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Akh Purattim 3

 | 
Jean-Claude Margueron
, 
Olivier Rouault
, 
Pascal Butterlin
, 
et al.

Terqa et sa région

Preliminary report on human remains from Tell Ashara, Tell Masaikh, Gebel Mashtale and Tell Marwaniye (season 2006)1

Jacek Tomczyk and Arkadiusz Sołtysiak

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  • 1 The research was financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (Poland) in years 2006-2 (...)

1As in the previous years, the 11th season of excavations at Tell Masaikh, 26th season at Tell Ashara and 2nd season at Gebel Mashtale and Tell Marwaniye (September/November 2006) were abundant in discoveries of human skeletons. Apart from new burials, small amounts of human bones excavated in the previous years and mixed with animal remains were studied in the excavation house on the bank of the Euphrates river in Ashara-Darnaj. All skeletons were described and measured in the same way as in the previous years (Sołtysiak 2003, Tomczyk, Sołtysiak 2007). In sum, the remains of 57 individuals were found at Tell Masaikh (table 1), and 39 at Tell Ashara (table 2). Only one skeleton came respectively from Gebel Mashtale and Tell Marwaniye (table 1). As usually, human remains from Tell Masaikh were found in the Old Babylonian level (trench D) as well as in Roman and Islamic cemeteries on the surface. Two individuals found at smaller sites on the left bank of the Euphrates came from the later periods. Most bones from Tell Ashara were much older and their chronology, apart from the omnipresent Islamic period, included the Early Bronze Age (Akkadian, Early Shakkanakku), Middle Bronze Age (Late Shakkanakku), and the Late Bronze Age (Hana).

2Similarly to the findings from the previous years (Sołtysiak 2002), there was a small bias in sex ratio, with 16 females and 21 males in pooled sample from all sites. However, the difference is too small to answer the question whether this bias reflected the real surplus of males, especially in the Islamic population, or was simply due to diagnostic methods. The average stature of individuals from Tell Masaikh (table 3) fits the range observed in the previous years: the males around 170/173 cm and females around 155/160 cm (Tomczyk, Sołtysiak 2007).

3The most interesting burials found at Tell Ashara in 2006 were labelled TQ 26 F 211 and TQ 26 F 222. The first one — recognized as 40/45 years old male — was initially buried on his right side together with some luxurious grave goods, including many jars and a bronze weapon with blades which were found on the left hip and clavicle. Many muscular attachments were clearly marked on bones (e.g. humerus, clavicle) and bone robustness was far above the average which may indicate that the skeleton belonged to a warrior.

4The individual TQ 26 F 222 was a mature male, buried on his left side with bent legs. The bones of this individual were not so robust as in the previous case, but still the deltoid tubercles of humeri and muscular attachments on ribs were prominent. The human skeleton was accompanied by a complete skeleton of an animal from the family Equidae (fig. 1).

5An attempt was made to estimate the animal’s height on the basis of the size of long bones with the use of the coefficient established by Kiesewalter (1888, quot. after Driesch, Boessneck 1974). Before the exploration of the skeleton the long bones were measured in situ (tibia: 320 mm, metacarpus: 218 mm, metatarsus: 258 mm). The applied coefficients refer to the side length of the bone, so the height was estimated on the basis of the size of metatarsus and metacarpus whose total length is close to the side length of the bone, with the average difference of a few millimeters only. Taking the difference into account, it can be assumed that the individual was about 133–135 cm tall. The size suggests it could either be a small horse or an onager. The quotient of the breadth of the shaft (25 mm) to the maximal length of the metatarsal bone (258 mm) seems to speak in favour of the latter hypothesis. As P. Ducos (1970) argues, when this quotient is equal or less than 10.5, the skeleton belongs to an onager. For the skeleton in question it amounted to 9.7 which seems to confirm that the animal was an onager (Equus hemionus). An additional factor in favour of this identification was the shape of the finger segment III. It had a steeply rising front wall, which is a feature characteristic for a donkey. The presence of cuspid teeth suggests that the buried animal was male. Animals of this species were frequent in the arid steppes of the Near East and after domestication used to pull wagons and chariots (Oates et al. 2002).

6The left leg of a female from Tell Masaikh (MK 11 EN 28) was affected by dysplasia epiphysealis hemimelicea, a rare disease which made bones demineralized and deformed by large bony spurs (fig. 2). In a much older grave, MK 11 D 31, dated to the Old Babylonian Period, two individuals were buried one over the other in a large pot, and the lower skeleton was partially destroyed during later inhumation.

Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Clutton-Brock J.
1992 Horse Power: A History of the Horse and the Donkey in Human Societies, Harvard.

