Khafajah or Khafaje (Arabic: خفاجة; ancient Tutub, Arabic: توتوب) is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...

in Diyala Province (

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

). It was part of the city-state of

Eshnunna Eshnunna (modern Tell Asmar in Diyala Governorate, Iraq) was an ancient Sumerian (and later Akkadian) city and city-state in central Mesopotamia 12.6 miles northwest of Tell Agrab and 15 miles northwest of Tell Ishchali. Although situated in th ...

. The site lies east of

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

and southwest of Eshnunna.

History of archaeological research

Khafajah was excavated for 7 seasons in the early 1930s primarily by an Oriental Institute of Chicago team led by Henri Frankfort with

Thorkild Jacobsen Thorkild Peter Rudolph Jacobsen (; 7 June 1904 – 2 May 1993) was a renowned Danish historian specializing in Assyriology and Sumerian literature. He was one of the foremost scholars on the ancient Near East. Biography Thorkild Peter Rudolph Ja ...

and Pinhas Delougaz. For two seasons, the site was worked by a joint team of the American Schools of Oriental Research and the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

Khafajah and its environment

Khafajah lies on the Diyala River, a tributary of the

Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...

. The site consists of four mounds, labeled A through D. The main one, Mound A, extends back as far as the

Uruk period The Uruk period (ca. 4000 to 3100 BC; also known as Protoliterate period) existed from the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, after the Ubaid period and before the Jemdet Nasr period. Named after ...

and contained an oval temple, a temple of the god

Sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...

, and a temple of

Nintu Mami is a goddess in the Babylonian epic Atra-Hasis and in other creation legends. She was probably synonymous with Ninhursag. She was involved in the creation of humankind from clay and blood. As Nintu legends states she pinched off fourteen p ...

. The Dur-Samsuiluna fort was found on mounds B and C. Mound D contained private homes and a temple for the god Sin where the archive tablets where found in two heaps. The Sin Temple was probably dedicated to the moon god Sin, also known as ''Nanna'' in the Sumerian language. This identification is based on the evidence of small crescent moons found within the temple. The construction of this temple began in 3300-2900 BC (late Uruk or Jemdet-Nasr period), and at least 10 architectural phases have been identified in the subsequent rebuilding that continued. The temple’s last phase was during the Early Dynastic III period.

Occupation history

Painted ceramic jar, 2800-2600 BCE, Khafajah, Sumer EDII-III

Early Bronze

Khafajah was occupied during the Early Dynastic Period, through the Sargonid Period, then came under the control of

after the fall of the Ur III Empire.

Middle Bronze

Later, after Eshnunna was captured by Babylon, a fort was built at the site by

Samsu-iluna Samsu-iluna (Amorite: ''Shamshu''; c. 1750–1712 BC) was the seventh king of the founding Amorite dynasty of Babylon, ruling from 1750 BC to 1712 BC ( middle chronology), or from 1686 to 1648 BC (short chronology). He was the son and successor of ...

of the

First Babylonian dynasty The Old Babylonian Empire, or First Babylonian Empire, is dated to BC – BC, and comes after the end of Sumerian power with the destruction of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the subsequent Isin-Larsa period. The chronology of the first dynasty ...

and named Dur-Samsuiluna. Mesopotamian chariots were created in Tutub.

Material culture

The history of Khafajah is known in somewhat more detail for a period of several decades as a result of the discovery of 112

clay tablet In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets ( Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a sty ...

s (one now lost) in a temple of

. The tablets constitute part of an official archive and include mostly loan and legal documents. The

Oriental Institute of Chicago The Oriental Institute (OI), established in 1919, is the University of Chicago's interdisciplinary research center for ancient Near Eastern ("Orient") studies and archaeology museum. It was founded for the university by professor James Henry Brea ...

holds 57 of the tablets with the remainder being in the

Iraq Museum The Iraq Museum ( ar, المتحف العراقي) is the national museum of Iraq, located in Baghdad. It is sometimes informally called the National Museum of Iraq, a recent phenomenon influenced by other nations' naming of their national museum ...

