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83-482: In 1925, the team that was excavating at Kish received reports that clay tablets and painted pottery had been found by locals at a site called Jemdet Nasr, some 26 kilometres (16 mi) northeast of Kish. The site was subsequently visited on January 6 1926 by Langdon and Henry Field and it was decided that an excavation was necessary after several pictographic tablets were found. Some burnt grain were recovered and later determined to be cone wheat (Triticum turgidum)

166-492: A Japanese team from the Kokushikan University led by Hideo Fuji and Ken Matsumoto excavated at Tell Uhaimir in 1989–89, 2000, and 2001. The final season lasted only one week. Work was focused mainly on Tell A with some time spent at the plano-convex building. In February 2022 Iraqi archaeaologists conducted Ground Penetrating Radar and Electrical Resistivity scans of a test 30 meter by 30 meter section at Kish. In

249-508: A cemetery and an Early Dynastic III palace, was discovered during 1922–1925 excavations conducted by Ernest Mackay, under the Field Museum and Oxford University. Although it was earlier a part of the Ingharra mounds lying about 70 meters to the north, it is now separated by an alluvial valley. The seals and other artifacts found in the graves, dating back to a later age than the palace, show that

332-674: A crew of 20 men for a number of months. Austen Henry Layard and also Julius Oppert dug some trenches there in the early 1852 though the finds were lost in the Qurnah Disaster . None of this early work was published. The name of the site as Kish was determined by George Smith in 1872 based on an inscribed brick of Adad-apla-iddina which had been discovered 60 years before. A French archaeological team under Henri de Genouillac excavated at Tell Uhaimir for three months in January 1912, finding some 1,400 Old Babylonian tablets which were distributed to

415-532: A cross is uncertain, but it has been suggested that they were used as bolas . They are common in Uruk period sites. Because clay as a raw material is widely available around Jemdet Nasr, clay objects are very common. Clay objects included baked clay bricks, clay sickles, fragments of drain pipes, spatulas, spindle whorls and miniature wagon wheels. Beads, small pendants and figurines were made of bone, shell , stone, clay and frit . The clay tablets that were reported to

498-456: A king punishing a prisoner. In the 1923–1933 Expedition, Tell H became the focus of its final three seasons (1930–1933). For personal reasons of the excavators, the Kish material in this section remained selective, mainly yielding Sasanian pottery, coins, incantation bowls and so on. The dating of this section crossed a range of periods, with layer upon layer built on the site. Evidence shows that in

581-531: A rich archaeological heritage of eneolithic (4900–3800 BCE ) tells from the 5th millennium BCE. In Neolithic Greece there is a contrast between the northern Thessalian plain, where rainfall was sufficient to permit densely populated settlements based on dry-farming , and the more dispersed sites in southern Greece, such as the Peloponesus , where early villages sprang up around the smaller arable tracts close to springs, lakes, and marshes. Two models account for

664-566: A sizeable town with a large mud-brick fortress. During the Sasanian period, the site of the old city was completely abandoned in favor of a string of connected settlements spread out along both sides of the Shatt en-Nil canal. This last incarnation of Kish prospered under Sasanian and then Islamic rule, before being finally abandoned during the later years of the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258). Kish

747-582: A strong political and symbolic significance. Its influence reached as far west as the city of Ebla near the Mediterranean Sea , as shown by the Ebla tablets . According to the Ebla tablets , Kish was defeated in the time of Ebla ruler Ishar-Damu, probably by Uruk. Shortly afterward Kish joined Ebla in defeating Mari , followed by the marriage of the Eblan princess Keshdut to a king of Kish. Just as with Nippur to

830-634: A succession of consecutive settlements at the same site, the refuse of generations of people who built and inhabited them and natural sediment. Tells are most commonly associated with the ancient Near East but are also found elsewhere, such as in Southern and parts of Central Europe , from Greece and Bulgaria to Hungary and Spain , and in North Africa . Within the Near East they are concentrated in less arid regions, including Upper Mesopotamia ,

