Exploring Assur, Vol. 3
This third volume of the series Exploring Assur presents the results achieved at Assur, modern Qal’at Sherqat, through the 2025 fieldwork and analytical programme. Edited by Karen Radner, Jana Richter, and Andrea Squitieri, the book contains contributions by Katleen Deckers, Eileen Eckmeier, Rafał A. Fetner, Helen Gries, Veronica Hinterhuber, F. Janoscha Kreppner, Karina Länger, Birgül Öğüt, Alessio Palmisano, Karen Radner, Jana Richter, Jens Rohde, Claudia Sarkady, Vanessa Schauer, Andrea Squitieri, and Poppy Tushingham.
The excavations in trench NT1 substantially refine the stratigraphic sequence of the New Town. They provide new evidence for the long-term continuity of occupation at Assur after its conquest in 614 BC. Two successive Hellenistic occupation phases can now be distinguished: the newly identified, earlier Building C and the later Building A. Beneath these levels, the large late Neo-Assyrian Building B emerged as a substantial high-status residence with a central reception hall, courtyards, and associated rooms. Originally covering an area of approximately 770 square metres, it is among the largest private residences presently known from Assur. The building evidently escaped destruction during the events of 614 BC, and preliminary ceramic analyses suggest that at least parts of it remained in use well after the conquest of the city.
Geoarchaeological coring demonstrated that the city’s defensive moat may originally have exceeded five metres in depth and also clarified the construction history of several temples in the Inner City. Coring beneath the cella of the Ishtar Temple produced a layer of imported sand and a radiocarbon date reaching back into the Early Dynastic I period, pushing the earliest attested occupation of Assur into the early third millennium BC. The small finds from the Neo-Assyrian period include a bronze duck weight, bronze fibulae, fragmentary stone vessels made from serpentine and banded calcite, and a clay cylinder seal. A standout find of Hellenistic date is a double-mould-made male figurine wearing the distinct Macedonian hat called kausia. The cuneiform finds comprise fragments of inscribed bricks and clay cones of Assyrian rulers including Puzur-Aššur III (ca. 1521–1498 BC) and Adad-nerari I (1305–1274 BC), reused in later architecture.
Basketry and leather remains provide exceptionally rare evidence for organic craft traditions in northern Mesopotamia, including what is very likely the first securely identified Neo-Assyrian basketry specimen. The leather finds from Hellenistic graves document working techniques such as folding, embossing, and drawstring closures. Their preservation is due to vegetable tanning using tannin-rich plants such as oak, poplar, and mulberry, all attested in the archaeobotanical record at Assur. Ongoing studies are identifying an ever wider range of cultivated and imported woods and other plants, now including the first secure attestation of cedar (Cedrus sp.) and oats (Avena) at Neo-Assyrian Assur. Local arboriculture is evidenced by tree prunings of fig and palm trees as well as vines.
Phytolith analyses of Hellenistic burial contexts revealed the intentional inclusion of plant materials in these graves. A dried fruit of Black Mulberry (Morus nigra) placed in one of these grave is the first securely identified specimen in the ancient Middle East. The burial population is predominantly young, with all identifiable adults being female and very limited evidence for pathological conditions. The volume also contains a study of the Selman House, originally constructed in 1904 as part of Walter Andrae’s excavation compound to house two key team members: the accountant Shaul Salman and the cook Raouf, both from Hillah. Later, it was occupied by the excavation’s imperial Ottoman representative Abdelkadir al-Pachachi, later the curator of antiquities at the newly established Iraq Museum in Baghdad. The chapter reconstructs the social world of early twentieth-century archaeology at Assur and traces the building’s continued use within the modern excavation project.
Item Type: Editorship Keywords: Assur; Qal'at Sherqat; Iraq; Assyrian archaeology; excavation report Faculties: History and Art History > Department of History > Ancient History Subjects: 900 History and geography > 930 History of ancient world (to ca. 499)
900 History and geography > 950 History of AsiaURN: urn:nbn:de:bvb:19-epub-136813-5 ISBN: 978-3-935012-74-4 Place of Publication: Gladbeck Language: English Item ID: 136813 Date Deposited: 07. Jul 2026 09:22 Last Modified: 07. Jul 2026 09:22
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