Carchemish

Early Hittite artifact found by T. E. Lawrence and Leonard Woolley (right) in Carchemish.

Carchemish is now an extensive set of ruins (90 hectares, of which 55 lie in Turkey and 35 in Syria), located on the West bank of Euphrates River, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) southeast of Gaziantep, Turkey, and 100 kilometres (62 mi) northeast of Aleppo, Syria. The site is crossed by the Baghdad Railway that now forms the Turco-Syrian border. The site includes an acropolis along the river, an Inner Town encircled by earthen ramparts and an Outer Town (most of which lies in Syrian territory). A Turkish military base has been established at the site and access but only the acropolis is presently of restricted access.

T. E. Lawrence and Leonard Woolley (right) in Carchemish, Spring 1913

qꜣrjqꜣmjꜥšꜣ[7][8]
Era: New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC)
Egyptian hieroglyphs

Carchemish has always been well known to scholars because of several references to it in the Bible (Jer. 46:2; 2 Chr. 35:20; Isa. 10:9) and in Egyptian and Assyrian texts. However, its location was identified only in 1876 by George Smith. Carchemish had been previously identified, incorrectly, with the Classical city of Circesium, at the confluence of the Khabur River and the Euphrates;[11] while some early scholars thought that Jarabulus could be Hierapolis Bambyce, that site is actually located at Manbij in Syria.

The site was excavated by the British Museum, between 1878 and 1881 through Consul Patrick Henderson and between 1911 and 1914 under the direction of D. G. Hogarth. In 1911 on the field there were D. G. Hogarth himself, R. C. Thompson, and T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"), from 1912 to 1914 C. L. Woolley and T. E. Lawrence, while a last campaign took place in 1920 with C. L. Woolley and Philip Langstaffe Ord Guy.[12][13][14][15] Excavations were interrupted in 1914 by World War I and then ended in 1920 with the Turkish War of Independence.[16] These expeditions uncovered substantial remains of the Assyrian and Neo-Hittite periods, including defensive structures, temples, palaces, and numerous basalt statues and reliefs with Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions.[17] Between 1956 and 1998, the whole site had been mined by the Turkish Land Forces.

With the completion in February 2011 of mine clearing operations on the Turkish portion of the site, archaeological work was resumed in September 2011.[18] Excavations in the Inner and Outer Towns were carried out by a joint Turco-Italian team from the Universities of Bologna, Gaziantep, and University of Istanbul under the direction of Prof. Dr. Nicolò Marchetti.[19]

The second season, from August to November 2012, brought several new art findings and archaeological discoveries, the most remarkable of which is Katuwa's Palace (c. 900 BC) to the east of the Processional Entry.

The third season, from May to October 2013, extended the exposure of Katuwa's palace, retrieving a cuneiform tablet with an exorcism in the name of the god Marduk, as well as the ruins of Lawrence's excavation house in the Inner Town, from which literally hundreds of fragments of sculptures and hieroglyphic inscriptions have been retrieved.

The fourth season started in May 2014 and continued through October 2014: in Katuwa's palace several orthostats exquisitely carved with a procession of gazelle-bearers have been found, some of them in situ, next to a courtyard paved with squared slabs. In the Neo Assyrian period that courtyard was covered by a mosaic floor made of river pebbles forming squares alternating in black and white color. Lawrence's excavation house was completely excavated.

During the fifth season, April to October 2015, more significant discoveries have been made in the palace area, both for Late Hittite sculptures, and Neo Assyrian refurbishments, with tens of items—including two fragments of clay prismatical cylinders inscribed with a unique cuneiform text by Sargon, intended for display, telling how he captured and reorganized the city of Karkemish—retrieved in a 14-m-deep well, sealed in 605 BC at the time of the Late Babylonian takeover.

The sixth season, May to July 2016, saw a number of excavation areas opened also near the border, due to the added security represented by the construction of the wall (see below). Thus, in 2016 a complete stratigraphic record was obtained also for peripheral areas, greatly adding to our understanding of urban development between LB II and the Achaemenid period.

In the seventh season, from 7 May to 18 July 2017, the major breakthroughs were the beginning of the excavations on the north-western end of the acropolis and the discovery in the eastern Lower Palace area of a monumental building dating from the LB II. Among the finds, in addition to new sculpted complete artworks from the Iron Age, fragments of Imperial Hittite clay cuneiform tablets and c. 250 inscribed bullae should be mentioned.