913-511: A total area of 1.5 hectares (3.7 acres). Mound B, located immediately to the northeast of A, measures 350 by 300 metres (1,150 by 980 ft) for a total area of 7.5 hectares (19 acres), reaching up to 3.5 metres (11 ft) above the modern level of the plain. Occupation is thought to have started at least in the Ubaid period and occupied until the Early Dynastic I period. The Ubaid occupation of

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996-469: A transfer station between Ctesiphon and Hira, Bahram V built palaces for summer entertainment, which explains why one of the buildings has a huge water tank in the middle, probably functioning to cool down the court in summers. Around Bahram V's palaces, a group of Sasanian people also took residence and developed a system of settlement and commercial activities. The Sumerian King List (SKL) lists only 39 rulers among four dynasties of Kish. A fifth dynasty

1079-605: Is an important archaeological site in Babil Governorate ( Iraq ), located 80 km (50 mi) south of Baghdad and 12 km (7.5 mi) east of the ancient city of Babylon . The Ubaid period site of Ras al-Amiyah is 8 km (5.0 mi) away. It was occupied from the Ubaid period to the Hellenistic period . In Early Dynastic times the city's patron deity was Ishtar with her consort Ea . Her temple, at Tell Ingharra,

1162-628: Is first attested in English in an 1840 report in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society . It is derived from the Arabic تَلّ ( tall ) meaning "mound" or "hillock". Variant spellings include tall , tel , til and tal . The Arabic word has many cognates in other Semitic languages , such as Akkadian tīlu(m) , Ugaritic tl and Hebrew tel ( תל ). The Akkadian form

1245-460: Is known and it was an Amorite dynasty unnamed on the SKL . The following list should not be considered complete: "After the flood had swept over, and the kingship had descended from heaven , the kingship was in Kish." "1,560 are the years of the dynasty of En-me-nuna." "1,525 are the years of the dynasty of En-me-barage-si. 23 kings; they ruled for 24,510 years, 3 months, and 3½ days. Then Kish

1328-540: Is located 12 km (7.5 mi) east of the ancient city of Babylon and 80 km (50 mi) south of modern Baghdad . The Kish archaeological site is an oval area roughly 8 by 3 km (5 by 2 mi), transected into east and west sections by the dry former bed of the Euphrates River , encompassing around 40 mounds scattered over an area of about 24 square kilometers, the largest being Uhaimir and Ingharra. After irregularly excavated tablets began appearing at

1411-529: Is located in modern-day Babil Governorate in central Iraq , or ancient southern Mesopotamia . Before the implementation of the Musaiyib irrigation project in the 1950s, the site lay in a semi-desert area. Today, the site is located in an area that is heavily irrigated for agriculture. The tell consists of three mounds, A, B, and C, that are located adjacent to each other. Mound A is 160 by 140 metres (520 by 460 ft), 2.9 metres (9 ft 6 in) high and has

1494-460: Is similar to Sumerian DUL , which can also refer to a pile of any material, such as grain, but it is not known whether the similarity reflects a borrowing from that language or if the Sumerian term itself was a loanword from an earlier Semitic substrate language . If Akkadian tīlu is related to another word in that language, til'u , meaning "woman's breast", there exists a similar term in

1577-446: Is the stucco decoration in the first two buildings, while the 1923–1933 team also figured out the floor plan and architectural structure of others. It was partly through these stucco decorations that researchers identified the royal resident to be Bahram V (420–438 AD)—Sasanian kings had their distinctive crowns separately, and the unique crown pattern on stucco served as evidence to support this argument. In Kish, which once functioned as

1660-510: Is thought that the earliest examples of tells are in the Jordan Valley , such as at the 10-meter-high mound, dating back to the proto-Neolithic period , at Jericho in the West Bank . More than 5,000 tells have been detected in the area of ancient Israel and Jordan. Of these, Paul Lapp calculated in the 1960s that 98% had yet to be touched by archaeologists. In Syria, tells are abundant in

1743-420: Is thought to have been Sumerian . Contemporary archives have been found at Uruk, Tell Uqair and Khafajah . The tablets from Jemdet Nasr are primarily administrative accounts; long lists of various objects, foodstuffs and animals that were probably distributed among the population from a centralized authority. Thus, these texts document, among other things, the cultivation, processing and redistribution of grain,

