019, Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300–2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah, Republic of Iraq

References

External links

{{Commons category, Tell Kunara *Jean-Baptiste Veyrieras (March 19, 2019)
"A Historical Treasure Bordering Ancient Mesopotamia"
CNRS. Archaeological sites in Iraq

History

Archaeology

Excavation photographs

See also

References

Further reading

External links