Khafajah

Khafajah

Tutub
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Shown within Iraq
Alternative name	Khafaje
Location	Diyala Governorate, Iraq
Region	Mesopotamia
Coordinates	33°21′16.83″N 44°33′20.71″E
Type	tell
History
Periods	Uruk, Jemdet Nasr, Early Dynastic, Akkadian, Isin-Larsa
Site notes
Excavation dates	1930–1938
Archaeologists	Henri Frankfort, Thorkild Jacobsen, Pinhas Delougaz

Khafajah or Khafaje (Arabic: خفاجة), ancient Tutub, is an archaeological site in Diyala Governorate, Iraq 7 miles (11 km) east of Baghdad. Khafajah lies on the Diyala River, a tributary of the Tigris. Occupied from the Uruk and Jemdet Nasr periods through the end of the Old Babylonian Empire, it was under the control of the Akkadian Empire and then the Third Dynasty of Ur in the 3rd millennium BC. It then became part of the empire of the city-state of Eshnunna lying 12 miles (19 km) southwest of that city, about 5 miles (8.0 km) from the ancient city of Shaduppum, and near Tell Ishchali, both which Eshnunna also controlled. It then fell to Babylonia before falling into disuse.

Archaeology

Khafajah was excavated for 7 seasons between 1930 and 1937 by an Oriental Institute of Chicago team led by Henri Frankfort with Thorkild Jacobsen, Conrad Preusser and Pinhas Delougaz. Before the work began looters had dug a large number of deep pits at various points in the site. Many artifacts from these illicit digs ended up in various museums and private collections in the decades preceding the start of excavations. For two seasons, in 1937 and 1938, the site was worked by a joint team of the American Schools of Oriental Research and the University of Pennsylvania led by Delougaz. They worked primarily in the Nintu temple on mound A (along with the cemetery to the east and northeast of the temple) and with soundings on mound B. Among the small finds at the site was an Akkadian period die. and a terracotta incantation bowl written in "typical Jewish Babylonian Aramaic of the Sasanian period".

Numerical tablet Khafaje OIM A21310

The site consists of four mounds, labeled A through D.

Alabaster relief found at Khafaje

The main one, Mound A, extends back as far as the Uruk period and contained a large oval temple, a temple of the god Sin, and a small temple of Nintu (where a bearded cow statue was found), dating back to the Jemdet Nasr and Early Dynastic periods. An early radiocarbon date for the first level of the Sin Temple returned a corrected date of 4963 BC which is thought to be somewhat too early and possibly contaminated. The mound was occupied through the Akkadian Empire period and then abandoned. Its name, Tutub, is not known before the Akkadian times. A number of vaulted tombs made out of plano-convex bricks were found. About 70 Akkadian Period cuneiform tablets were found there. Most of the tablets were administrative in nature and were apportioned half to the Oriental Institute and half to the Baghdad Museum. A defensive wall surrounding Mound A was encountered in a number of places with a width of 6 to 8 meters and unknown full extent. It was not fully excavated so the dating is uncertain.

A large number of private houses were excavated on Mound A, almost all from the Early Dynastic period. At the lowest point above the water table were some homes of the "Protoliterate period". Finds there included a numerical tablet (Kh. V 338) dated to the Uruk V period c. 3500 BC. Other small finds from that level included stone stamp seals, clay figurines, a stone macehead, and four cylinder seals. At the top level foundations of Akkadian Empire period residences were excavated. An enormous number of small finds emerged from the Early Dynastic period homes including many cylinder seals, faience and lapis lazuli beads, metal tools and other metal objects, spindle whorls, stone weights, figurines, pendants, amulets, clay model chariot wheels, and a number of cuneiform tablets. A number of Early Dynastic burials, 168 in total and mostly intramural (inside homes) with a few having multiple skeletons, were excavated. Burials were mostly inhumations with simple grave goods, mainly pottery but with the occasional cylinder seal, copper tool, etc. There were also 4 Plano-convex brick tombs and 24 Plano-convex brick vaulted tombs some holding much more extensive grave goods. A notable residence find (Kh. IX 87) was a hoard of hacksilver found sealed in a jar in the courtyard of a home dated to the Early Dynastic IIIa period. It contained 14 silver spiral rings, 15 silver beads, 2 silver cones, silver ring and 14 fragments of silver rings and wire, 13 fragments of silver foil, a silver ingot, 9 silver strips and 30 pieces of melted-down silver and scraps. The items were divided between the Baghdad Museum and the Penn Museum.