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1826-606: The Istanbul Archaeology Museum and the Louvre . He also excavated at a Neo-Babylonian monumental building on Tell Ingharra. At Tell Bander he uncovered Parthian materials. Later, a joint Field Museum and University of Oxford team under Stephen Langdon excavated from 1923 to 1933, with the recovered materials split between Chicago and the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. Seventeen different mounds were excavated but

1909-775: The Southern Levant , Anatolia and Iran , which had more continuous settlement. Eurasian tells date to the Neolithic , the Chalcolithic and the Bronze and Iron Ages. In the Southern Levant the time of the tells ended with the conquest by Alexander the Great , which ushered in the Hellenistic period with its own, different settlement-building patterns. Many tells across the Near East continue to be occupied and used today. The word tell

1992-660: The Upper Mesopotamia region, scattered along the Euphrates , including Tell al-'Abr , Tell Bazi , Tell Kabir, Tell Mresh, Tell Saghir and Tell Banat . The last is thought to be the site of the oldest war memorial (known as the White Monument ), dating from the 3rd millennium BCE. Tells can be found in Europe in countries such as Spain, Hungary, Romania , Bulgaria, North Macedonia , and Greece . Northeastern Bulgaria has

2075-558: The Uruk period indicate that the site was part of the Uruk Expansion and hence originally Sumerian language speaking. Ignace Gelb identified Kish as the center of the earliest East Semitic culture which he calls the Kish civilization , however the concept has been challenged by more recent scholarship. Of the twenty-first king of Kish on the list, Enmebaragesi , who is said to have captured

2158-618: The 1928 excavations under Watelin. The tablets from the regular excavations are stored in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad. Two Uruk V period (c. 3500-3350 BC) clay tablets, called "numerical tablets" or "impressed tablets", were found at the site. The Jemdet Nasr tablets are written in proto-cuneiform script. Proto-cuneiform is thought to have arisen in

2241-706: The Chicago expedition to Kish in 1923–1933, several other sections are included: This site consists of three subtells (T, X, and Z). Tell Z was the location of one of the main ziggurats and where temples had been built and rebuilt from the Old Babylonian to the Neo-Babylonian periods. At Tell X a 1st Millennium BC fort was uncovered and at Tell T some Old Babylonian structures were found. Between Uhaimir and Ingharra are three smaller tells and further east Tell W where Neo-Assyrian tablets as well as an entire Neo-Babylonian archive

2324-681: The Early Dynastic III Period, there once even existed a twin city. Therefore, the city occupies a relatively unsettled presence in chronology. But from the excavation, eight buildings were identified as from the Sasanian period, thus making this place primarily identified as the Sasanian Settlement. Researchers suspect that some of the buildings might function together as a complex serving different purposes, including royal residence, storage, and administration. The most prominent finding

2407-457: The Late Uruk period (late 4th millennium BC), an extensive settlement must have existed at Mound B, but its nature is again hard to ascertain due to a lack of well-excavated archaeological contexts. The Jemdet Nasr period settlement (3100–2900 BC) extended over an area of 4–6 hectares (9.9–14.8 acres) of Mound B. Some 0.4 hectares (0.99 acres) was occupied by the single, large mudbrick building that

2490-571: The PCB suffered significant destruction twice during the late ED III period. After its destruction, the PCB was abandoned. Located above later floors of the PCB were scattered burials during the Akkadian period. The Plano-convex building was a fortified construction built extensively with plano-convex bricks . It displayed the socio-economic dynamics at Kish during the ED III period. No characteristic linking

2573-608: The Riemchen (20 X 8 5 x 8 cm) and Flachziegel (23 x 9 x 6 5 cm) types, with some of the former baked and all of the latter. All baked bricks were pierced with three one centimeter holes before baking. The finds from this season were divided between the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the Field Museum in Chicago; the latter two co-sponsors of the excavations in Kish and Jemdet Nasr. A second season

