Excavations

     The excavations at Terqa were conducted under the aegis of IIMAS from 1976 until 1986. The site was particularly important in the early part of the second millennium B.C., to which period date the temple of Ninkarrak, an important defensive system, private houses (in one of which the archive of a man called Puzurum was found), and an administrative complex. While a number of publications was issued on the discoveries deriving from the excavations, the remainder of the material is now being prepared for publication under the sponsorship of the White-Levy Program of Harvard University. As part of this publication project, we have also produced a separate website under the terms of a grant from the Council on Research of the Academic Senate of the University of California, Los Angeles.

     The excavations at Tell Mozan/Urkesh have brought to light the earliest known capital city of an elusive civilization of the ancient Near East, that of the Hurrians. It is one of the largest early cities in Syria: and in it, we are currently excavating the Royal Palace itself. Written documents from the Palace have given us the name not only of the city and kingdom of Urkesh, but also of its king, Tupkish, and queen, Uqnitum. The powerful witness of writing also tells us that one of the daughters of Naram-Sin, the famous Mesopotamian king, lived in Urkesh. And next to the Palace we are excavating a deep underground shaft that was one of the most awe-filled monuments of the Hurrians – the passage to the Netherworld.



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