Archaeologists uncover palace of the Mittani Empire

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

Archaeologists uncover palace of the Mittani Empire in the Duhok province of the Kurdistan Region/ Iraq

German-Kurdish research team came upon a surprising discovery as ruins emerge from the waters of the Tigris River

German and Kurdish archaeologists have uncovered a Bronze Age palace on the eastern bank of the Tigris River in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. As the international research team reports, the site of Kemune can be dated to the time of the Mittani Empire, which dominated large parts of northern Mesopotamia and Syria from the 15th to the 14th century BCE. The Mittani Empire is one of the least researched kingdoms of the Ancient Near East. The archaeologists now hope to obtain new information about the politics, economy, and history of the empire by studying cuneiform tablets discovered in the palace.


Last autumn, receding waters in the Mosul Dam reservoir unexpectedly brought to light remains of an ancient city. Archaeologists launched a spontaneous rescue excavation of the ruins exposed by the ebbing waters. It was headed by Dr. Hasan Ahmed Qasim (Duhok) and Dr. Ivana Puljiz (Tübingen), as a joint project between the University of Tübingen and the Kurdistan Archaeology Organization (KAO) in cooperation with the Duhok Directorate of Antiquities. Kurdish archaeologist Hasan Ahmed Qasim explains its significance: "The find is one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the region in recent decades and illustrates the success of the Kurdish-German cooperation." The project was largely financed by the KAO and its sponsor, Kurdisch businessman Hersh Isa Swar.
As Ivana Puljiz of the Tübingen Institute for Ancient Near Eastern Studies (IANES) reports, the site shows a carefully designed building with massive interior mud-brick walls up to two meters thick. She says some walls are more than two meters high and some of the rooms have plastered walls. "We have also found remains of wall paintings in bright shades of red and blue," Puljiz says. "In the second millennium BCE, murals were probably a typical feature of palaces in the Ancient Near East, but we rarely find them preserved. So discovering wall paintings in Kemune is an archaeological sensation.”
The palace ruins are preserved to a height of some seven meters. Two phases of usage are clearly visible, Puljiz says, indicating that the building was in use for a very long time. Inside the palace, the team identified several rooms and partially excavated eight of them. In some areas, they found large fired bricks which were used as floor slabs. Ten Mittani cuneiform clay tablets were discovered and are currently being translated and studied by the philologist Dr. Betina Faist (University of Heidelberg). One of the tablets indicates that Kemune was most probably the ancient city of Zakhiku, which is mentioned in one Ancient Near Eastern source as early as the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1800 BC). This indicates the city must have existed for at least 400 years. Future text finds will hopefully show whether this identification is correct.
In ancient times, the palace stood on an elevated terrace above the valley, only 20 meters from what was then the eastern bank of the Tigris River. In the Mittani period, a monumental terrace wall of mud-bricks was built against the palace’s western front to stabilize the sloping terrain. Overlooking the Tigris Valley, the palace must have been an impressive sight.
Archaeological surveys carried out by the Collaborative Research Center “ResourceCultures” (SFB 1070) under the direction of Dr. Paola Sconzo (University of Tübingen) in the vicinity of the palace indicate that a larger city adjoined it to the north. "We discovered the site of Kemune already in 2010 when the dam had low water levels; even at that time we found a Mittani cuneiform tablet and saw remains of wall paintings in red and blue,” says Hasan Ahmed Qasim, “But we couldn’t excavate here until now.” The area was flooded following the construction of the Mosul Dam in the mid-1980s. But a lack of rain and water released to ease dry conditions in southern Iraq meant that the water level dropped so far in the summer and autumn of last year that archaeologists could excavate the site for the first time.
"The Mittani Empire is one of the least researched empires of the Ancient Near East," explains Puljiz. “Information on palaces of the Mittani Period is so far only available from Tell Brak in Syria and from the cities of Nuzi and Alalakh, both located on the periphery of the empire. Even the capital of the Mittani Empire has not been identified beyond doubt.” The discovery of a Mittani palace in Kemune is therefore of great importance for archaeology.