Mound A Temples

Uruk period cylinder seal from Sin Temple (II) Khafajah (Kh. VII 274), Uruk period

Five religious structures were found on Mound A, the Temple Oval, and located to the east of the Temple Oval and north of the summit of the Mound, Large Temple ("Sin Temple"), Small Temple, Nintu Temple, and Small Single Shrine, all within a 100 square meter area:

Large Temple (10 phases) - generally called the "Sin Temple". It had five building phases in the Uruk period and five in the Early Dynastic period. It is generally ascribed to the god Sin because a statue (Kh. IV 126) was found, on the next to latest level, inscribed "Urkisal, sangu-priest of Sin of Akshak, son of Nati, pasisu-priest of Sin, for protection has presented (this)". The attribution is otherwise uncertain and an alternate reading of the inscription would make the god Salam. The excavators declared "while we retain the latter familiar name, it should be made clear that it may not be correct and that the identity of the deity to whom this temple was consecrated still remains uncertain". The level below the temple had a number of beveled rim bowls (rare at higher levels) and clay decorative cones.

• Phase 1 - a 13.50 meter by 9 meter tripartite building with a long central cella/sanctuary (3 meters by 11.70 meters) and small rooms on either side all built of "Riemchen" sundried bricks. The doorways were on the northeast side and a stepped platform, thought to be an altar, was in the northwest part of the cella. A stairway in one of the side rooms led to the roof. Finds on this level include two inlaid stone pendants.
• Phases 2 and 3 - completely rebuilt though mostly keeping to the original plan. The roof to the stairway moves to the front which becomes a courtyard area. Finds included a hoard of cylinder seals including Kh. VII 274 on Level 2. On Level 3, by the altar, were found seals, animal amulets, pendants, a stone vase inlaid with jasper and mother-of-pearl, a pottery libation vase in the form of a bird, and small gold crescent.
• Phase 4 - a major rebuild with the temple cleared to foundation stubs, new thicker 1 meter high walls built on those stubs and the enclosed area packed with clay to form a platform. The new temple, again built with "Riemchen" sundried bricks, is very similar to that of the earlier phases. Several rooms are added to the east side of the courtyard. There were four occupation levels in the phase. Finds included pendants, amulets, and seals, a small female statue in the round. One of the cylinder seal made of bitumen and sheathed with copper and the amulets included the "eye" or "hut" type found at other sites. A 3 meter wide and 4.5 meter long bitumen coated stairway with balustrades from the courtyard led to the temple. By this time the western room has fallen out of use.
• Phase 5 - courtyard and area to its east raised to match the temple. Double-recessed niches added to the cella. Finds included a hoard of beads in their original string order with bull pendants at each end.
• Phase 6 - temple rebuilt as before with the altar being enlarged. A large area to the east of the temple, formerly holding residential type buildings, is raised to the level of the temple and made part of the temple precincts with a large enclosure wall. It was accessed by a single door in the east wall of the cella. Finds from this phase were sparse.

"Cult wagon", used for ritual purposes. From the Sin Temple (VIII) at Khafajah. Early Dynastic period

• Phase 7 - temple rebuilt as before, though with 2.5 meter thicker foundation walls on the north and east sides, after a layer of reed mats was laid down on the cleared surface. On the east the foundation extension supported two corner towers flanking the main entrance. There was two occupation levels with minor modifications made in the temple in the second. Finds from this phase were sparse.
• Phase 8 - large 60 to 90 centimeter foundations were dug before rebuilding, not respecting earlier construction, and much thicker walls were used. The west side of the temple was lengthened by 2 meters and the cella extended to 15 meters and its packed earth floor replaced by plano-convex mudbricks. Most of the finds from the western area of the temple and courtyard had been removed by modern looters but the eastern portions provided a miniature gold bull, seals, amulets, and a wheeled terracotta house model topped by a "fruit stand". This phase had 3 occupation levels.
• Phase 9 - significantly damaged by modern looting though enough remained to indicate no significant changes. No cylinder seals were found, only stamp seals. Five occupation levels. Indications of conflagration and a period of dis-use after this phase.
• Phase 10 - even more robber hole damage. The temple plan was largely as before, though extended somewhat in the western direction. Occupation of the Large Temple ends at this point.

