Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T16:50:22.209Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Surface Survey and Satellite Reconnaissance: Reconstructing the Urban Layout of Mashkan-Shapir

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2014

Elizabeth C. Stone*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, SUNY, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, estone@notes.cc.sunysb.edu

Abstract

The recent introduction of irrigation around the site of Mashkan-shapir, together with the availability of high resolution satellite imagery, has resulted in the preservation of architectural traces which could not be recovered when the site was researched between 1987 and 1990. In spite of recent looting, these traces have allowed the identification of the location of the palace and the reconstruction of much of the street system of this city, including the connection points across the ancient canals. Moreover, the survey data recovered through past fieldwork can be related to these traces, allowing an understanding of the larger context for many of the activities at the site, especially burial and manufacturing. Together these data provide a detailed view of how an ancient Mesopotamian city was conceived—in this instance by Sin-iddinam, who transformed it from a small village to a large city by building the city wall.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, R. McC. 1981. Heartland of Cities: Surveys of Ancient Settlement and Land Use on the central floodplain of the Euphrates. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Delougaz, P., Hill, H. D., and Lloyd, S.. 1967. Private Houses and Graves in the Diyala Region. Oriental Institute Publication 88. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Lenzen, H. J., Haller, A. Von, Schmidt, H. and Brandes, M. A.. 1964. “Der Sînkāšid-Palast”. In Lenzen, H. J., ed., Verläufiger Bericht die XXAusgranbungen in Uruk-Warka. Berlin: Verlag Gebr. Mann, pp. 2832.Google Scholar
Lenzen, H. J., Schnmidt, H., Hecker, W., Hecker, G. and Falkenstein, A.. 1966. “Der Palast des Sînkāšid”. In Lenzen, H. J., ed., Verläufiger Bericht die XXII Ausgranbungen in Uruk-Warka. Berlin: VerlagGebr. Mann, pp. 2830.Google Scholar
Marcus, A. 1989. The Middle East on the Eve of Modernity: Aleppo in the 18th Century. New York: Columbia Press.Google Scholar
Margueron, J. 1970. “Larsa: Rapport sur la quatrième campagne”. Syria 47: 261–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Margueron, J. 1971. “Larsa: Rapport préliminaire sure la ciquiême campagne”. Syria 48: 271–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Margueron, J. 1982. Recherches sur les palais Mésopotamiens de l'age du bronze. Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner.Google Scholar
Matsumoto, Ken and Oguchi, Hiromichi. 2002. “Excavatins at Kish, 2000”. Al-Rafidan 23: 116.Google Scholar
Parrot, A. 1933. “Les Fouilles de Tello et de Senkereh-Larsa, Campagne 1932–1933”. Revue d'Assyriologie 30: 169–82.Google Scholar
Parrot, A. 1968. “Les Fouilles de Larsa”. Syria 45: 205–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steinkeller, P. 2004a. “Chapter 3: “A History of Mashkan-shapir and its Role in the Kingdom of Larsa”. In Stone, E. C. and Zimansky, P., The Anatomy of a Mesopotamian City: Survey and Excavations at Mashkan-shapir. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, pp. 2642.Google Scholar
Steinkeller, P. 2004b. “Chapter 7: A Building Inscription of Sin-iddinam and Other Inscribed Materials from Abu Duwari”. In Stone, E. C. and Zimansky, P., The Anatomy of a Mesopotamian City: Survey and Excavations at Mashkan-shapir. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, pp. 135–52.Google Scholar
Stone, E. C. 1990. “The Tell Abu Duwari Project, 1987”. The Journal of Field Archaeology 17: 141–62.Google Scholar
Stone, E. C. 1993.. “Chariots of the Gods in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia”. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 3/1: 83107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, E. C. 1995. “The Development of Cities in Ancient Mesopotamia”. In Sasson, J., ed., Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. 4 vols. New York: Scribners Press, vol. I, pp. 235–48.Google Scholar
Stone, E. C., Lindsley, D. H., Pigott, V., Harbottle, G. and Ford, M. T.. 1998. “From Shiftingt Silt to Solid Stone: The Manufacture of Synthetic Basalt in Ancient Mesopotamia,” Science 280: 2091–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stone, E. C. and Zimansky, P.. 1994. “The Second and Third Seasons at Tell Abu Duwari, Iraq”. The Journal of Field Archaeology 21: 437–55.Google Scholar
Stone, E. C. and Zimansky, P.. 2004. The Anatomy of a Mesopotamian City: Survey and Excavations at Mashkan-shapir. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, pp. 135–52.Google Scholar
Woolley, C. L. and Mallowan, M. E. L.. 1976. Ur Excavations: The Old Babylonian Period. London: British Museum Publications.Google Scholar