Tell Kunara is an ancient Near East archaeological site about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) southwest of Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. It lies on the Tanjaro River. The site was occupied from the Chalcolithic period to the early second millennium BC.[1]
Clay tablet, freshly excavated, covered with mud to protect it. From Tell Kunara, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300–2000 BCE. Now in the Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq
The site was occupied in the Akkadian, Ur III, and Isin-Larsa periods. The excavators have speculated that the city, with its monumental buildings, was the capital of the Lullubi state. There were three occupational levels (levels 1 and 2 have been radiocarbon dated)
Level 1 – Middle Bronze Age (2000–1900 BC) (in Area C)
Level 2 – end of Early Bronze (2200–2000 BC) (in Areas A and B)
Level 3 – Early Bronze Age (2350–2200 BC) (in Areas A and D)
Epigraphic evidence shows the city had an ensi (governor) but under what auspices is unknown at present. [2][3][4]
Archaeologyedit
Akkadian cylinder seal, late third-millennium BCE. From Tell Kunara, Tanjro Valley, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. Sulaymaniyah Museum
Tell Kunara consists of two oval mounds, the western one higher than the eastern, separated by a modern road. The eastern mound is designated as the Lower Town. Overall the site extends to roughly 600 meters by 400 meters or about 10 hectares. The site was first visited in 1943 when Sabri Shukri of the Iraqi General Directorate of Antiquities in Baghdad conducted a survey, issuing a report dated November 10, 1943.[5][6]
The site was examined as part of a larger survey by C. Kepinski in 2011. A geomagnetic survey at Tell Kunara showed signs of a monumental (60 meters by 30 meters) building in the Lower Town[7] It has been excavated since 2012 by a French National Center for Scientific Research team led by Christine Kepinski and Aline Tenu. Work was then conducted in 2013 and again in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. Since 2012 excavation has focused on the lower town.[8][9] A few 10 centimeter by 10 centimeter cuneiform tablets were found in 2015 (most concerning flour) and another group in 2018 (most concerning grain). Quantities were listed in a new type of gur (volume measure) not previously attested as opposed to the expected Akkadian Gur.[10][11][12][13][5][14]
Area A – On the upper mound. A monumental building was found, with a 2.6 meter wide wall built on a very large stone base foundation. The walls were constructed of "layers of rectangular mud bricks, protected by diluted bitumen and jointed with a mortar containing crushed bones, alternated with about 0.60 m of pisé". The building, which overlays an earlier one with similar plan, was fronted by a 100 square meter courtyard with included a 10-meter terracotta pipe for drainage. The top of the mound had first been sealed and leveled by a several meter thick layer of sand. Small finds included a bronze pendant.[12]
Area B – In the Lower Town, designed to explore the monumental building identified by the survey. A simple poorly preserved building was found on Level 1. On level 2 lay the monumental building that had appeared on the survey. It had 1.6 meter thick wall footings made out of massive stones with facing stones. The remains of the building on Level 3 had large walls on a completely different orientation. Small finds included a finely carved greenish Akkadian period stone cylinder seal.[12]
Area C – A large but shallow excavation at the outer edge of the site, to the south, Level 1 remains are fragmentary but appear to be related to food production. Levels 2 and 3 so portions of a monumental building with walls 1.4 meters in width. At the lowest floor were many storage jars.[5]
Area D – several narrow trenches on the slope of the Lower Town to look for a defensive wall and examine the interrelationship with the Upper Town. Small finds here included beads, an obsidian flint, a lithic arrow head of Akkadian type.[5]
Excavation photographsedit
Oct. 2015, French excavations at Tell Kunara, Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300–2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq
Oct. 2015, French excavations at Tell Kunara. Akkadian-Lullubian, 2300–2000 BCE. Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraq
^[1]Tenu, Aline, and Christine Kepinski. "Kunara, a Bronze Age City on the Upper Tanjaro (Iraq)". 9th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. Vol. 3, pp. 147–159, 2014
^Tenu, Aline. "Kunara, a 4000 year-old city in Kurdistan". 3rd International Scientific Conference under slogan Archaeology and Heritage of Kurdistan held in Erbil, 2019
^Kepinski, C. et al. "Marchand, Florine. "Kunara Lithic Industry: A preliminary report". 11th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (ICAANE). Harrassowitz Verlag, 2020
^Tenu, Aline. "Excavations at Kunara (Iraqi Kurdistan): New Results". Prehistoric and Historical landscapes & Settlement Patterns pp. 653–663, 2018.
