Shaduppum
Archaeological site in Baghdad
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Tell Harmal
Shaduppum
Tell Harmal is located in Iraq
Tell Harmal
Tell Harmal
Shown within Iraq
LocationBaghdad, Baghdad Governorate, Iraq
RegionMesopotamia
Coordinates33°18′34.1388″N 44°28′01.4340″E / 33.309483000°N 44.467065000°E / 33.309483000; 44.467065000
Typetell
History
PeriodsOld Babylonian
Site notes
Excavation dates1945–1949, 1997–1998
ArchaeologistsTaha Baqir, Sayid Muhammed Ali Mustafa, P. Miglus, L. Hussein

Shaduppum (Šaduppȗm), modern Tell Harmal (also Tell Abu Harmal and Tel Harmal), is an archaeological site in Baghdad Governorate (Iraq). Nowadays, it lies within the borders of modern Baghdad about 600 meters from the site of Tell Muhammad (possibly ancient Diniktum). In the Old Babylonian period, it was part of the kingdom of Eshnunna. Other cities in the kingdom lie not far away, including Eshnunna (30 miles to the southwest) and Tell Ishchali and Khafajah, four and six miles away on the left bank of the Diyala River. The site of Tell al-Dhiba'i, thought to be the ancient town of Uzarzalulu, is about 2 kilometers away and of similar characteristics.[1] The tutelary deity of the city was Bēl-gašer. The goddess Ninkarrak also had a cult center at Shaduppum.[2]

Archaeology

Terracotta lion from Tell Harmal, Iraq Museum
Clay tablet, mathematical, geometric-algebraic, similar to the Euclidean geometry. From Tell Harmal, Iraq. 2003-1595 BCE. Iraq Museum

The site, 150 meters in diameter and 5 meters high. Tell Harmal consists of a heavily fortified irregular rectangle (147 x 133 x 146 x 97 meters). The fortification wall had a towered gateway in the northeast and was 5.6 meters wide with 6.36 meter wide buttresses. It was excavated by Iraqi archaeologists Taha Baqir and Sayid Muhammed Ali Mustafa of the Department of Antiquities and Heritage from 1945 to 1949 in response to planned residential development and illegal digging, discovering about 3000 unbaked clay cuneiform tablets. These tablets were found in both religious and administrative contexts. Stories about Creation, the flood, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and others were inscribed on some of the tablets. Only about 1/3 have been published. Over 100 large (3.5 cm in diameter) pierced clay balls inscribed with daily brick making receipts were also found.[3][4][5]

In 1962 the Iraqi authorities fenced off the "circuit of the town wall, on the township's main temple and on the administrative or archive centre immediately to the south-east of the main temple", reconstructed the walls to just above the ground level, and set up terracotta replicas of the Harmal Lions.[6] The two small temples by the eastern wall were completely reconstructed for use as visitor museums.[7] In 1997 and 1998, the site was worked by a team from Baghdad University and the German Archaeological Institute led by Peter Miglus and Laith Hussein.[8][9] The earlier excavations had completely cleared Levels I and II and this excavation was to explore older periods. Ground water, lying only 2 meters below the surface, limited that to no lower than Level IV. Trenches at the town wall determined it had been constructed in early Level III (or very late in Level IV). Work at the main temple showed that it was built above an earlier temple.[10] Many other illegally excavated tablets have found their way into various institutions.

The site contains five occupation layers. The most recent (Layer 1) is fairly rudimentary and thought to be from Kassite times. Layer II contains more substantial construction and was where most of the cuneiform tablets were found. It dates to the reigns of Eshnunna rulers like Dadusha (c. 1800–1779 BC) and Ibal-pi-el II (c. 1779–1765 BC). This layer was destroyed by fire, thought to be by Hammurabi when he captured the city in his 31st year. Layer III has largely the same building plan and is marked by the construction of the fortification wall. It dates to the earlier reigns of Ipiq-Adad II, who drove the Elamites from the land, Ibal-pi-El I, Belakum, and Naram-Suen of Eshnunna. Layer IV contains the date formula of several rulers not previously known, like Ammi-dashur. It corresponds to the time of Sumu-la-El (c. 1880–1845 BC), ruler of Babylon. Only dates of Ammi-dashur and the unknown ruler Iadkur-El were found in Layer V.[11][12] A deeper level of occupation (Layers IV and V) was reached only in soundings and dated as far back as the Akkadian Empire days.[3]