Driesch A. von and J. Boessneck
1974 “Kritische Anmerkungen zur Widerristhöhenberechnung aus Längenmassen vor-und frühgeschichtlicher Tierknochen”, Sägetierkundliche Mitteilungen 22, p. 325-348.

Ducos P.
1970 “The Oriental Institute Excavations at Mureybet, Syria. Preliminary Report on the 1965 Campaign. 4, Les restes d’équidés”, Journal of Near East Studies 29, p. 273-289.

Oates D. & J. and Mcdonald H.
2002 Excavations at Tell Brak. 2, Nagar in the Third Millennium BC, London-Cambridge.

Sołtysiak A.

2002 “Human Remains from Tell Masaikh. Seasons 1998-2001. A Preliminary Report”, Athenaeum, Studi di Letteratura e Storia dell’Antichità 90 (2), p. 594-597.
2003 “Preliminary Report on Human Remains from Tell Masaikh. Season 2002”, Athenaeum, Studi di Letteratura e Storia dell’Antichità 91 (2), p. 584-589.

Tomczyk J. and Sołtysiak A.
2007 “Preliminary Report on Human Remains from Tell Ashara/Terqa. Season 2005”, Athenaeum, Studi di Letteratura e Storia dell’Antichità 95 (1), p. 439-442.

Trotter M. and Gleser G. C.
1952 “Estimation of Stature from Long Bones of American Whites and Negroes”, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 10, p. 463-514.

Annexes

Table 1 – Human remains from Tell Masaikh, Marwaniye and Mashtale (1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006)

Table 1 – Human remains from Tell Masaikh, Marwaniye and Mashtale (1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006), continued

Table 2 – Human remains from Tell Ashara (2000, 2001, 2005, 2006)

Table 2 – Human remains from Tell Ashara (2000, 2001, 2005, 2006), continued

Table 3 – Maximum stature according to Trotter- Gleser (1952) formula for white males and females

Fig. 1 – The individual TQ 26 F 222 buried with animal

Fig. 2–Deformation of left femur (MK 11 EN 28)

Fig. 3 – Parietal bone with cutmark edge (MK 11 EN 62)

Fig. 4 – Spondylosis in lumbar vert. (MK 11 G 36)

Fig. 5 – Ossification of the thyroid cartilage (MK 11 G 66)

Fig. 6 – Bone spur on the lateral condyle of a femur (MK 11 G 89)

Notes

1 The research was financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (Poland) in years 2006-2008, grant No. N109 013 31/0858.

List of illustrations

Caption Table 1 – Human remains from Tell Masaikh, Marwaniye and Mashtale (1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006)
URL http://books.openedition.org/momeditions/docannexe/image/4494/img-1.jpg
File image/jpeg, 439k
Caption Table 1 – Human remains from Tell Masaikh, Marwaniye and Mashtale (1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006), continued
URL http://books.openedition.org/momeditions/docannexe/image/4494/img-2.jpg
File image/jpeg, 159k
Caption Table 2 – Human remains from Tell Ashara (2000, 2001, 2005, 2006)
URL http://books.openedition.org/momeditions/docannexe/image/4494/img-3.jpg
File image/jpeg, 299k
Caption Table 2 – Human remains from Tell Ashara (2000, 2001, 2005, 2006), continued
URL http://books.openedition.org/momeditions/docannexe/image/4494/img-4.jpg
File image/jpeg, 154k
Caption Table 3 – Maximum stature according to Trotter- Gleser (1952) formula for white males and females
URL http://books.openedition.org/momeditions/docannexe/image/4494/img-5.jpg
File image/jpeg, 127k
Caption Fig. 1 – The individual TQ 26 F 222 buried with animal
URL http://books.openedition.org/momeditions/docannexe/image/4494/img-6.jpg
File image/jpeg, 170k
Caption Fig. 2–Deformation of left femur (MK 11 EN 28)
URL http://books.openedition.org/momeditions/docannexe/image/4494/img-7.jpg
File image/jpeg, 100k
Caption Fig. 3 – Parietal bone with cutmark edge (MK 11 EN 62)
URL http://books.openedition.org/momeditions/docannexe/image/4494/img-8.jpg
File image/jpeg, 73k
Caption Fig. 4 – Spondylosis in lumbar vert. (MK 11 G 36)
URL http://books.openedition.org/momeditions/docannexe/image/4494/img-9.jpg
File image/jpeg, 62k
Caption Fig. 5 – Ossification of the thyroid cartilage (MK 11 G 66)
URL http://books.openedition.org/momeditions/docannexe/image/4494/img-10.jpg
File image/jpeg, 68k
Caption Fig. 6 – Bone spur on the lateral condyle of a femur (MK 11 G 89)
URL http://books.openedition.org/momeditions/docannexe/image/4494/img-11.jpg
File image/jpeg, 62k

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