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2656-826: The South Semitic classical Ethiopian language of Geʽez , namely təla , "breast". Hebrew tel first appears in the biblical book of Deuteronomy 13:16 (c. 700–500 BCE), describing a heap or small mound and appearing in the books of Joshua and Jeremiah with the same meaning. There are lexically unrelated equivalents for this geophysical concept of a town-mound in other Southwest Asian languages, including kom in Egyptian Arabic , tepe or tappeh ( Turkish / Persian : تپه ), hüyük or höyük (Turkish) and chogha (Persian: چغا , from Turkish çokmak and derivatives çoka etc.). Equivalent words for town-mound often appear in place names, and

2739-409: The annex, which was added later to the south of the building, had comparatively thinner walls. A 2.30 m wide passage was constructed within the outer wall of the original building to prevent invaders from entering the structure. The archaeological findings within the palace lack pottery items, the most remarkable among them was a fragment of slate and limestone inlay work, which represents the scene of

2822-414: The beginning of the twentieth century, François Thureau-Dangin identified the site as being Kish. Those tablets ended up in a variety of museums. Because of its close proximity to Babylon (of which early explorers believed it was part) the site was visited by a number of explorers and travelers in the 19th century, some involving excavation, most notably by the foreman of Hormuzd Rassam who dug there with

2905-465: The building to a religious construct. Instead, the Plano-convex building is recognized as a public building associated with the economical production of beer, textile and oil. The PCB might have also housed the administrative center powered by the elites. First recognized by Margueron, scholars have divided the building into four main sectors based on the architectural layout: Mound A, which includes

2988-519: The capital from Babylon to Dur-Kurigalzu and Kish was diminished. There is some evidence of Kassite activity in Kish. Afterward Kish appears to have significantly declined in importance, as it is only mentioned in a few documents from the later second millennium BC. During the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods, Kish is mentioned more frequently in texts. However, by this time, Kish proper (Tell al-Uhaymir) had been almost completely abandoned, and

3071-644: The city wall. By this time, the eastern settlement at Hursagkalama had become viewed as a distinct city, and it was probably not included in the walled area. At some period or periods within the Old Babylonian period, Kish was under the control of a series of rulers generally called the Manana Dynasty . Most of what is known comes from two illicitly excavated archive thought to be from the town of Damrum, near Kish. These rulers include Iawian, Halium, Abdi-Erah, Manana, and four others. Several year names of Iawium are known including "Year Sumu-ditana died". Samsu-Ditana

3154-569: The clay tablets have been found at Jemdet Nasr. Stylistically, these seals are a continuation of the preceding Uruk period. The cylinder seals display humans as well as animals in a very crude style. Over 80 of the clay tablets bore a sealing, showing humans, animals, buildings, containers and more abstract designs. None of the sealings on the tablets was made by the seals that were found at the site, indicating that sealing either occurred outside Jemdet Nasr or that seals could also be made of perishable materials. One sealing, found on thirteen tablets, lists

3237-496: The common appellation "King of Kish". This includes Mesilim , who built temples in Adab and Lagash , where he seems to have exercised some control. Two other examples were the sleeve of an Early Dynatic II bronze sword found at Girsu which read "Lugal-namni[r]-sum (is) king of Kis" and a statue fragment found at Nippur which read "Enna-il, king of Kis". After its early supremacy, Kish declined economically and militarily, but retained

3320-489: The contemporary excavation here, and the building remained partially uncovered. Revealed by its stratigraphy and pottery assemblage was the existence of three distinct architectural phases. The earliest archaeological occupation dates back to the ED II period. Above it, rested the massive ED III construction – the PCB. Multiple rooms in the PCB exhibited layers of ashes and charcoals with arrowheads and copper blades, attested that

3403-547: The counting of herds of cattle, the distribution of secondary products like beer, fish, fruit and textiles, as well as various objects of undefinable nature. Six tablets deal with the calculation of agricultural field areas from surface measurements, which is the earliest attested occurrence of such calculations. Kish (Sumer) Kish ( Sumerian : Kiš ; [[[:wikt:𒆧|Kiš]] ] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script ( help ) ; cuneiform : 𒆧𒆠 ; Akkadian : Kiššatu , near modern Tell al-Uhaymir )