The other 3 mounds lie about half a mile west of Mound A.

• The Babylonian Dur-Samsuiluna fort, built during the reign of ruler Samsu-iluna (c. 1750–1712 BC), was found on mound B with signs of Hurrian occupation also found there. The fort is around 1000 square meters in area and is surrounded by a 4.7 meter wide fortification wall (with 6 meter wide buttresses every 10 to 12 meters) and was identified based on an inscribed cylinder found there. It is yet unclear if there was earlier occupation. Inscriptions from the 24th year of Samsu-iluna marking the building of this fort were found on this mound and on Mound C.
• Only soundings were done on Mound C, which dates to the Uruk Period with a scattering of Old Babylonian and Kassite remains.
• Mound D was surrounded by a 6.5 meter thick fortification wall (buttressed to 12 meters) with towers at inflection points and a fortified gate. A large number of baked clay mace heads were found in front of the gate. It is unknown if the mound was occupied before the Isin-Larsa period. It contained a temple for the god Sin where the Old Babylonian archive tablets were found in two heaps. The temple had two building periods with the first being 45 by 75 meters and the later 28 by 45 meters within the earlier construction. It is not known if the newer construction replaced the earlier or was used simultaneously.

History

Late Chacolithic

Because of the current local water table excavators did not reach virgin soil finding 4.5 meters of Protoliterate (Uruk V, Uruk IV, and Uruk III ie Jemdet Nasr) to that point. Pottery from the period (including beveled rim bowls) supported the stratigraphy and a Uruk V period numerical tablet was found. The large temple on Mound A, generally called the Sin Temple, was constructed and rebuilt several time in the Uruk period.

Early Bronze

Scarlet Ware pottery excavated in Khafajah. 2800-2600 BC, Early Dynastic II-III, Sumer. British Museum.

Khafajah was occupied Early Dynastic Period. On mound the Temple Oval was rebuilt twice during the period and the other temples were there was also rebuilt.

Akkadian period

Naram-Sin of Akkad named his son Nabi-Ulmash governor of Tutub. A fragment of a statue of the Akkadian ruler Manishtushu was found there. Two stone bowl fragments with the name of the Akkadian ruler Rimush were found near the Temple of Sin.

"T[o] the god S[in], RI[mus], ki[ng of] the wo[rld], wh[en he conquered Elam and Parahsum], [dedicated (this bowl) from the booty of Elam]"

Ur III period

Some point after the fall of the Akkadian Empire, "Awal, Kismar, Maskan-sarrum, the [la]nd of Esnunna, the [la]nd of Tutub, the [lan]d of Simudar, the [lan]d of Akkad" briefly came under the control of Puzur-Inshushinak of Elam as the first Third Dynasty ruler, Ur-Nammu, reports liberating those cities. The site was also reported to be captured by ruler Shulgi (c. 2094 – 2046 BC) of the Third Dynasty in his 30th year. It then came under the control of Eshnunna in the Isin-Larsa period. The fifth year name for Eshnunna ruler Nūraḫum was "Year Tutub was seized". This was considered a significant event as the following year was named "Year after the year Tutub was seized".