The Mittani Empire

The Mittani Empire covered an area reaching from the eastern Mediterranean coast to the east of present-day northern Iraq from the 15th century to the middle of the 14th century BCE. Its heart was in what is now northeastern Syria, where its capital Washukanni was probably located. Akkadian cuneiform texts from the site of Tell el-Amarna in present-day Egypt show that the Mittani kings interacted as equals with the Egyptian pharaohs and the kings of Hatti and Babylonia. For example, it is known that the Mittani king Tushratta gave his daughter’s hand in marriage to Pharaoh Amenophis III. Mittani lost its political significance around 1350 BCE. Its territories came under the control of the neighboring empires of the Hittites and Assyrians. The Mittani culture is known for its typical painted ceramics. The vessels are characterized by carefully-executed light painting on a dark background. Their conspicuous appearance enables archaeologists to date the sites where fragments of such vessels are found to the time of the Mittani Empire.

https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/universi...tion%5D=detail

In the links are also some photos of the excavation.

[athanaric]

Great news, God knows we can use it after a decade of wanton destruction of archaeological heritage in the region.

[sumskilz]

Who would have guessed mudbrick would look this good after being submerged for three decades:

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

That is an odd place for a palace. It must have been a side project or an earlier palace. Since the heartland of Mitanni was the Khabur River in modern Syria. That area was later incorporated into the Hittite Empire by Suppiluliumas.
So if the city existed in the Middle Bronze it predates the Mitanni Empire by quite a bit. As well as the development of a Hurrian culture into the Mitanni.

Doubtful that the palace could have been built in the later part of the Mitanni Empire since Assyria was already bearing down at the start of the 1200's BC. It was likely built as part of a larger project to control the east, notice the proximity to Nineveh for example. If it wasn't built at the tail end of the empire nor closer to the start, then it must have been a project in response to the Hittite incursions of the Euphrates. But the later campaigns of Adad Nirari I and Shalmaneser I do not correspond to that area of the Tigris, rather to the Khabur area. Which still suggests that the Hurri had their administrative capital along the Khabur. If it was meant to equal the central area it is not consistent with older trends such as the constructions of Shamshi-Adad I along the Khabur, or those of Zimri-lim.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

Actually it just occurred to me that this might have been the palace of Artatama II. If indeed the palace was a major structure and not the manor of some local "satrap". For those of you who have read the Amarna Letters or the correspondence with the Hittites; the Mitanni king Artashumara was assassinated by nobles. His brother Tushratta was placed on the throne by a court official, as Tushratta was still a minor. I date the event to about 1350 BC around the accession of Akhenaten, and just before the accession of Suppiluliumas. At the same time Tushratta's older brother or nephew declared himself king in the east as Artatama II. Naturally this began a long period of civil wars and many foreign invaders capitalized on the succession crisis. In the correspondence with the Hittites, Tushratta is called Great King of Mitanni where as Artatama II is called Great King of Hurri. But the truth was that while various nobles supported one side or the other, Artatama II was largely propped up with the aid of his Assyrian vassals.

Simultaneously Artatama II became incapable and his son Shuttarna III became co-ruler in Hurri. Likewise Tushratta was assassinated, either by nobles or by his own son Shattiwaza, after which that son attempted to become ruler in Mitanni. He was chased out by Shuttarna III and fled to Babylon, and then to Hatti. There Shattiwaza made an alliance with Suppiluliumas to place him on the throne and accepted the Hittite King as his overlord. After which Suppiluliumas carried out a two pronged attack against Mitanni during which he defeated Shuttarna III and installed Shattiwaza as co-ruler with the ailing Artatama II. The Assyrians attempted to fight the Hittites and lost badly, but at the very least managed to grab a portion of that eastern territory along the Tigris. It wouldn't surprise me if the palace in question fell into the hands of the Assyrians immediately after these events. It was during this time until about 1320 BC that the Assyrians took full advantage and invaded Mitanni to remove the Hurrian yoke (at the end of the reigns of Tutankhamun and Suppiluliumas). Ashur-uballit I exerted much influence on the "Great Kings of Hurri", even during the time when Shuttarna III had taken back most of the empire. Although unable to defend the Euphrates or Khabur Rivers from the Hittites, it is noteworthy that Ashur-uballit I began to call himself "Great King" of Assyria, even if his claims were not recognized in Egypt, Babylon or Hatti.

