Urkesh, also transliterated Urkish (Akkadian: 𒌨𒆧𒆠 UR.KIŠKI, 𒌨𒋙𒀭𒄲𒆠 UR.KEŠ3KI; modern Tell Mozan (also Tall Mozan); ), is a tell, or settlement mound, located in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains in Al-Hasakah Governorate, northeastern Syria. It was founded during the third millennium BC, possibly by the Hurrians, on a site which appears to have been inhabited previously for a few centuries. The Hurrians likely formed an obscure kingdom centered around Urkesh, from where they would later traditionally trace their kingship. The city god of Urkesh was Kumarbi, father of Teshup.Buccellati, Giorgio, and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati, "Urkesh: The First Hurrian Capital", The Biblical Archaeologist, vol. 60, no. 2, pp. 77–96, 1997 The site of Tell Shermola in the modern city of Amuda lies about 7 kilometers away and was where the Hurrian foundation pegs ("Urkish lions") were thought to have been sold into the antiquities market.
There are other contemporary ancient sites in this area of upper Khabur River basin. For example, Chagar Bazar is 22 km south of Mozan. Tell Arbid is located 45 km south of Tell Mozan. Tell Brak is about 50 km to the south.
Tell Leilan is located about 50 km to the east of Urkesh. Leilan, Brak and Urkesh were particularly prominent during the Akkadian period.Margreet L. Steiner, Ann E. Killebrew, The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant: C. 8000-332 BCE. OUP Oxford, 2014 p398
History
There is some evidence of minor occupation in the site during the Late Chalcolithic period based on pottery and burials. Kelly-Buccellati, Marilyn, "Urkesh ceramic evidence for function", Stories Told Around the Fountain. Papers Offered to Piotr Bieliński on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday. Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, pp. 285-304, 2019
Early Bronze Age EB IVA: Akkadian period Seal inscriptions give evidence for a city ruler with the presumably Hurrian name of Tupkish, and his queen with the name of Uqnitum (possibly Akkadian and id so meaning "lapis lazuli") as well as two of her servants, the cook Tuli and nurse Zamena. The queens seals were more numerous than those of the king and were used mainly to seal doors and containers. Kelly-Buccellati, Marilyn, "Uqnitum and Tarᵓam-Agade Patronage and Portraiture at Urkesh", Festschrift fur Gernot Wilhelm anlasslich seines 65, pp. 185-202, 2010 Tupkish, who ruled during the ascendancy of the Akkadian Empire, assumed the title of "king of Urkesh and Nagar". The large palace of Tupkish, also occupied by the next two rulers before being abandoned, had a service wing and a residential wing, both with courtyards.Frahm, Ellery, and Joshua M. Feinberg, "Empires and resources: central Anatolian obsidian at Urkesh (Tell Mozan, Syria) during the Akkadian period", Journal of Archaeological Science 40.2, pp. 1122-1135, 2013 At this time a city wall, with associated ditch, was built to encompass Urkesh, including the Lower Town.Pustovoytov, Konstantin, Katleen Deckers, and Paul Goldberg, "Genesis, age and archaeological significance of a pedosediment in the depression around Tell Mozan, Syria", Journal of Archaeological Science 38.4, pp. 913-924, 2011 Seals of a daughter Tar'am-Agade of the Akkadian Empire ruler Naram-Sin were found at the site. They read "(Of) Naram-Sin, the king of Akkad, Tar'am-Agade, his daughter". It is thought that she was either the head temple prietess at Urkesh, several other daughters of Naram-Sin having assumed that role in other empire cites, or was married to the king of Urkesh.
Evidence for a significant Hurrian influence at Urkesh in the late 3rd millennium BC, unlike the early 2nd millennium BC, is relatively modest. Most of the inscriptions and texts are written in the Akkadian language or in the Sumerian language. One text has been suggested as being in Hurrian. The Urkesh Lions were written in Hurrian but are of uncertain provenance, having been looted and entered into the antiquities market, and of uncertain, chronology of the ruler Tiš-atal being unknown, though likely later date. A few patronyms, including the ruler Tupkish, a Hapax legomenon, have been suggested as being Hurrian.
EB IVB: Ur III period One small Ur III period cuneiform tablet was found. Maiocchi, Massimo, "A Hurrian Administrative Tablet from Third Millennium Urkesh", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 101, no. 2, pp. 191-203, 2011 Marilyn Kelly- Buccellati, "Andirons at Urkesh: New Evidence for the Hurrian Identity of the Early Trans-Caucasian Culture", 2004)Buccellati, Giorgio, and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati, "The Seals of the King of Urkesh: Evidence from the Western Wing of the Royal Storehouse AK", Wiener Zeitschrift Für Die Kunde Des Morgenlandes, vol. 86, pp. 65–98, 1996
Middle Bronze Age During this period the abandoned palace of Tupkish was used as a graveyard with an area of about 1860 square meters, built along the foundation walls. There were two periods of use, corresponding to the Isin-Larsa (MB I) and Old Babylonian periods (MB II), separated by a short period of abandonment. Burial tyoes were primarily pit and jar burials, though a few built tombs and one vaulted tomb were found. Grave goods were primarily pottery though they included bronze tools and jewellery. Kharobi, Arwa, and Giorgio Buccellati, "The dignity of the dead. The case of ancient Urkesh and modern Tell Mozan, Syria (2000-1600 BC)", Paléorient, pp. 165-175, 2017 Kharobi, Arwa, "The place of children in the ancient society of Urkesh (Tell Mozan, Northeastern Syria) in the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1600 BC): An anthropological approach", 8th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, pp. 59-67, 2014
During the early second millennium BC the city passed into the hands of the rulers of Mari, a city a few hundred miles to the south. The king of Urkesh became a vassal (and apparently an appointee) of Mari. The people of Urkesh evidently resented this, as the royal archives at Mari provide evidence of their strong resistance; in one letter, the king of Mari tells his Urkesh counterpart that "I did not know that the sons of your city hate you on my account. But you are mine, even if the city of Urkesh is not."
