MASHKAN-SHAPIR
![](640px-Hammurabi%27s_Babylonia_1.svg.png)
Babylonia
at the time of Hammurabi, c. 1792 - 1750 BC
Mashkan-shapir
(modern Tell Abu Duwari, Al Qadisyah Governorate, Iraq) was an ancient
tell roughly 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of Nippur and around 90
miles (140 km) southeast of Baghdad. The city god of Mashkan-shapir
was Nergal and a temple named Meslam dedicated to him was built
there.
History
:
Though occupied during the Uruk period, the town's first epigraphic
appearance was during the Akkadian period in a minor context, and
then during the Ur III period as a location for royal shepherds.
A brick of Amar-Sin was also found at the site. Mashkan-shapir achieved
prominence during the Old Babylonian period. This time of occupation
is considered to begin with the construction of the city walls by
Sin-Iddinam of Larsa. The city was abandoned during the reign of
Samsu-iluna, successor to Hammurabi of the First Babylonian dynasty
and not re-occupied until late in the first millennium. The city's
demise was part of a general collapse and abandonment of sites in
the region at that time.
After
rising to importance under the Larsa city-state, Mashkan-shapir
became part of the Babylonian empire after the defeat of Larsa by
Hammurabi following a long siege. At the time, Babylon and Larsa
were engaged in a struggle for dominance in the region.
Note
that the modern name of the site is in some doubt. Other possible
names are Ishan Chebir and Tell Naim. The Tell Abu Duwari identification
was the first and is used in archaeological publications.
Archaeology
:
The site of Mashkan-shapir covers about 56 hectares and is divided
into a number of sections by the beds of ancient canals and rivers.
It is especially important from an archaeological standpoint because
it is a single level site. Most cities in the Ancient Near East
have been built and rebuilt many times over history, obscuring our
understanding of individual time periods.
Tell
Abu Duwari was first noted, as site 639, in the Nippur survey of
Robert McCormick Adams of the Oriental Institute at the University
of Chicago. The site was excavated for a total of five months in
three seasons between 1987 and 1990 by an American Schools of Oriental
Research and National Geographic Society team led by Elizabeth Stone
and Paul Zimansky. A key find was that of foundation deposits commemorating
the city walls being built by Sin-Iddinam, which allowed the city
to be identified. As part of the work, satellite images were taken
and a complete surface-mapping was made using a kite lofted camera
and coordinate markers.
Excavations
at Mashkan-shapir ended with the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990,
interrupting a planned long-term research program. Subsequently,
the site has been heavily looted to the point where any further
archaeological work would yield little results.
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Mashkan-shapir