. Some Early Dynastic Sumerian statues from Khafajah are on the Oriental Institute's list of Lost Treasures from Iraq (after April 9, 2003); however, they have been housed at the Sulaymaniyah Museum since 1961 (see the gallery below).

Gallery

The Iraq Museum's Sumerian Gallery displays several Sumerian statues from the Temple of Sin and the Temple of Nintu (V and VI), including part of a hoard found at the Nintu Temple. File:Statue from Khafajah, Iraq Museum.jpg, Female worshiper, Sin Temple, Khafajah, Iraq Museum File:Statue from Khafajah, female worshiper.jpg, Female worshiper, Sin Temple, Khafajah, Iraq Museum File:Statue from Khafajah.jpg, Statue from the Sin Temple, Khafajah, Iraq Museum File:Seated male statue from the Temple of Sin at Khafajah.jpg, Statue from the Temple of Sin at Khafajah, Iraq Museum File:Seated male figure from the hoard of Nintu Temple V at Khafajah.jpg, Statue from the Hoard of Nintu Temple V at Khafajah, Iraq Museum File:Statue from the hoard of Nintu Temple V at Khafajah.jpg, Statue from the Hoard of Nintu Temple V at Khafajah, Iraq Museum File:Male statue from Hoard in Nintu Temple V, Khafajah.jpg, Male statue from Hoard in Nintu Temple V at Khafajah, Iraq Museum File:Statue from Nintu Temple VI at Khafajah.jpg, Statue from Nintu Temple VI at Khafajah, Iraq Museum File:Male statuette, Nintu Temple VI, Khafajah, Iraq.jpg, Male statuette, Nintu Temple VI, Khafajah, Iraq Museum File:Male Statuette from Sin Temple IX, Khafajah, Iraq.jpg, Male statuette, Sin Temple IX, Khafajah, Iraq Museum File:Male Statuette from Nintu Temple, Khafajah, Iraq.jpg, Male statuette, Nintu Temple VI, Khafajah, Iraq Museum File:Woman head Khafaje Louvre AO24790.jpg, Limestone human head found at Khafajah, Early Dynastic II (c. 2700 BC) File:Jemdet Nasr cylinder seal 2.jpg,

Cylinder seal A cylinder seal is a small round cylinder, typically about one inch (2 to 3 cm) in length, engraved with written characters or figurative scenes or both, used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally ...

found at Khafajah,

Jemdet Nasr period The Jemdet Nasr Period is an archaeological culture in southern Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). It is generally dated from 3100 to 2900 BC. It is named after the type site Tell Jemdet Nasr, where the assemblage typical for this period was first r ...

, (3100–2900 BC) File:Three Sumerian statues, Early Dynastic Period, 2900-2350 BCE, from Khafajah, Iraq. The Sulaymaniyah Museum.jpg, Three Sumerian statues, Early Dynastic Period, 2900-2350 BC, from Khafajah, Iraq. The Sulaymaniyah Museum File:Head of a Sumerian female, from Khafajah, excavated by the Oriental Institute, Early Dynastic III, c. 2400 BCE. The Sulaymaniyah Museum.jpg, Head of a Sumerian female, from Khafajah, excavated by the Oriental Institute, Early Dynastic III, c. 2400 BC. The Sulaymaniyah Museum File:Headless statue of a Sumerian man, from Khafajah, Early Dynastic Period, 2900-2350 BCE. The Sulaymaniyah Museum.jpg, Headless statue of a Sumerian man, from Khafajah, Early Dynastic Period, 2900-2350 BC. The Sulaymaniyah Museum

References

External links

Oriental Institute slides of the siteArchaeology of Khafah write-up at Brown University
* ttp://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/dbfiles/objects/18.htm Bowl with mosaic inlays on outside - ca. 3000 B.C at Oriental Institutebr>Plaque, decorated with three registers of relief, showing banquet scene with musicians - ca. 2600 B.C at Oriental Institute
{{Authority control 1930s archaeological discoveries Archaeological sites in Iraq Former populated places in Iraq Diyala Governorate Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia) Uruk period