Middle Bronze

Votive wall plaque from Khafajah showing a wine drinking scene, Iraq, 2600–2370 BC. Iraq Museum

Some obscure rulers, Sumuna-jarim, Tattanum, Hammi-dusur are known to have controlled Tutub at some point early in this period. It is uncertain if they were local or non-local rulers. Abdi-Erah of the Manana Dynasty ruled Tutub at some point. One local ruler, Abi-matar, is known from six year names including "Year in which Abi-matar brought a ruddy copper statue into the temple of Sin". A later ruler of Eshnunna, Warassa, had the cryptic year name "Year Tutub was restored". Later, after Eshnunna was captured by Babylon, a fort was built at the site by Samsu-iluna in his 24th year of rule (c. 1726 BC) of the Old Babylonian Empire and named Dur-Samsuiluna, his year name saying "he erected Dur-Samsu-iluna in the land of Warum on the banks of the canal (called) 'Turran (Diyala)'".

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 tablets (one now lost) in an Old Babylonian period temple of Sin at Mound D. The recovered portion of the temple archive dates from roughly 1820 BC to about 1780 BC (based on rulers named) when Tutub was for the most part controlled by Eshnunna. The tablets constitute part of an official archive and include mostly loan (generally of barley or silver) and legal documents. The temple also purchased slaves, including self slaves and sales of children, as a result of loan defaults.

"17 shekel of silver for the redemption of Hlagalija, his father, Zagagum has received (as a loan). (But) he had no silver (with which to repay the loan), (so) he so[ld] himself to the enum-priest. [He (the seller) has transferred] the bukannum. [break of about three lines] Witnesses."

The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (formerly the Oriental Institute of Chicago) holds 57 of the tablets with the remainder being in the Iraq Museum. An additional 21 Tutub tablets, presumably looted, were purchased by the Oriental Institute Museum and later published. They are thought to be dated about 50 years later have come from Mound B, the site of Dur-Samsuiluna. Fifteen Tutub tablets, from a private donor, are held by the Hearst Museum and 6 have been published. A few other Tutub tablets in other collections have also been published.

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. Some finds are also housed at the Sulaymaniyah Museum.

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  Female worshiper, Sin Temple, Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Female worshiper, Sin Temple, Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Statue from the Sin Temple, Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Statue from the Temple of Sin at Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Statue from the Hoard of Nintu Temple V at Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Statue from the Hoard of Nintu Temple V at Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Male statue from Hoard in Nintu Temple V at Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Statue from Nintu Temple VI at Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Male statuette, Nintu Temple VI, Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Male statuette, Sin Temple IX, Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Male statuette, Nintu Temple VI, Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Limestone human head found at Khafajah, Early Dynastic II (c. 2700 BC)
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  Cylinder seal found at Khafajah, Jemdet Nasr period, (3100–2900 BC)
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  Three Sumerian statues, Early Dynastic Period, 2900-2350 BC, from Khafajah, Iraq. The Sulaymaniyah Museum
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  Head of a Sumerian female, from Khafajah, excavated by the Oriental Institute, Early Dynastic III, c. 2400 BC. The Sulaymaniyah Museum
• 
  Headless statue of a Sumerian man, from Khafajah, Early Dynastic Period, 2900-2350 BC. The Sulaymaniyah Museum

