Khafajah

Khafajah or Khafaje (modern Diyala Governorate in Iraq, on the Diyala River, a tributary of the Tigris) was the ancient town of Tutub in the city-state of Eshnunna. The site lies sevenmiles east of Baghdad and 12 miles southeast of Eshnunna.

History

Khafajah was occupied during the Early Dynastic Period, through theSargonid Period, then came under the control of Eshnunnaafter the fall of the Ur III Empire. Later, after Eshnunna wascaptured by Babylon, a fort was built at the site by Samsu-ilunaof the First Babylonian Dynasty and named Dur-Samsuiluna.

The history of Khafajah is known in somewhat more detail for a periodof several decades as a result of the discovery of 112 tablets(one now lost) in a temple of Sin. The tablets constitute part of an official archive and include mostly loan and legaldocuments. The Oriental Institute of Chicagoholds 57 of the tablet with the remainder being in the Iraq Museum. [Harris Rivkah,The Archive of the Sin Temple in Khafajah (Tutub)",Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 9 no. 2, 1955]

Archaeology

The site consists of four mounds, labeled A through D. The main one,Mound A, extends back as far as the Uruk period and contained an oval templeof the god Sin and a temple of Nintu. The Sur-Samsuiluna fort was found on mounds B and C. Mound D contained private homes and a temple for the god Sin where the archive tabletswhere found in two heaps.

Khafajah was excavated for 7 seasons in the early 1930s primarily by an Oriental Institute of Chicago team led by Henri Frankfort with Thorkild Jacobsen and Pinhas Delougaz. For two seasons, the sitewas worked by a joint team of the American Schools of Oriental Researchand the University of Pennsylvania. [ [http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/projects/diy/] The Diyala Project at the Universityof Chicago] [ [http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oic13.pdf] OIC 13. Tell Asmar and Khafaje: The First Season's Work in Eshnunna 1930/31, Henri Frankfort, Thorkild Jacobsen, and Conrad Preusser, 1932] [ [http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oic16.pdf] OIC 16. Tell Asmar, Khafaje and Khorsabad: Second Preliminary Report of the Iraq Expedition, Henri Frankfort, 1933] [ [http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oic17.pdf] OIC 17. Iraq Excavations of the Oriental Institute 1932/33: Third Preliminary Report of the Iraq Expedition, Henri Frankfort, 1934] [ [http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oic19.pdf] OIC 19. Oriental Institute Discoveries in Iraq, 1933/34: Fourth Preliminary Report of the Iraq Expedition, Henri Frankfort with a chapter by Thorkild Jacobsen, 1935] [ [http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oic20.pdf] OIC 20. Progress of the Work of the Oriental Institute in Iraq, 1934/35: Fifth Preliminary Report of the Iraq Expedition, Henri Frankfort, 1936] [ [http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oip44.pdf] OIP 44. Sculpture of the Third Millennium B.C. from Tell Asmar and Khafajah, Henri Frankfort, 1939] [ [http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oip53.pdf] OIP 53. The Temple Oval at Khafajah, Pinhas Delougaz, with a chapter by Thorkild Jacobsen. 1940 (also as ISBN 0226142345)]

Notes

References

*Old Babylonian Public Buildings in the Diyala Region: Part 1 : Excavations at Ishchali, Part 2 : Khafajah Mounds B, C, and D (Publication Series 98), Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1990, ISBN 0918986621

See also

*Cities of the ancient Near East
*Eshnunna

External links

* [http://oi.uchicago.edu/gallery/asp_meso_khafajah/ Oriental Institute slides of the site]
* [http://proteus.brown.edu/mesopotamianarchaeology/799 Archaeology of Khafah write-up at Brown University]
* [http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/dbfiles/objects/29.htm Two wrestlers balancing vessels (jars) on their heads- ca. 2600 B.C at Oriental Institute]
* [http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/dbfiles/objects/18.htm Bowl with mosaic inlays on outside - ca. 3000 B.C at Oriental Institute]
* [http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/dbfiles/objects/26.htm Plaque, decorated with three registers of relief, showing banquet scene with musicians - ca. 2600 B.C at Oriental Institute]