^ abcdTenu, Aline, et al. "Kunara. Preliminary report on the fifth excavation campaign (2017)". Akkadica 2019.
^Amin, Osama Shukir Muhammed. "New Discovery: Clay Tablet & Cylinder Seal from Tell Kunara, Iraq - October 13, 2015". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
^Kepinski, C. "Research in the Suleymaniyah Province (Iraq): The upper Tanjaro Survey". P. Bieliński et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East 30 April – 4 May 2012, University of Warsaw, Volume 2, Wiesbaden, 149–164, 2014
^[2]Tenu, Aline, "Kunara: an Early Bronze Age city in the Zagros foothills. The 2018 and 2019 Seasons of Excavations", Proceedings of the 12th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, vol. 2, Harrassowitz, pp. 603-617, 2023
^Tenu, A., Clancier, Ph., Marchand, F., Monerie, J., Sarmiento-Castillo, D., and Verdellet, C., "Kunara. Rapport préliminaire sur la cinquième campagne de fouilles (2017)", Akkadica 140, pp. 5-71, 2019
^"Kepinski, C. et al. "Kunara, small town in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains at the age of Bronze: preliminary report on the first campaign of excavations, 2012 (Iraqi Kurdistan)". Akkadica 136.1, 51–88, 2015
^Kepinski, Christine, and Aline Tenu. "Two Seasons of Excavations at Kunara (Upper Tanjaro): An Early and Middle Bronze Age City". Archaeological Research in the Kurdistan of Iraq and the Adjacent Areas, Oxford, pp. 139–145, 2016
^ abc"Tenu, Aline, et al. "Kunara, a third millennium town in the peaks of Zagros. Preliminary report on the third excavation campaign (2015)". Akkadica 137.2, pp. 109–182, 2016
^Tenu, Aline, et al. "Kunara. Preliminary report on the fourth excavation campaign (2016)". Akkadica 139.1, pp. 1–72, 2018
^Tenu, Aline. "The 2016–2017 Excavation Seasons in Kunara (Iraqi Kurdistan)". 11th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, 2018
Further readingedit
Perello, Bérengère, Aline Tenu, and Christine Kepinski. "A preliminary assessment on earthen architecture of Iraqi Kurdistan: the case of Kunara (Suleymanieh province) at the end of the 3rd mill. BC". Terra Lyon 2016-XIIe World Congress on Earthen Architecture. 2016
[3] Kepinski, C. et al. "Kunara, petite ville des piedmonts du Zagros à l'âge du Bronze. Rapport préliminaire sur la première campagne", 2012 (Kurdistan irakien)". Akkadica 136, pp. 51–88, 2015
[4] Tenu, Aline, et al. "Kunara, une ville du IIIe millénaire dans les piémonts du Zagros. Rapport préliminaire sur la troisième campagne de fouilles (2015)". Akkadica 137.2, pp. 109–182, 2016
[5] Tenu, Aline, et al. "Kunara. Rapport préliminaire sur la quatrième campagne de fouilles (2016)". Akkadica 139.1, pp. 1–72, 2018
Tenu, Aline, Michaël Seigle, and Cécile Verdellet. "Kunara. Rapport préliminaire sur la sixième campagne de fouilles (2018). Partie 2". Akkadica 2020.
