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The Central Palace of Tiglath-pileser III at Nimrud and The Polish Center of Archaeology returned to re-excavate the site of the Central Palace of Tiglath-pileser III (744-727 BC) at Nimrud (ancient Kalhu) near the city of Mosul in northeastern Iraq in 1974 because the palace was the least known and least understood of the buildings on Nimrud's citadel. It was hoped that new excavations would elucidate this poorly preserved palace with more up-to-date excavation techniques and new finds. The excavation was supposed to make the Central Palace a source for the study of the life and times of this important king. Then the field director, Janusz Meuszynski, died and the final reports were never completed. There are too few examples of Tiglath-pileser's bas-reliefs in the total corpus of Assyrian bas-relief to allow the results of the Polish project to remain unpublished. The Polish finds are an extremely valuable resource. More disturbing is the fact that individual bas-relief sculptures (some with inscriptions) have appeared on the antiquities market, looted from the Polish storeroom at Nimrud. Some of the bas-reliefs have been broken up into pieces to obscure their origin and obtain more money from several rather than one fragment. What we know of Tiglath-pileser's palace is that many of the themes of earlier and later sculpture are to be found on its bas-relief decoration. There are new motifs and the syntax of the sculpture, the way scenes were portrayed, the placement of the vignettes of individual parts of scenes on the faces of the slabs, and details of the garment decorations have their own character and style. Richard Sobolewski and Samuel Paley propose to publish the results of the excavation in digital format with top plans, photographs and comparative material from museums and Layard's archives. The digital format will allow the "reader" to access all the relevant data through appropriate links in an interactive 3D digital model of the palace remains and in reconstructed panels of the wall decorations. Fragments of bas-relief and inscriptions from the periods of Ashurnasirpal II and Shalmaneser III discovered during the course of the excavation of the Central Palace site will also be incorporated into the publication, as well as the scant remains of the post-Assyrian buildings built on the Central Palace site. The publication will be marketed and sold by Learning Sites, Inc., Digitally Reconstructed Ancient Worlds for Interactive Education and Research, a publisher of digital archaeological reports. |
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Bas-relief depicting a genius holding a pomegrante branch facing a king, presumably Tiglath-Pileser III. The relief most likely came from a palace of his in this vicinity.
Image copyright 1976 by and reprinted with the permission of the Polish Center for Mediterranean Archaeology.
Simply shaded massing model of the complex of buildings comprising the Central Palace area, Nimrud, Assyria (present-day Iraq). Image from the 3D computer model built by Learning Sites, Inc. for the digital publication of the Central Palace of Tiglath- pileser III at Nimrud and the Polish Center of Mediterranean Archaeology’s Excavation (1974-1976); archaeological data and interpretation by Samuel M. Paley and Richard Sobolewski.
Image copyright 2003 by and reprinted with the permission of Learning Sites, Inc.
