The grant will support the final publication of the 3rd millennium pottery discovered at Terqa while the French expedition directed by Prof. O. Rouault was excavating the site in the seasons 1987-2009. Terqa (modern-day Tell Ashara) is a medium tell of 8 ha located in the Lower Middle Euphrates region, on the right bank of the river. The archaeological research carried out revealed important levels of occupation dated to the 2nd and to the 3rd millennia B.C. Nevertheless, Terqa is best known for its 2nd millennium B.C. levels. The Royal Archive of Mari provides us with very interesting data concerning the site during the Old-Babylonian period. We know from the texts that Terqa was an important regional religious center, linked to the cult of the god Dagan. The site was also very important for the period following the fall of Mari, when it became the capital of the region, the ‘Kingdom of Hana’, during the Middle Bronze Age II and the Late Bronze Age. Concerning the 3rd millennium BC levels, the site yielded data mainly from area B (‘City Wall’) excavated by an American mission directed by Prof. G. Buccellati, and from area F, which revealed a domestic quarter dated to the Early Bronze Age III-IVa. It also provided us with many graves equipped with many grave goods, among which are large sets of pottery vessels. The latest seasons of excavation focused on the most ancient levels, and revealed that the site was founded during the Early Bronze Age I, so probably before Mari. The large, diversified and well-stratified pottery assemblages, yielded by the occupation levels and by the graves, allow an extensive study of the ceramic tradition, of its cultural influences and a definition of an accurate chrono-stratigraphy. The publication of the 3rd millennium pottery from Terqa proceeds to the final publication of the French excavations carried out at the site.
The publication project is directed by Dr. Juliette Mas.
*PROJECT FUNDING GENEROUSLY PROVIDED BY THE GETTY FOUNDATION*
