Urkesh

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The earliest Hurrians that we are able to recognize were encountered in the late third millennium BCE by the expansionist rulers of southern Mesopotamia. These Hurrians, who inhabited the northern and northeastern border regions of Mesopotamia, can be identified by their distinctive names. The exact limits of the area they occupied in this early period cannot be determined. Nevertheless, the relative rarity of Hurrian names in the texts from the northern Mesopotamian town of Gasur (later in antiquity to be called Nuzi, modern Yorghan Tepe) suggests that it lay to the south of the core Hurrian area in the third millennium.

Archaeologists Georgio and Marilyn Kelly Buccellati have identified Tell Mozan in northeastern Syria as the important late-third-millennium Hurrian capital of Urkesh. Urkesh's name was found on three fragmentary impressions of seals belonging to Tupkish, king of Urkesh.

	The large tablet, made of copper, bears an Akkadian inscription by Atal-Shen, king of Urkesh and Nawar, towns in the Upper Habur river basin near the modern Turkish-Syrian border. The inscription recounts the king's construction of a temple to the god Nergal. The smaller tablets include individuals with Hurrian names, one from the town of Gasur (later Nuzi) listing rations, and the other from Ur documenting that a man with a Hurrian name received a government disbursement of 8 sheep.
	Two copper lion foundation pegs and a white stone tablet, displayed here in reproduction, record the construction of a temple to Nergal by Tish-Atal, king of Urkesh. The lions are stylistically related to southern Mesopotamian art of the late third millennium BCE; the tablet can be placed in the same time range. The copper pegs would have been deposited in the foundations of a temple, whose construction they commemorated. These objects may in fact have come from Mozan, ancient Urkesh, but because they were not properly excavated, the circumstances of their discovery and their archaeological contexts will never be known.
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	The Seal of Queen Uqnitum: The queen is seated to the left with a child on her lap. A standing child faces and touches the lap of a seated figure to the right, probably the king, who is holding a cup. An eight-pointed star is in the field and a ram is beneath the inscription. The inscription reads: Uqnitum, wife of Tupkish. It comes from Tell Mozan, Building AK.
	The Seal of Uqnitum's Nurse, Zamena: The queen is seated to the left with a child on her lap and an attendant behind. A standing figure, probably the nurse, faces the queen and holds the child's arms. An eight-pointed star is in the field and a human-headed bull is beneath the inscription. The inscription reads: Seal of Zamena, nurse of Uqnitum. It was found at Tell Mozan, Building AK.
	The Seal of Uqnitum's Cook: A woman bends over two churns located beneath hanging animal legs. A man with a knife and leading a lamb faces a stand with an unclear object on it. A crescent moon is in the field. The inscription, which is quite worn and is missing the owner's name, reads: [Seal of Name], cook of Uqnitum. This seal also comes from Tell Mozan, Building AK.