See also

• Tell Ishchali
• Cities of the ancient Near East

Further reading

• Battini, Laura, "Un nom pour la divinité adorée dans le" Sin Temple" à Khafadjé", Akkadica 127, pp. 93-94, 2006
• Ch. P., "Les Fouilles de Khafaje", Revue Archéologique, vol. 11, pp. 90–90, 1938
• Ch. P., "Fouilles de Khafaje", Revue Archéologique, vol. 13, pp. 262–262, 1939
• Edzard, D. O., "ITU-Tub^ki = Tutub", Archiv Für Orientforschung, vol. 20, pp. 152–152, 1963
• Evans, J., "Thinking through assemblages: donors and the Sin Temple at Khafajah", in Ancient Near Eastern Temple Inventories in the Third and Second Millennia BCE: Integrating Archaeological, Textual, and Visual Sources (Münchener Abhandlungen zum Alten Orient 4), Gladbeck, pp. 13-26, 2019
• Evans, Jean M., "Left Behind: Early Dynastic Temple Deposits in the Sin Temple at Khafajah", Votive Deposits in Early Dynastic Temples, Oriental and European Archaeology Volume 27, pp 101-109, 2023
• Henrickson, Elizabeth F., "Functional Analysis of Elite Residences in the Late Early Dynastic of the Diyala Region: House D and the Walled Quarter at Khafajah and the Palaces at Tell Asmar", Mesopotamia Torino 17, pp. 5-33, 1982
• [18]Henri Frankfort, "Stratified Cylinder Seals from the Diyala Region", Oriental Institute Publications 72, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1955
• [19]Henri Frankfort., "More Sculpture from the Diyala Region", Oriental Institute Publications 60, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1943
• [20] Henri Frankfort, "Sculpture of the Third Millennium B.C. from Tell Asmar and Khafajah, Oriental Institute Publication 44, 1939
• Henri Frankfort, "The Oldest Stone Statuette Ever Found in Western Asia, and Other Relics of Ancient Sumerian Culture of a Period Probably before 3000 B.c.: Earliest Temple at Khafaje", The Illustrated London News, pp. 524-526 and col. pl. I, September 26 1936
• Henri Frankfort, "Two Iraq Sites over 5000 Years Old: Fresh Discoveries at Tell Asmar, Source Of First-known Sumerian Cult-Statues, and at Khafaje, Which Later Yielded Similar Types of Early Religious Sculpture", The Illustrated London News, pp. 726-32 and col. pl. I, September 14 1935
• Henri Frankfort, ""A Moon-God's Temple with Art Relics of about 3000 BC : New Discoveries at Khafaje, Mesopotamia", The Illustrated London News, pp. 840-841, November 13 1937
• Guerri, L., "Space and Ritual in Early Dynastic Mesopotamia: a Contextual Analysis of the Shrines of Tutub", OCNUS 16, pp. 131-146, 2008
• Kempinski, A., "The Sin Temple at Khafaje and the En-Gedi Temple", Israel Exploration Journal, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 10–15, 1972
• Luce, Stephen B., and Elizabeth Pierce Blegen, "Archaeological News and Discussions", American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 310–45, 1939
• Margueron, Jean-Claude, "Notes d’archéologie et d’architecture orientales 16. De la strate à la couche architecturale : réexamen de la stratigraphie de Tuttub/KhafajéI - L’architecture civile", Syria, vol. 89, pp. 59–84, 2012
• [21]Margueron, Jean-Claude, "Notes d’archéologie et d’architecture orientales 17-De la strate à la «couche architecturale»: réexamen de la stratigraphie de Tuttub/Khafadjé", Syria. Archéologie, art et histoire 91, pp. 127-171, 2014
• Margueron, J. C., "Un centre administratif religieux dans l’espace urbain à Mari et à Khafadjé (fin DA et Agadé)", Akh Purattim 2, pp. 245-277, 2007
• Meijer, Diederik J.W., "The Khafaje Sin Temple Sequence: Social Divisions at Work?", in Of Pots and Plans: Papers on the Archaeology and History of Mesopotamia and Syria Presented to David Oates in Honour of His 75th Birthday, ed. L. al-Gailani Werr, J.Curtis, H.Martin,A.McMahon, J.Oates and J.Reade. London: NABU, pp. 218–26, 2002
• Quenet, Philippe, "Reconstructing the Temple Oval of Khafajah. Insight into the Emergence of Multi-Stepped Terraces", in The Old Babylonian Diyala: Research since the 1930s ans Prospects, 2018.
• A. Skaist, "The Sale Contracts from Khafajah", in Bar-Ilan Studies in Assyriology (ed. J. Klein and A. Skaist; Ramat Gan), Bar-Ilan University Press, pp. 255–58 and 263, 1990
• [22]Speiser, Ephraim A., "Khafaje, 1937", The University Museum Bulletin 6, no. 6., pp. 14-18, 1937

External links

• Khafaje excavation objects at Penn Museum
• Plaque decorated with three registers of relief, showing banquet scene with musicians - ca. 2600 B.C at Oriental Institute
• Sumerian Temple Architecture in Early Mesopotamia. Rice University (OpenStax Project)
• Archival storage for Penn Museum excavation at Khafajah