History

Not much is known outside the Old Babylonian times, though clearly the location was occupied from at least the Akkadian period through the Old Babylonian period, when it was part of the kingdom of Eshnunna in the Diyala River area. It was an administrative center for the kingdom and its name means "the treasury."[13][14]

The site featured a large trapezoidal wall and a large temple (28 x 18 meters in size), the location of the Harmal Lions, possibly of the goddess Nisaba and her consort Haya (called Khani by the excavators), a smaller (15 x 14 meters in size) double shrine temple, and a large (23 x 23 meters in size) administrative building.[15] The local goddess Arhanitum are known to have been worshiped at Shaduppum and is well known from its tablets.[16] Among the tablets from Tell Harmal are two of the epic of Gilgamesh and two with parts of the Laws of Eshnunna, found in the context of ruler Dadusha.[17][18] Also found were a number of important mathematical tablets.[19][20][21][22] It also produced tablets with the longest list of geographical names yet known.[23]

See also

References

  1. ^ Matoušová-Rajmova, Maria, "Some Cylinder Seals from Dhiba’i and Harmal", Sumer, vol. 31, iss. 1-2, pp. 49-66, 1975
  2. ^ Sibbing-Plantholt, I., "Gula Compared to Other Healing Goddesses", in The Image of Mesopotamian Divine Healers. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, pp. 106–161, 2021
  3. ^ a b Taha Baqir, "Excavations at Tell Harmal II: Tell Harmal, A Preliminary Report, Sumer 2, iss. 2, pp. 22-30, 1946
  4. ^ Taha Baqir, "Excavations at Harmal", Sumer, vol. 4, iss. 2, pp 137-39, 1948
  5. ^ Taha Baqir, "Tell Harmal", The Republic of Iraq Directorate of Antiquities, Baġdād Ar-Rabita Press, 1959 Available to borrow at the Internet Archive
  6. ^ Jeffery Orchard, "Recent Restoration Work in Iraq", Iraq, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 73–77, 1962
  7. ^ Jeffery Orchard, "Recent Archaeological Activity in Iraq: A Review", Iraq, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 104–09, 1963
  8. ^ Laith M. Hussein and Peter A. Miglus, "Tell Harmal. Die Frühjahrskampagne 1997", Baghdader Mitteilungen, vol. 29, pp 35-46, 1998
  9. ^ Laith M. Hussein and Peter A. Miglus, "Tall Harmal. Die Herbstkampagne 1998", Baghdader Mitteilungen, vol. 30, pp 101-113, 1999
  10. ^ "Recent Excavations in Iraq", Iraq, vol. 61, pp. 195–202, 1999
  11. ^ Al-Hashimi, R., "New light on the date of Harmal and Dhiba’i’", Sumer, vol. 28, iss. 1-2, pp. 29-33, 1972
  12. ^ [1] Taha Baqir, "Date-Formulae and Date-Lists from Harmal", Sumer, vol. 5, iss. 1, pp 34-86, 1949
  13. ^ Hussein, L. M., "Excavations in Tell Harmal: spring 1997", Sumer, vol. 50, iss. 1, pp. 58-67, 1999 (in Arabic)
  14. ^ Hussein, L. M., "Excavations in Tell Harmal: Fall 1998", Sumer, vol. 51, pp. 114-122, 2001
  15. ^ Seton Lloyd, "Excavations; Tell Harmal", Sumer, vol. 2, iss. 1. pp 13-15, 1945
  16. ^ Maria de J. Ellis, "An Old Babylonian Adoption Contract from Tell Harmal", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 130–151, 1975
  17. ^ [2] Taha Baqir, "A New Law-code from Tell Harmal", Sumer, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 52-53, Jan 1948
  18. ^ [3] Albrecht Goetze, "Another Law Tablet from Tell Harmal", Sumer, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 55, Jan 1948
  19. ^ T. Baqir, "An important mathematical problem text from Tell Harmal (on a Euclidean Problem)", Sumer, vol. 6, iss. 1, pp. 39–54, 1950
  20. ^ T. Baqir, "Mathematical", Sumer, vol. 6, iss. 1 (Arabic), pp. 5–28, 1950
  21. ^ [4] T. Baqir, "Another important mathematical text from Tell Harmal", Sumer, vol. 6, iss. 2, pp. 130–148, 1950
  22. ^ [5] T Baqir, "Some more mathematical texts from Tell Harmal", Sumer, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 28–45, 1951
  23. ^ Levy, Selim J., "Harmal Geographical List", Sumer, vol. 3, iss. 2, pp. 50-83, 1947