If the site at Kemune, under the reservoir of the Mosul Dam, does date to this period, and was a major administrative location in the ancient times. Then it could very well be the stronghold of Artatama II. After all Artatama II ruled in the east and was supported by the Assyrian king who was his vassal. The archaeological site at Kemune is located along the Tigris River, is fairly close to another site which is assumed to be the ancient city Tamnuna, and not that far from major cities on the Tigris, like Nineveh or Kalhu. The only other location for the administrative center of Artatama II was along the Khabur River. Although that central area was hotly contested between the two warring factions. Tushratta's capital was either along the Euphrates or along the Khabur River. But either way it makes sense that at the very least this palace in the Tigris area was a final stronghold of Artatama II or used for the purpose of administering the Tigris regions by powerful local "satraps".

[Roma_Victrix]

Great posts you guys! Especially you, Oda. Thanks for sharing. This is really fantastic news, actually, and I can't wait for all the tablets discovered at the site to be translated and put into context.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

Unfortunately as often happens with this type of thing, there are going to be several lacunae which will prevent the full text from being read. Or quite possibly some of the tablets are missing, or debates about what order they should be in. Then there is the grammar and context in which it was written which will cause endless debates as to when it was written or who exactly it addresses.

I think the tablets are written in Akkadian Cuneiform which is at least a bonus, because if it were written in Hurrian glyphs it would take forever to decipher. Pretty sure that Hurrian Cunfeiform was not very popular, since much of their population were Amorites and Akkadian Cuneiform (yes the written word specifically) was the lingua franca of Mesopotamia and international relations. So in that area we are covered.

If it so happens that these are written specifically in Hurrian cuneiform, it might not be that hard to decipher. Just that Hurrian cuneiform incorporates a lot of words and concepts from written Akkadian and Sumerian, so that might be tricky to understand in the context of the Hurrian language.

[sumskilz]

They're probably Akkadian. The woman who is translating them has only published Assyrian texts previously.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

They're probably Akkadian. The woman who is translating them has only published Assyrian texts previously.

That's good.

Thing is we already have a basic understanding of what happened in Mitanni. Most of the sources are concentrated around the 1300's BC. That is because after 1320 BC or so, Mitanni ceases to be an independent entity and becomes a Hittite vassal. After 1270 BC it becomes an Assyrian vassal state under Adad-nirari I. Then under Shalmaneser I, Assyria annexes it in the mid to late 1200's BC. So after 1320 there are a few sources but most of them come from the Hittites.

The other important reason being that around the reign of Amenhotep III until the death of Tutankhamun, the Mitanni Empire had the most correspondence with the Egyptians. So the vast majority of references come from the Amarna Letters. Things which discuss gifts, alliances, foreign affairs and marriage alliances with the pharaohs Amenhotep III (either Shuttarna II or Artashumara) and Akhenaten (with Tushratta). There are a few gems here and there like correspondence with a city-state in Amurru or tablets inscribed by Idrimi of Aleppo and Alalakh. Some Hittite references such as campaigns in Cilicia to their immediate south and later a Hittite invasion of the area beyond Upper Mesopotamia (so, probably Ishuwa?), during the reign of Mitannian king Shuttarna II.