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3486-503: The distribution of Early Dynastic pottery on the surface, the settlement seems to have been smaller than during the Jemdet Nasr period. A single Early Dynastic I grave was found on Mound A, but no further evidence for occupation during this period. The building that was visible on the surface of the mound was probably a Parthian fortress, but due to a lack of well-dated pottery from this area this dating could not be ascertained. Apart from

3569-437: The earliest exemplar of that in the region. The first season at Jemdet Nasr took place in 1926, directed by Stephen Langdon , professor of Assyriology at Oxford University and director of the excavations at Kish. The excavation lasted over a month and employed between 12 and 60 workmen. Langdon was not an archaeologist, and even by the standards of his time, as exemplified by Leonard Woolley 's work at Ur , his record-keeping

3652-400: The eponymous type site . Since then, the assemblage characteristic for the Jemdet Nasr period has been attested at other sites in south–central Iraq, including Abu Salabikh , Fara , Nippur , Ur and Uruk . The period is now generally dated to 3100–2900 BC. The name Jemdet Nasr translates as "Small mound of Nasr", named after a prominent sheikh in the early twentieth century. Jemdet Nasr

3735-617: The excavators of Kish in 1925 may not have been the first to come from Jemdet Nasr. Already before 1915, a French antiquities dealer had bought tablets that reportedly came from the site through looting . He sold them in lots to the French dealer Dumani Frères, the Louvre and the British Museum , while those resold to Dumani Frères were subsequently purchased by James Breasted for the Oriental Institute in Chicago. Another group of tablets

3818-581: The founder of the Akkadian Empire , came from the area near Kish, called Azupiranu according to a much later Neo-Assyrian text purporting to be an autobiography of Sargon. By the early part of the First Dynasty of Babylon Kish was under the control of Babylon with the tenth year name of ruler Sumu-abum (c. 1897–1883 BC) being "Year in which (Sumu-abum) made for Kish its city wall (reaching) heaven" (repeated in following year). Not long afterward, Kish

3901-511: The heros (Zababa), was built". At this point Kish came under the control of the city-state of Eshnunna under rulers Ipiq-Adad II and Naram-Sin . By the time of Babylon ruler Sin-Muballit (c. 1813–1792 BC), father of Hammurabi , Kish was firmly under the control of Babylon and would stay that way until the waning days of the First Dynasty of Babylon . The rulers of Babylon at its peak of power, Hammurabi and Samsu-iluna , are known to have done extensive construction at Kish, including rebuilding

3984-492: The larger ziggurat while there had been only one report on the smaller one by Mackay. Based on the findings from the larger ziggurat, it is suggested that the structures were built at the end of the Early Dynastic IIIa period to commemorate the city. The fascination of the ziggurats was interesting to the excavators as it was the only Early Dynastic structure that was not destroyed or obscured by later reconstructions, which

4067-432: The limited geographical area they occur in. Tells are formed from a variety of remains, including organic and cultural refuse, collapsed mudbricks and other building materials, water-laid sediments, residues of biogenic and geochemical processes and aeolian sediment . A classic tell looks like a low, truncated cone with sloping sides and a flat, mesa -like top. They can be more than 43 m (141 ft) high. It

4150-407: The main focus of the excavations was at Tell Ingharra and Tell Uhaimir. The actual excavations at Tell Uhaimir were led initially by E. MacKay and later by L. C. Watelin. Work on the faunal and flora remains was conducted by Henry Field . Even by the standards of the day, the documentation of this excavation (findspots provenance etc.), were sorely lacking. This was compounded by the death of

4233-402: The names of a number of cities surrounding Jemdet Nasr, including Larsa, Nippur, Ur and Uruk. The exact findspots of many objects retrieved during the 1920s excavations could no longer be reconstructed due to the poor publication standards, so that many can only be dated by comparing them with what has been found at other sites that do have a good stratigraphy and chronological control. Many of

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4316-452: The objects found during the 1920s could be dated from the Uruk period to the Early Dynastic I period. Very few copper objects were found in Jemdet Nasr. These included an adze, a fish-hook and a small pendant in the shape of a goose. A particular type of stone vessel with ledge handles and a rim decorated by incised rectangles has so far not been found at any other site. The function of a number of flat polished stones incised with lines forming