Further reading

  • [6]al-Asil, Naji, "An Important Discovery at Harmal", Sumer 6, p. 3, 1950 (in Arabic).
  • Taha Baqir, "Supplement to the Date-Formulae from Harmal", Sumer, vol 5, iss. 5, pp 136–144, 1949
  • Bruins, E. M., "Comments on the mathematical tablets of Tell Harmal", Sumer, vol. 7, iss. 2, pp. 179–182, 1951
  • Bruins, Evert M., "Revision of the mathematical texts from Tell Harmal", Sumer, vol. 9, iss. 2, pp. 241–253, 1953
  • [7] Drenckhahn, Friedrich, "A geometrical contribution to the study of the mathematical problem text from Tell Harmal (IM. 55357) in the Iraq Museum, Baghdad", Sumer, vol. 7, iss. 1, pp. 22–27, 1951
  • Drenckhahn, F., "Ein geometrischer Beitrag zu dem mathematischen Problem-Text von Tell Harmal IM 55 357 des Iraq Museums in Baghdad", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie 50.Jahresband, pp. 151-162, 1952
  • Maria de J. Ellis, "Old Babylonian Economic Texts and Letters from Tell Harmal", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 43–69, 1972
  • Maria de J. Ellis, "The Division of Property at Tell Harma"l, Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 133–153, 1974
  • [8] Friberg, Jöran, et al. "Five Texts from Old Babylonian Mê-Turran (Tell Haddad), Ishchali and Shaduppûm (Tell Harmal) with Rectangular-Linear Problems for Figures of a Given Form", New Mathematical Cuneiform Texts, pp. 149–212, 2016
  • A. Goetze, "A mathematical compendium from Tell Harmal", Sumer, vol. 7, iss. 2, pp. 126–155, 1951
  • [9] Goetze, Albrecht, "Fifty Old-Babylonian Letters from Harmal", Sumer, vol. 14, iss. 1–2, pp. 3–78, 1958
  • Gonçalves, Carlos, "Mathematical Tablets from Tell Harmal", New York: Springer, 2015 ISBN 978-3-319-22523-4
  • [10]Hussein, Laith M. "Tell Harmal-Die Texte aus dem Hauptverwaltungsgebäude", Serai, 2006
  • Hussein, Laith M., and Nele Ziegler, "Two Sets of Letters from Tell Harmal Addressed by the Ruler of Ešnunna to Samsi-Addu", Revue d’assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale 118.1, pp. 47-66, 2024
  • Hussein, Laith M., "Bauplanung und Administration in altbabylonischer Zeit: ein Tonbullen-Archiv aus Tell Harmal (Šaduppûm)", Kaskal: rivista di storia, ambiente e culture del vicino oriente antico: 9, pp. 3-29, 2012
  • Grandpierre, Véronique, "Shaduppum (Tell Harnal): une petite ville du royaume d'Eshnunna au XVIIIe siècle avant notre ère", Doctoral Dissertation, Paris 1, 1998
  • Simmons, Stephen D., "Early Old Babylonian Tablets from Ḥarmal and Elsewhere", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 71–93, 1959
  • [11]Wolfram, von Soden, "Au den Mathematichen Aufgabentexten Vom Tel Harmal", Sumer 8, iss, 1, pp. 49-56, 1952
  • [12]Van Wyk, Susandra, "The phrase, 'Should a claimant raise a claim, he will pay...' In the division of an inheritance from Old Babylonia Tell Harmal", Fundamina 24.1, pp. 170-197, 2018
  • Lamia al-Gailani Werr, "A Note on the Seal Impression IM 52599 from Tell Harmal", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 62–64, 1978
  • Some Old Babylonian Archives in Context: Tell aḍ-Ḍibāʿī (Zaralulu) and Šaduppûm (Tell Ḥarmal) - Laith M. Hussein - 25 May 2023
  • Archaeological Site Photographs: Tell Harmal - Oriental Institute of Chicago
  • 1997/98 excavation report of the joint German/Iraqi team
  • Baked Clay Lion from Tell Harmal
  • Old Babylonian Cuneiform Prism from Tell Harmal
  • Tell Harmal Lions at Baghdad Museum
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