The early connection to Amenhotep III isn't coincidental since the Mitanni had been at constant war since the reign of Thutmose I in the early to mid 1400's BC. His immediate successors Thutmose II, Thutmose III and Amenhotep II campaigned against them, and their Amorite vassals, as well. Thutmose IV also campaigned in Canaan or Syria under unknown circumstances, but maybe coincidentally he also made an agreement with Artatama I. While the sources in the reign of Thutmose III do mention the Mitanni and Egyptian campaigns in Syria and across the Euphrates, they don't really give many details or mention the Mitannian kings by name. Assyrian sources prior to Ashur-uballit I barely mention the dealings with the Mitanni. Probably to hide their deep shame of subjugation.

So it is pretty difficult to piece together what happened prior to Artatama I and his son Shuttarna II. For example it is still debated who the Mitannian king was during the reign of Thutmose III. Whether it was Parshatatar or Shaushtatar, or perhaps both since Thutmose III's reign was very long. Not to mention the existing problems of Mesopotamian chronology. Therefore the reign of the earlier Parshatatar tends to be given as either in the late 1500's or the 1400's BC depending on the scholar. We know next to nothing about his two predecessors Shuttarna I and Kirta, or how it was that the Hurrians entered Mesopotamia, developed into city-states in the Euphrates and Khabur rivers and somehow created a Mitannian Empire with a distinct culture from other Hurrian states, or when exactly.

[sumskilz]

Akkadian Cuneiform (yes the written word specifically) was the lingua franca of Mesopotamia and international relations.

Something interesting about the dialect of Akkadian diplomatic correspondence of this period. Within Mesopotamia, Middle Babylonian was written and spoken in the south, while Middle Assyrian was written and spoken in the north, but to the north and northwest of Mesopotamia, non-standard dialects of Middle Babylonian were used. For example, Tushratta's letters are in a dialect based on Middle Babylonian. But then in Canaan and Egypt, the Akkadian was based on Old Babylonian and Canaanite. Some, like Anson Rainey, have argued that the Egyptian and Canaanite Akkadian was so Canaanite influenced that it should be considered an Old Babylonian-Canaanite pidgin language (that's going too far in my opinion, but you get the point).

As far as historical implications, it's not hard for me to imagine why Egyptian Akkadian would be Canaanite influenced Old Babylonian, but I'm not sure why Mitanni Akkadian wouldn't be based off of Old Babylonian or have picked up more Assyrian influence.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

I can't really think of a reason why... maybe they used Babylonian scribes?
Perhaps the Hurrians preferred their own language and did not take to writing in Akkadian until much later. Or they changed their practices with regards to scribes and used Middle Babylonian. I would imagine the last one under Tushratta since he appears to have made a few changes, such as using the Hurrian glyph or seal of Shaushtatar as a sort of signature.

I took a quick look at the Hittite translations, they are indeed from Old Babylonian. Also a lot of "pre-Old Babylonian" prior to the 1300's BC in Anatolia. Which I believe was what they used between the Gutian Period and Hammurabi's Babylon/Old Babylon. The states in Amurru also used these and the scribal traditions there influenced the surrounding area into Anatolia. It is even stranger that the Mitanni used Middle Babylonian and were not influenced by the Amorites. Most likely explanation is that the Hurrians lacked an Akkadian scribal tradition and only adopted, at least formally, around the time that the empire was founded during the Middle Babylonian period. Or someone reformed the scribal system in the 1300's BC. I don't know what the Babylonians were doing at that time with regards to their scribal system.

What has been bothering me is the sheer amount of importance given to this find. While more than 90 cuneiform tablets in a single find is pretty good, I do wonder what the subject matter is actually about.
It might not be all that much or even crucial information at the end of the day. I think a more important discovery would be the cities of Washukanni or Irridu or Taite. That is probably where there ought to be more tablets. Unless the Assyrians took them all or those newly discovered tablets are the main cache which was transported to some corner for some unknown reason. Over all the importance might just be subjective because we have so little written by the Mitanni themselves.