Tenu, Aline, et al. "Rapport préliminaire sur le septième campagne à Kunara (2019)". 2021
Marchand, Florine, et al. "Kunara Rapport Préliminaire de la septième campagne de fouilles (2019)-Chantier E". Studia Mesopotamica 5, 2021
[6] Kepinski, Christine, and Aline Tenu. "Kunara, ville majeure de la haute vallée du Tanjaro". Routes de l'Orient (2014) Marchand, Florine. "L'industrie Lithique de Kunara". Journée Chainop-Études des chaînes opératoires: Regards croisés sur le site de Kunara (Kurdistan irakien, IIIe millénaire av. J.-C.). 2021
Tenu A. and Kepinski, Christine, "Prospection dans la haute vallée du Tanjaro. Mission archéologique française du Peramagron 2011". Études Mésopotamiennes – Mesopotamian Studies 1. 2020
External linksedit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tell Kunara.
Jean-Baptiste Veyrieras (March 19, 2019). "A Historical Treasure Bordering Ancient Mesopotamia". CNRS.
January 01, 1970
tell, kunara, ancient, near, east, archaeological, site, about, kilometres, southwest, sulaymaniyah, kurdistan, region, iraq, lies, tanjaro, river, site, occupied, from, chalcolithic, period, early, second, millennium, shown, within, iraqlocationiraqcoordinate. Tell Kunara is an ancient Near East archaeological site about 5 kilometres 3 1 mi southwest of Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan region of Iraq It lies on the Tanjaro River The site was occupied from the Chalcolithic period to the early second millennium BC 1 Tell Kunara 1 Shown within IraqLocationIraqCoordinates35 31 10 N 45 21 34 E 35 51944 N 45 35944 E 35 51944 45 35944TypesettlementHistoryFoundedc 2300 BCPeriodsBronze AgeCulturesAkkadian Ur III Isin LarsaSite notesExcavation dates2012 to 2019ArchaeologistsC Kepinski Aline TenuConditionRuinedOwnershipPublicPublic accessYes French Excavations at Tell Kunara Akkadian Lullubian 2300 2000 BCE Sulaymaniyah Governorate Republic of Iraq 3 October 2019 Contents 1 History 2 Archaeology 3 Excavation photographs 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksHistory edit nbsp Clay tablet freshly excavated covered with mud to protect it From Tell Kunara Sulaymaniyah Iraq Akkadian Lullubian 2300 2000 BCE Now in the Sulaymaniyah Museum Iraq The site was occupied in the Akkadian Ur III and Isin Larsa periods The excavators have speculated that the city with its monumental buildings was the capital of the Lullubi state There were three occupational levels levels 1 and 2 have been radiocarbon dated Level 1 Middle Bronze Age 2000 1900 BC in Area C Level 2 end of Early Bronze 2200 2000 BC in Areas A and B Level 3 Early Bronze Age 2350 2200 BC in Areas A and D Epigraphic evidence shows the city had an ensi governor but under what auspices is unknown at present 2 3 4 Archaeology edit nbsp Akkadian cylinder seal late third millennium BCE From Tell Kunara Tanjro Valley Sulaymaniyah Iraq Sulaymaniyah Museum Tell Kunara consists of two oval mounds the western one higher than the eastern separated by a modern road The eastern mound is designated as the Lower Town Overall the site extends to roughly 600 meters by 400 meters or about 10 hectares The site was first visited in 1943 when Sabri Shukri of the Iraqi General Directorate of Antiquities in Baghdad conducted a survey issuing a report dated November 10 1943 5 6 The site was examined as part of a larger survey by C Kepinski in 2011 A geomagnetic survey at Tell Kunara showed signs of a monumental 60 meters by 30 meters building in the Lower Town 7 It has been excavated since 2012 by a French National Center for Scientific Research team led by Christine Kepinski and Aline Tenu Work was then conducted in 2013 and again in 2015 2016 2017 2018 and 2019 Since 2012 excavation has focused on the