Tell Muhammad (also Tell Mohammed and Tall Muhammad) is an ancient Near East archaeological site currently in the outskirts of Baghdad, along the Tigris River in the Diyala region. It is a very short distance from the site of Tell Harmal to the north and not far from the site of Tell al-Dhiba'i to the northeast. The ancient name of the site is unknown, though Diniktum has been suggested. The lost city of Akkad has also been proposed. Based on a year name found on one of the cuneiform tablets the name Banaia has also been proposed. Not to be confused with Tell Mohammed Arab, excavated as part of the Eski Mosul Saddam Dam rescue project in Iraq or Tell Mohammed Diyáb in Syria.

Archaeology

Mace heads Hammurabi Tell Muhammad BM 22455 6

Its original extent was about 25 hectares, now reduced to about 5 hectares with a maximum height of 2.5 meters. There was a six-meter-wide fortification wall, the full extent of which has not been determined. The site, at that time about 6 miles southwest of

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, was excavated by J. F. Jones in 1850. He found several bronze mace heads with an inscription of

Hammurabi Hammurabi (; ; ), also spelled Hammurapi, was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered the ci ...

, ruler of

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

. The site was examined by A. H. Layard in 1853 who also found mace heads inscribed "E.GAL ha-am-mu-ra-pi" - "(property of) the palace of Hammurabi". In the early 1900s, it was sketched by E. Hertzfeld showing dimensions of 550 meters north to south and 350 meters east to west. In 1957, during an archaeological survey of the region (Adams site #414), it was reported to have been partially destroyed by a modern canal construction.
Adams, Robert M., "Land Behind Baghdad: A History of Settlement on the Diyala Plains", Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1965 To the northeast there was a large square enclosure (now built over) measuring 900 meters northeast by 900 meters southwest. It was worked on for 8 seasons between 1978 and 1985 and again in 1999 by the Iraqi State Antiquities Organization, under the direction of Sd. Mu'tasim Rashid Abdur-Ra. The excavations have revealed remains dating to the Isin-Larsa, Old Babylonian, and Kassite periods. A number of Old Babylonian period cuneiform tablets were found in Levels II and III and are now held at the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad. About 70 of the tablets have been published and are from a private context and record contracts of two generations of a commercial family. Those in Level III carry the old event style date year name formula, and those from Level II carry two dates, one of the event style formula and one of the newer date formula. This is thought to represent a transition from Babylonian to Kassite dynasty, Kassite control. The latest tablets carry only a date formula year name. Work at the site has resumed under an

University of Catania The University of Catania () is a university located in Catania, Sicily. Founded in 1434, it is the oldest university in Sicily, the 13th oldest in Italy, and the 29th oldest in the world. With over 38,000 enrolled students, it is the largest uni ...

(Baghdad Urban Archaeological Project) effort led by Nicola Laneri of the University of Sicily, with excavation seasons in 2022 and 2023. Before the site was fenced in 2017, it had been used as an unofficial garbage dump and much of the first season involved removing that garbage. Residential, commercial, and water management areas were examined. Finds included three

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

s and several terracotta plaques, models, a toilet, a funerary chapel, and figurines. One cylinder seal was inscribed with the text "Awil-Adad, son of La-sani, servant of Sin". Excavators have determined that the site stratigraphy encompassed 8 levels: *Levels V-VIII - Isin-Larsa - Ur III (late 3rd millennium BC) *Level IV - Early Old Babylonian (c. 19th century BC) *Level III - Mid-Early Old Babylonian (c. 18th century BC) *Level II - Late Old Babylonian (c. 16th - 17th century BC) *Level I - Kassite (c, 13th - 15th century BC) where only pottery remains and graves of the Kassite level were found.

History

Tell Muhammad was occupied from the

Ur III The Third Dynasty of Ur or Ur III was a Sumerian dynasty based in the city of Ur in the 22nd and 21st centuries BC (middle chronology). For a short period they were the preeminent power in Mesopotamia and their realm is sometimes referred to by ...

to the Kassite dynasty, Kassite period but is primarily an

Old Babylonian Old Babylonian may refer to: *the period of the First Babylonian dynasty (20th to 16th centuries BC) *the historical stage of the Akkadian language Akkadian ( ; )John Huehnergard & Christopher Woods, "Akkadian and Eblaite", ''The Cambridge Enc ...

period site (the 1957 survey reported Akkadian period pottery but later excavations were unable to replicate that find). Two rulers are known from recovered tablets, Ḫurbaḫ (Ḫurbaḫ/zum) and Šipta-ulzi, both Kassite names. These match the names of early Kassite rulers on the Synchronic King List. They are thought to have ruled at roughly the same time as Samsu-ditāna (c. 1625 – 1595BC), last ruler of

First Dynasty of Babylon The Old Babylonian Empire, or First Babylonian Empire, is dated to , 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 of Babylon ...

and Sealand Dynasty rulers Pešgaldarameš and Ayadaragalama. An alternative proposal is to date these Tell Muhammad rulers to the time of the previous ruler of Babylon, Ammi-Saduqa. At Tell Muhammad, several tablets, silver loan contracts, were found that were dated with two-year names "Year 38 after Babylon was resettled" and "The year that the Moon was eclipsed". The former year name is of a format used by the Kassites, a change from the event format used through the Old Babylonian period. Attempts have been made to use this eclipse to date the sack of Babylon and its resettlement by the Kassites. Other known year names include "Year in which the son of Ḫurbaḫ was killed in Tupliaš" (mu ša dumu ḫu-ur-ba-aḫ i-na tu-up-li-ia-aš di-kú), "The year when the son of Hurbah became hostile to the king" (mu dumu ḫu-ur-ba-aḫ ki lugal ik-ki-ru), and "Year Ḫurbaḫ restored the gods of Ešnunna" (MU DINGIR.DIDLI ša áš-nun-naki ḫu-ur-ba-aḫ ú-ud-di-šu).Susanne Paulus, "Fraud, Forgery, and Fiction: Is There Still Hope for Agum-Kakrime?", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 70, pp. 115–66, 2018

References

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External links

Video - The Baghdad Urban Archaeological Project - Nicola Laneri - 2024Sulle tracce di Hammurabi - I risultati degli scavi archeologici a Tell Muhammad - Video - 2024Inscribed Mace at British MuseumThe Baghdad Urban Archaeological Project: The excavation of Tel Muhammad in Baghdad - 09-01-2023
Archaeological sites in Iraq

Archaeology

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links