Ancient Mesopotamian Artifacts Unearthed In Kurd Qaburstan Fill A Historical Gap

Conny Waters - AncientPages.com - A team of UCF researchers made new discoveries at the ancient Mesopotamian site of Kurd Qaburstan, They unearthed clay tablets with ancient cuneiform writing, a game board, and large structural remains.

Standing mudbrick architecture from a 10 meter by 10 meter excavation in the Kurd Qaburstan lower-town palace, view to north. Image credit: Tiffany Earley-Spadoni

The findings are anticipated to offer extensive insights into this Middle Bronze Age city, significantly enhancing our understanding of Mesopotamia's less documented history.

The clay tablets represent an unprecedented discovery in the region and are currently undergoing interpretation. Preliminary analyses suggest that these artifacts offer profound insights into the inhabitants’ lives and the significant events they experienced.

Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, an esteemed associate professor of history at the University of Central Florida, and a dedicated team of researchers have been meticulously excavating culturally significant artifacts from the Middle Bronze Age (circa 1800 BCE) at the Mesopotamian site of Kurd Qaburstan, located in the Erbil region of northeastern Iraq.

A substantial segment of human development and history can be attributed to the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia, located in the region that encompasses present-day Iraq, and studying these new tablets could reveal important details about the city’s connections with its neighbors during the Middle Bronze Age and its historical significance.

Studying names, word choice, and writing styles can help scholars understand regional literacy and cultural identity, according to Earley-Spadoni's fieldwork summary.

The researcher explains that the Middle Bronze Age in northern Iraq still remains poorly understood due to limited research and biased historical sources.

One of three clay cuneiform tablets discovered at the Middle Bronze Age site of Kurd Qaburstan in northeast Iraq. It was found in a debris-filled corridor in the lower town palace. Early interpretations of this tablet suggests dramatic events and possibly ancient warfare. (Photo courtesy of Tiffany Earley-Spadoni)

“We hope to find even more historical records that will help us tell the story of [the city] from the perspective of its own people rather than relying only on accounts written by their enemies,” Earley-Spadoni says. “While we know a great deal about the development of writing in southern Iraq, far less is known about literacy in northern Mesopotamian cities, especially near Erbil where Kurd Qaburstan is located.”

Mesopotamia, with its ancient cities along the Tigris and Euphrates near the Persian Gulf, is considered the birthplace of urban civilization. Its cultural legacy has fascinated scholars for generations.

“We know quite a bit about Mesopotamian cities in the south, and that’s considered the traditional heartland of cities. When people think about where cities first arose, they imagine cities in southern Iraq, like Uruk. We seek to fill in this gap in the scholarship by investigating a large urban site, one of the few that’s ever been investigated in northern Iraq,” Earley-Spadoni says.

Earley-Spadoni and her team of researchers have concentrated their efforts in two principal areas:

the residential neighborhoods located in the northwest and
a recently uncovered administrative complex, identified as a lower town palace.

Broken pieces of storage jars marked with a special identifier symbol from the lower town palace. Image credit: Tiffany-Earley-Spadoni

The existence of this complex was hypothesized based on discoveries made in 2022. To facilitate the excavation process, researchers employed advanced technologies such as magnetometry, which enabled them to examine subterranean architectural layouts.

“The focus of the research is the organization of ancient cities, and it’s specifically the organization of Kurd Qaburstan,” Earley-Spadoni says.

“You may have heard of King Hammurabi, who erected the famous law code. So, this is about that same time almost 4,000 years ago. We decided that this would be an interesting place to investigate what it was like to be an everyday person at a city during the Middle Bronze Age, which has been an understudied topic. People like to excavate palaces and temples, and very few residential areas have been excavated.”

Excavations in the palace revealed monumental architecture, human remains and evidence of destruction, suggesting a significant historical event. The complex, identified through geophysical surveys, is being excavated to establish its characteristics and better understand its function.

In the northwest neighborhoods, exterior courtyards, clay drainpipes, and household refuse were uncovered.

In her fieldwork summary report, Earley-Spadoni notes that the excavated pottery comprised everyday items such as cups, plates, bowls, and storage jars. Remarkably, some of these artifacts were intricately decorated and meticulously crafted, suggesting that private wealth may have been more prevalent than previously anticipated.

Additionally, the discovery of animal bones alongside the pottery indicates that residents consumed a diverse diet consisting of both domesticated meat and wild game. This degree of dietary variety is unexpected for non-elite populations in Mesopotamian cities based on the currently limited evidence.

These findings may challenge the idea of sharp divisions between elite and non-elite lifestyles in ancient cities. The material culture and dietary practices suggest some people lived relatively well, indicating a need for further research, says Earley-Spadoni.

“We’re studying this ancient city to learn very specific things about the ancient inhabitants,” she says. “First, to what degree did they plan their environment, or was it just the result of an organic process?

We also want to know how social inequality worked in this ancient city. Were there very poor people and very rich people? Or was there possibly a middle class?”

The city's historical significance could increase if identified as Qabra, a major center in Old Babylonian monuments like the Stele of Dadusha. Numerous indicators lend support to the hypothesis that Kurd Qaburstan was indeed the significant city of Qabra, as mentioned in Old Babylonian steles, which are ancient monumental slabs. A notable piece of evidence is the substantial signs suggesting that Kurd Qaburstan functioned as a major regional administrative center.

“Kurd Qaburstan is believed to be ancient Qabra, an important regional center mentioned in the records of other city-states,” Earley-Spadoni says. “The presence of writing, monumental architecture, and other administrative artifacts in the lower town palace further supports this identification since the site must have been an important city of its time.”

The tablets are currently undergoing interpretation; however, preliminary findings have emerged that offer promising insights into the broader identity of the people of Kurd Qaburstan and the historical period they inhabited.

“The first of the three tablets was discovered in a trash-filled deposit along with building rubble and human remains,” she says. “Its context suggests dramatic events, possibly evidence of ancient warfare. We hope our work in 2025 will tell us more about this story.”

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Written by Conny Waters - AncientPages.com Staff Writer