lower town 8 9 A few 10 centimeter by 10 centimeter cuneiform tablets were found in 2015 most concerning flour and another group in 2018 most concerning grain Quantities were listed in a new type of gur volume measure not previously attested as opposed to the expected Akkadian Gur 10 11 12 13 5 14 Area A On the upper mound A monumental building was found with a 2 6 meter wide wall built on a very large stone base foundation The walls were constructed of layers of rectangular mud bricks protected by diluted bitumen and jointed with a mortar containing crushed bones alternated with about 0 60 m of pise The building which overlays an earlier one with similar plan was fronted by a 100 square meter courtyard with included a 10 meter terracotta pipe for drainage The top of the mound had first been sealed and leveled by a several meter thick layer of sand Small finds included a bronze pendant 12 Area B In the Lower Town designed to explore the monumental building identified by the survey A simple poorly preserved building was found on Level 1 On level 2 lay the monumental building that had appeared on the survey It had 1 6 meter thick wall footings made out of massive stones with facing stones The remains of the building on Level 3 had large walls on a completely different orientation Small finds included a finely carved greenish Akkadian period stone cylinder seal 12 Area C A large but shallow excavation at the outer edge of the site to the south Level 1 remains are fragmentary but appear to be related to food production Levels 2 and 3 so portions of a monumental building with walls 1 4 meters in width At the lowest floor were many storage jars 5 Area D several narrow trenches on the slope of the Lower Town to look for a defensive wall and examine the interrelationship with the Upper Town Small finds here included beads an obsidian flint a lithic arrow head of Akkadian type 5 Excavation photographs edit nbsp Oct 2015 French excavations at Tell Kunara Akkadian Lullubian 2300 2000 BCE Sulaymaniyah Governorate Iraq nbsp Oct 2015 French excavations at Tell Kunara Akkadian Lullubian 2300 2000 BCE Sulaymaniyah Governorate Iraq nbsp Wall Excavations at Tell Kunara Akkadian Lullubian 2300 2000 BCE Sulaymaniyah Governorate Iraq nbsp Excavations at Tell Kunara Akkadian Lullubian 2300 2000 BCE Sulaymaniyah Governorate Republic of Iraq October 3 2019 nbsp Excavations at Tell Kunara Akkadian Lullubian 2300 2000 BCE Sulaymaniyah Republic of Iraq October 3 2019 nbsp Drainage system Excavations at Tell Kunara October 3 2019 Akkadian Lullubian 2300 2000 BCE Sulaymaniyah Republic of Iraq nbsp Foundation walls Excavations at Tell Kunara October 3 2019 Akkadian Lullubian 2300 2000 BCE Sulaymaniyah Republic of Iraq nbsp French Excavations at Tell Kunara Akkadian Lullubian 2300 2000 BCE Sulaymaniyah Governorate Republic of Iraq October 3 2019 nbsp A dagger a turquoise piece and a skeleton Excavations at Tell Kunara Akkadian Lullubian 2300 2000 BCE Sulaymaniyah Governorate Iraq nbsp Excavations at Tell Kunara October 3 2019 Akkadian Lullubian 2300 2000 BCE Sulaymaniyah Republic of IraqSee also editCities of the ancient Near East Ancient Mesopotamian units of measurementReferences edit 1 Tenu Aline and Christine Kepinski Kunara a Bronze Age City on the Upper Tanjaro Iraq 9th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East Vol 3 pp 147 159 2014 Tenu Aline Kunara a 4000 year old city in Kurdistan 3rd International Scientific Conference under slogan Archaeology and Heritage of Kurdistan held in Erbil 2019 Kepinski C et al Marchand Florine Kunara Lithic Industry A preliminary report 11th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East ICAANE Harrassowitz Verlag 2020 Tenu Aline Excavations