4399-453: The principals within a few years and the beginning of World War II. In recent decades there has been a major effort to recreate the data from all the old field notes and finds. A bone awl from Phase 2 in the YWN area, the transition between Early Dynastic and Akkadian periods, was accelerator radiocarbon dated to 2471–2299 BC (3905 ± 27 C14 years BP). A surface survey of Kish and the area around it

4482-564: The proto-cuneiform tablets, Jemdet Nasr gained fame for its painted polychrome and monochrome pottery. Painted pots display both geometric motifs and depictions of animals, including birds, fish, goats, scorpions, snakes and trees. However, the majority of the pottery was undecorated, and the fact that most painted pottery seems to have come from the large central building suggests that it had a special function. Pottery forms included large jars, bowls, spouted vessels and cups. A number of cylinder seals , stamp seals and cylinder seal impressions on

4565-432: The reign of Akshak was abolished and the kingship was taken to Kish." "8 kings; they ruled for 485 years. Then the reign of Kish was abolished and the kingship was returned a third time to Uruk ." Tell (archaeology) In archaeology , a tell (from Arabic : تَلّ , tall , 'mound' or 'small hill') is an artificial topographical feature, a mound consisting of the accumulated and stratified debris of

4648-449: The roughly 130 meter square Neo-Babylonian temple, built on an Early Dynastic plano-copnvex platform, was one of the two buildings that was properly described in a published report. The twin ziggurats were built of small plano-convex bricks in a herringbone fashion on the summit of Tell Ingharra. The larger one is located on the south-west side of the temple and the smaller one on the south-east side. The excavation report mainly focused on

4731-411: The same area as Langdon. In 1988 and 1989, two further excavation seasons were carried out under the direction of British archaeologist Roger Matthews . The aims of the 1988 season were to conduct an archaeological survey of the site, to revisit the large building on Mound B that had been excavated by Langdon but very poorly published, and to explore a Neo-Babylonian or later baked brick building that

4814-435: The second half of the 4th millennium BC. While at first it was characterized by a small set of symbols that were predominantly pictographs , by the time of the Jemdet Nasr period, there was already a trend toward more abstract and simpler designs. It is also during this period that the script acquired its iconic wedge-shaped appearance. While the language in which these tablets were written cannot be identified with certainty, it

4897-525: The settlement which texts from this period call "Kish" was probably Hursagkalama (Tell Ingharra). After the Achaemenid period, Kish completely disappears from the historical record; however, archaeological evidence indicates that the town remained in existence for a long time thereafter. Although the site at Tell al-Uhaymir was mostly abandoned, Tell Ingharra was revived during the Parthian period, growing into

4980-412: The site has not been explored through excavation but is inferred from pottery dating to that period, and clay sickles and a fragment of a clay cone, that were found on the surface of Mound A. Both the 1920s as well as the 1980s excavations have resulted in considerable quantities of Middle Uruk period (mid-4th millennium BC) pottery. It seems that during this period, both Mounds A and B were occupied. During

5063-594: The site since then. The excavation archives for this dig are still in Baghdad but field photographs have now been digitized. The importance of the findings at Jemdet Nasr were immediately recognized after the 1920s excavations. During a large conference in Baghdad in 1930, the Jemdet Nasr period was inserted into the Mesopotamian chronology between the Uruk period and the Early Dynastic period , with Jemdet Nasr being

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5146-484: The site was used as a cemetery from the end of the Early Dynastic period until the early Akkadian Empire period. The palace, which was unearthed beneath the mound, had fallen into decay and was used as a burial ground during Early Dynastic III. It comprises three sections – the original building, the eastern wing and stairway, and the annex. The original building, which was composed of unbaked plano-convex bricks (23 × 15 × 3.5–6 cm), had extremely thick walls, while

5229-416: The south, control of Kish was a prime element in legitimizing dominance over the north of Mesopotamia. Because of the city's symbolic value, strong rulers later claimed the traditional title " King of Kish ", even if they were from Akkad , Ur , Assyria , Isin , Larsa or Babylon . One of the earliest to adopt this title upon subjecting Kish to his empire was King Mesannepada of Ur. Sargon of Akkad ,