Late Bronze Age Mitanni period In the late 2nd millennium BCE, Tell Mozan was the location of a Mitanni religious site. Kelly-Buccellati, Marilyn, "The Urkesh Mittani Horizon: Ceramic Evidence." talugaeš witteš, pp. 237-256, 2020
As Suppiluliuma I of Hatti defeated Tushratta of Mitanni, and Tushratta was assassinated, the Mitanni Empire collapses. The city appears to have been largely abandoned circa 1350 BC, although the reason for this is unknown to archaeologists at this time. Giorgio Buccellati and Marilyn Kelly‐Buccellati, "Tell Mozan - ancient Urkesh. A visitor’s guide", 2007 The region becomes contested by the Hittite Empire in the west regionally centered on Carchemish and Assyria in the east.
Archaeology
The entire site covers around 135 hectares, mostly made up of the outer city. The high mound covers about and rises to a height of 25 meters, with 5 sub-mounds. The maximim area was reached in the 3rd millennium BC and on most of the site the 3rd millennium BC material lies just below the surface, without later occupational overburden. The high mound is surrounded by a mudbrick city wall that was roughly 8 meters wide and 7 meters high.
Soundings at the site were first made by Max Mallowan during his survey of the area. Agatha Christie, his wife, wrote that they chose not to continue at the site because it seemed to have Roman material.Agatha Christie, "Come Tell Me How You Live", Akadine Press, 2002 No trace of Roman occupation levels have been found in later excavations, however. Mallowan went on to excavate Chagar Bazar, another site to the south of Mozan/Urkesh.
Excavations at Tell Mozan began in 1984 and have been conducted for at least 17 seasons up to the present time. The work has been led by Giorgio Buccellati of UCLA and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati of California State University, Los Angeles.Giorgio Buccellati and Marilyn Kelly Buccellati, "Mozan 1: The Soundings of the First Two Seasons", Undena, 1988 Lucio Milano, "Mozan: The Epigraphic Finds of the Sixth Season (Vol. 5)", Undena, 1991 Giorgio Buccellati and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati, "The Seventh Season of Excavations at Tell Mozan, 1992", Chronique Archéologique en Syrie, vol. 1, pp. 79-84, 1997Giorgio Buccellati and Marilyn Kelly Buccellati, "Preliminary Report on the 21th [sic] Season of Excavations at Tell Mozan-Urkesh (July–September 2008)", Chronique Archéologique en Syrie IV, pp. 127-132, 2010Giorgio Buccellati et al, "Preliminary Report on the 22nd Season of Excavations at Tell Mozan-Urkesh (July–October 2009)", Chronique Archéologique en Syrie V, pp. 107-116, 2011 The 2007 season was primarily dedicated to working on publication material, primarily excavation units A16, J1, J3 and J4. A small sounding was done in J1 to clarify the transition between Mittani and Khabur. From 1998 to 2001 the excavations were joined by Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft (German Oriental Society) team directed by Peter Pfrilzner of Tubingen University. Dohmann-Pfälzner, Heike, and Peter Pfälzner, "Ausgrabungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft in der zentralen Oberstadt von Tall Mozan/Urkes. Bericht über die in Kooperation mit dem IIMAS durchgeführte Kampagne 1999", Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft zu Berlin 132, pp. 185-228 2000Schmidt, C., "Ausgrabungen 1998-2001 in der Zentralen Oberstadt von Tall Mozan/Urkes", Die Keramik der Friih-GazTra V-bis Alt-Gazira Il-Zeit vom Tall Mozan, SUN A 4, 2012
Important excavated structures include the royal palace of Tupkish, an associated necromantic underground structure (Abi), a monumental temple terrace with a plaza in front and a temple at the top, residential areas, burial areas, and the inner and outer city walls.Giorgio Buccellati and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati, "Great Temple Terrace at Urkesh and the Lions of Tish-atal", in General studies and excavations at Nuzi 11/2: in honor of David I. Owen on the occasion of his 65th birthday October 28, 2005 edited by Gernot Wilhelm, CDL, pp. 33-70, 2009
The temple at Urkesh sits on a raised platform at the center of the mound. The platform has a stone revetment wall and a monumental staircase gives access from the surrounding plaza. It was begun roughly in the Early Dynastic III to Akkadian Empire period. The plaza, encompassed by another wall, during the Akkadian Empire period became the site of the large palace of Tupkish. The temple itself (Area BA) is of the standard "bent-axis" form and had four major building phases with the later phases more subject to erosion. Phase 1, the old and proposed to date to Early Dynastic III, was destroyed by fire. The limited nature of later phases make uncertain if the area was still being used as a temple. The deity worshiped in the temple is uncertain and both Nergal and Kumbari have been proposed. The palace had a service area and a residence area, the later being two meters higher. Mahmoud, Yasmine, "Anthropomorphic figurines, statuettes and jewelry from Urkesh An archaeological and historical study", Dissertation, 2021 Becker, J., et al., "The Monumental Temple Terrace at Urkesh and its Setting", Kulturlandschaft Syrien: Zentrum und Peripherie Festschrift für Jan-Waalke Meyer, Ugarit, 2010Weiss, Harvey, “Archaeology in Syria", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 95, no. 4, pp. 683–740, 1991 Buccellati, Giorgio, "The Monumental Urban Complex at Urkesh", Report on the 16th Season of Excavations, July–September 2003, 2003