at Kunara Iraqi Kurdistan New Results Prehistoric and Historical landscapes amp Settlement Patterns pp 653 663 2018 a b c d Tenu Aline et al Kunara Preliminary report on the fifth excavation campaign 2017 Akkadica 2019 Amin Osama Shukir Muhammed New Discovery Clay Tablet amp Cylinder Seal from Tell Kunara Iraq October 13 2015 World History Encyclopedia Retrieved 15 September 2022 Kepinski C Research in the Suleymaniyah Province Iraq The upper Tanjaro Survey P Bielinski et al eds Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East 30 April 4 May 2012 University of Warsaw Volume 2 Wiesbaden 149 164 2014 2 Tenu Aline Kunara an Early Bronze Age city in the Zagros foothills The 2018 and 2019 Seasons of Excavations Proceedings of the 12th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East vol 2 Harrassowitz pp 603 617 2023 Tenu A Clancier Ph Marchand F Monerie J Sarmiento Castillo D and Verdellet C Kunara Rapport preliminaire sur la cinquieme campagne de fouilles 2017 Akkadica 140 pp 5 71 2019 Kepinski C et al Kunara small town in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains at the age of Bronze preliminary report on the first campaign of excavations 2012 Iraqi Kurdistan Akkadica 136 1 51 88 2015 Kepinski Christine and Aline Tenu Two Seasons of Excavations at Kunara Upper Tanjaro An Early and Middle Bronze Age City Archaeological Research in the Kurdistan of Iraq and the Adjacent Areas Oxford pp 139 145 2016 a b c Tenu Aline et al Kunara a third millennium town in the peaks of Zagros Preliminary report on the third excavation campaign 2015 Akkadica 137 2 pp 109 182 2016 Tenu Aline et al Kunara Preliminary report on the fourth excavation campaign 2016 Akkadica 139 1 pp 1 72 2018 Tenu Aline The 2016 2017 Excavation Seasons in Kunara Iraqi Kurdistan 11th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East 2018Further reading editPerello Berengere Aline Tenu and Christine Kepinski A preliminary assessment on earthen architecture of Iraqi Kurdistan the case of Kunara Suleymanieh province at the end of the 3rd mill BC Terra Lyon 2016 XIIe World Congress on Earthen Architecture 2016 3 Kepinski C et al Kunara petite ville des piedmonts du Zagros a l age du Bronze Rapport preliminaire sur la premiere campagne 2012 Kurdistan irakien Akkadica 136 pp 51 88 2015 4 Tenu Aline et al Kunara une ville du IIIe millenaire dans les piemonts du Zagros Rapport preliminaire sur la troisieme campagne de fouilles 2015 Akkadica 137 2 pp 109 182 2016 5 Tenu Aline et al Kunara Rapport preliminaire sur la quatrieme campagne de fouilles 2016 Akkadica 139 1 pp 1 72 2018 Tenu Aline Michael Seigle and Cecile Verdellet Kunara Rapport preliminaire sur la sixieme campagne de fouilles 2018 Partie 2 Akkadica 2020 Tenu Aline et al Rapport preliminaire sur le septieme campagne a Kunara 2019 2021 Marchand Florine et al Kunara Rapport Preliminaire de la septieme campagne de fouilles 2019 Chantier E Studia Mesopotamica 5 2021 6 Kepinski Christine and Aline Tenu Kunara ville majeure de la haute vallee du Tanjaro Routes de l Orient 2014 Marchand Florine L industrie Lithique de Kunara Journee Chainop Etudes des chaines operatoires Regards croises sur le site de Kunara Kurdistan irakien IIIe millenaire av J C 2021 Tenu A and Kepinski Christine Prospection dans la haute vallee du Tanjaro Mission archeologique francaise du Peramagron 2011 Etudes Mesopotamiennes Mesopotamian Studies 1 2020External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tell Kunara Jean Baptiste Veyrieras March 19 2019 A Historical Treasure Bordering Ancient Mesopotamia CNRS Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Tell Kunara amp oldid 1208994407, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