5312-430: The tablets of Jemdet Nasr that list a number of cities in southern Mesopotamia, including Larsa , Nippur, Ur, Uruk and Tell Uqair . After the destruction of the Jemdet Nasr building, occupation of the site seems to have continued uninterrupted, as pottery forms show a gradual transition from Jemdet Nasr forms into the Early Dynastic I repertoire. At least one building of this period has been excavated at Mound B. Based on

5395-471: The tell structures of this part of southern Europe, one developed by Paul Halstead and the other by John Chapman. Chapman envisaged the tell as witness to a nucleated communal society , whereas Halstead emphasized the idea that they arose as individual household structures. Thessalian tells often reflect small hamlets with a population of around 40–80. The Toumbas of Macedonia and the Magoulas of Thessaly are

5478-520: The temple. An Early Dynastic I/IIIa cemetery extended to the south towards Mound A with a number of high status graves containing multiple burials and carts drawn by equids or bovids and are considered as predecessors to the royal burials at Ur. This area, north of tell W, was unearthed during the second excavation season (1923–1924) led by Mackay, which uncovered the 'Plano-convex building' (PCB). But outstanding discoveries in Palace A rapidly overshadowed

5561-421: The term "SANGA AB" appears, which may denote a high official. The building was probably destroyed by fire. There is no evidence for far-reaching trade-contacts; no precious stones or other exotic materials were found. However, the homogeneity of the pottery that is typical for the Jemdet Nasr period suggests that there must have been intensive regional contacts. This idea is strengthened by the finding of sealings on

5644-522: The weapons of Elam , is the first name confirmed by archaeological finds from his reign. He is also known through other literary references, in which he and his son Aga of Kish are portrayed as contemporary rivals of Dumuzid, the Fisherman , and Gilgamesh , early rulers of Uruk . Some early kings of Kish are known through archaeology, but are not named on the SKL . It can be difficult to determine if these are actually rulers of Kish or had merely adopted

5727-438: The word "tell" itself is one of the most common prefixes for Palestinian toponyms . The Arabic word khirbet , also spelled khirbat ( خربة ), meaning "ruin", also occurs in the names of many archaeological tells, such as Khirbet et-Tell (roughly meaning "heap of ruins"). A tell can form only if natural and man-made material accumulates faster than it is removed by erosion and human-caused truncation , which explains

5810-530: Was (E)-hursag-kalama. By Old Babylonian times the patron deities had become Zababa , along with his consort, the goddess Bau and Istar. His temple Emeteursag (later Ekišiba) was at Uhaimir. Kish was occupied from the Ubaid period (c.5300–4300 BC), gaining prominence as one of the pre-eminent powers in the region during the Early Dynastic Period when it reached its maximum extent of 230 hectares. The Sumerian King List (SKL) states that Kish

5893-670: Was a revival mostly centered around Uhaimir. The later half of the 2nd millennium BC showed light occupation, all on Mound W. In the Neo-Babylonian period the rivercourse shifted from north to west, with Uhaimir having a large temple with associated fort, a major temple on Ingharra, and a major town on Mound W. The Achaemenid/Seleucid settlement was limited to the western end of Uhaimir. The Parthian and Sassanian periods showed light occupation, except for Tell Bandar. As part of this survey soundings were made at Umm-el-Jir (the site named Umm el-Jerab that Oriental Institute had found Old Akkadian tablets in 1932) 27 kilometers from Kish. More recently,

5976-494: Was conducted in 1966–1967. It showed that there were villages at Uhaimir and Ingharra in the Ubaid and Protoliterate periods. These expanded into two cites in ED I and reached a peak in Ed III with Ingharra becoming the larger city at that time. The site was lightly occupied in the Akkadian period with modest towns on Ingharra and Mound W. During Ur III, Isin-Larsa, and Old Babylonian times there

