Assur 2004 Overview

Grabungen der Freien Universität Berlin 1988 und 1989:
Die nachassyrischem Schichten, Iraq
Stefan R.Hauser

The grant requested will be for the last steps towards the publication of the final report on the post-Assyrian levels excavated at Assur by the Freie Universitat Berlin in 1988 and 1989. The monograph will be published in the series Wissenschaftliche Veroffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient- GeselIschaft.

Assur, home of the likenamed god, ranks among the most famous cities of ancient Mesopotamia. As second ruin in Iraq, it was recently awarded the status of UNESCO World Heritage Site. Situated approximately 60 miles south of modern Mossul on the western bank of the river Tigris, Assur gained importance as center for long distance trade in the early second millenium BCE. During the later second and the early first millenia BCE Assur became the capital of the Middle- and Neo-Assyrian empires. Even, after the empire's capital was moved to Nimrud and later to Nineveh, Assur remained the focus of religious activity. Its destruction in 614 BCE, during the final years of the Neo-Assyrian empire, is often considered the end of its glorious history. Nevertheless, in large scale excavations (1903-1914) the Deutsche OrientGesellschaft (in the following: DOG) unearthed temples, private quarters and tombs dating from the Arsacid period (in Mesopotamia: 141 BCE - 228 CE) throughout the city. Together with stelae of local gouvernors they attest to Assur's renewed significance in the first centuries CE.

In 1988 and 1989 the Freie Universitat Berlin (in the following: FU Berlin) was permitted to reopen German excavations at Assur. Several building levels, closely dated by coins of the Arsacid period were excavated. Approximately 50,000 sherds and several hundred small finds from the Arsacid and early Sasanian periods were processed.

The application seeks for financial assistance in the final steps toward the publication of the final report on these excavations. The monograph consists of the complete excavation report, including the evaluation of the stratigraphy, the structures, and all finds unearthed during our work in 1988 and 1989. The discussion of the pottery and its comparisons from other sites is of particular importance as it provides the first pottery chronology for the Arsacid and early Sasanian periods in Northern Mesopotamia. This is of special significance as hundreds of sites in the hinterland of Assur are still threatened by the - currently halted - construction of a dam on the Tigris river. Archaeological survey work on both sides of the river is planned as soon as the political situation allows. Thus, the report will serve as the long expected tool for dating survey sites and excavation levels in the wider area when field work resumes. In addition, the report reevaluates the older excavations at Assur and discusses the city's and the areas' roles within the Arsacid Empire.

The manuscript comprises of nearly 500 pages which need some final editing. Plans, sections, pottery and most of the small finds were already drawn and inked. The plates will need to be re-arranged and prepared for digital print. The camera-ready manuscript and the digital images will be ready for the publisher within a year after the grant begins. Appended you will find an outline of the project, a detailed budget and an academic resume.