6059-463: Was conquered by Sumuel of Larsa as reflected in his eleventh year name "Year the army of Kisz was smitten by weapons", repeated in the following three year names. In the 13th year of Sumu-la-El he reports destroying Kish (repeated in following four years) and then destroying the city wall of Kish in his 19th year and in his 30th year "Year the temple of Zababa, the Emeteursag / the house, ornament of

6142-408: Was defeated and the kingship was taken to Eanna ( Uruk )." "Then Awan was defeated and the kingship was taken to Kish." "8 kings; they ruled for 3,195 years. Then Kish was defeated and the kingship was taken to Hamazi ." "Then Mari was defeated and the kingship was taken to Kish." "1 king; she ruled for 100 years. Then Kish was defeated and the kingship was taken to Akshak ." "Then

6225-399: Was excavated by Langdon, and where the clay tablets were found. In and around this building, kilns for firing pottery and baking bread were found, and other crafts like weaving . Many of these crafts, and also agricultural production, feature prominently in the proto-cuneiform tablets – indicating that much of the economy was centrally controlled and administered. In the texts from Jemdet Nasr,

6308-458: Was found consisting of about 1000 tablets. Located in the eastern side of the ancient Kish, Tell Ingharra was extensively explored during the Chicago excavation and provided the best known archaeological sequence in the 3rd millennium BC site. The site consists of several subtells (A, B, D, E, F, G, H, and Tell Bandar which is made up of Tells C and V). In particular, the 1923 excavation concentrated heavily on mound E with its twin ziggurats, while

6391-399: Was organized in 1928, lasting between 13 and 22 March and directed by L.Ch. Watelin, the then-field director at Kish, accompanied by Henry Field. This time, some 120 workmen were employed. Excavation ended after 11 days (of the 20 planned) due to a plague of locusts. Watelin kept almost no records of his excavations at the site but from the few notes that survive he seems to have been digging in

6474-501: Was purchased in Kish in the 1930s and of these it was asserted that they came from Jemdet Nasr, although this is unlikely due to stylistic differences between these tablets and those excavated at Jemdet Nasr in 1926. During the first regular excavation season in 1926, between 150 and 180 tablets were found in Mound B; the error margin resulting from gaps in the administration kept by the excavators. Some of these tablets may actually have come from

6557-595: Was the first city to have kings following the deluge. The 1st dynasty of Kish begins with Ĝushur . Ĝushur's successor is called Kullassina-bel , but this is actually a sentence in Akkadian meaning "All of them were lord". Thus, some scholars have suggested that this may have been intended to signify the absence of a central authority in Kish for a time. The names of the next nine kings of Kish preceding Etana are Nanĝišlišma, En-tarah-ana, Babum, Puannum, Kalibum, Kalumum, Zuqaqip, Aba, Mašda, and Arwium. Archaeological finds from

6640-476: Was the last ruler of the First Dynasty of Babylon. One ruler, Ashduniarim is known from a long inscription on a clay foundation cone found at Kish. "Ašdũni-iarīm, the mighty man, beloved of Ištar, favored by Zababa, king of Kiš, when the world quarters four became hostile to me, for eight years battle I waged, and in the eighth year my opponent to clay indeed turned. ... " The succeeding Kassite dynasty moved

6723-410: Was very poor. He contracted a fever at Jemdet Nasr from which he never fully recovered, which ended the excavation season. As a result, much information on the exact find spots of artefacts, including the tablets, was lost. A large, 4500 square meter (92 meters by 48 meters), mudbrick building was excavated in which a large collection of proto-cuneiform clay tablets was found. The bricks used were of

6806-458: Was visible on the surface of Mound A. During the 1989 season, again directed by Matthews, a dig-house was constructed on the site. Research focused on Mound B with the aim to further explore the ancient occupation in that area. No work was carried out on Mound A. Further excavation seasons, although planned, were prevented by the outbreak of the Gulf War in 1990 and no fieldwork has been carried out at

6889-400: Was why it provided valuable evidence of that time period. As for the temple complex, the findings of the temple had determined that the mound was part of the city of Hursagkalama. It was used as an active religious centre until after 482 BC. They also had identified the builder as Nabonidus or Nebuchadnezzar II based on the bricks with inscriptions and barrel cylinder fragments reported in

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