The eighth season lasted from 4 May to 20 July 2019 and revealed a massive palace on the top of the acropolis dating from Late Bronze II, exposed more architecture and finds from the LB II administrative building in area C East (which seems to be the Hittite E2.KIŠIB) and more of the Iron I storage facility in area S.

Conservation and presentation works have now been completed and the archaeological park at the site is finally open since 13 July 2019, thanks to the support also of Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality and Gaziantep Governorate: the site may be visited between 9 am and one hour before sunset through guided tours every two hours for security reasons. Financial support has been received by the three Universities mentioned above, by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,[20] and the Sanko Holding,[21] with the technical support also of Şahinbey Municipality[22] and Inta A.Ş.

Archaeological investigations on the Syrian side have been conducted as part of the Land of Carchemish project:[23] investigations of the Outer Town of Carchemish were undertaken in conjunction with the DGAM in Damascus and with the funding and sponsorship of the Council for British Research in the Levant and of the British Academy, under the direction of the late Professors T. J. Wilkinson and E. Peltenburg.[24]

The Outer Town area lying in Syria has been designated, already before the Syrian Civil War, an endangered cultural heritage site and labelled "at risk" by the Global Heritage Fund,[25] due to the agricultural expansion and, especially, the urban encroachment. The field assessment of the Syrian part of the Outer Town documented that parts of the modern border town of Jerablus encroached upon the Outer Town.[26] In July 2019, a scientific visit to the outer town in Syria by the Turco-Italian Archaeological Expedition at Karkemish, entailed the protection of the area from further encroachment by the sprawling town of Jerablus and by the facilities for trucks which were being built to the South of the border: the City Council of Jerablus declared all the area enclosed by the Iron Age city walls a "first degree protected site", meaning the complete ban of any activity on it.

In February 2016, a prefabricated security wall (thus with no foundations that could have damaged the ancient site) was completed by the Turkish Army to the south of the railway, stretching between the Euphrates bridge and the train station of Karkamış.

Basalt lion head from the monument to King Katuwa at Carchemish, now in the British Museum[27][28]

Map of Syria in the second millennium BC, showing the location of Carchemish, or "Karkemish."

The site has been occupied since the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods[29] (pot burials).

[46]

Yariri (r.) and Kamani (l.), resp. regent and future-ruler of Carchemish

Old Syrian seal, dedicated to goddess Kubaba by Matrunna, daughter of Aplahanda, early 18th century BCE.

The patron goddess of Carchemish was Kubaba, a deity of apparently Hurrian origins.[47] She was represented as a dignified woman wearing a long robe, standing or seated, and holding a mirror. The main male deity of the town was Karhuha, akin to the Hittite stag-god Kurunta.

Kubaba was also the goddess of Alalakh, located in the coastal Amik Valley.

In 2015, a basalt stele of Kubaba, originally from Karkemish, was assembled back together from six separate broken pieces currently housed in three different museums around the world. This stele was originally made by king Kamani of Karkemish around 790 BC. The Luwian hieroglyphic inscription on this stele can now be read more fully, and it carries some important information about Karkemish history.[38]

Kubaba appears to be one of the three main deities worshipped in Carchemish during the Middle Bronze Age. The other two were Nergal and Nubandag. The chief god was the Mesopotamian-influenced Nergal, who was the city-god of Carchemish. He was also called Il-Karkamis, “God of Karkemish”, as is evidenced on an Old Babylonian hematite cylinder seal in the British Museum collections (BM 89172).[48]

The warrior god Nubandag has Hurrian roots. According to the Mari texts, he was worshipped at Carchemish in the Old Babylonian period along with Nergal.[49]

Later, beginning in the mid-14th century BC, the city-god of Carchemish became the warrior god Karhuha, similar to Kurunta (god). He was seen as a Stag-god, and his cult was probably introduced to Carchemish under the Mitannian influence.[50]

These deities clearly reflect the geographical position of Carchemish at the crossing of important trade routes; because of this, the city became a mixed cultural and religious centre.

Among the many artefacts recovered at Karkemish, typical of this territory are the Handmade Syrian Horses and Riders and the Syrian Pillar Figurines. These are clay figurines dating from mid-8th-7th centuries BCE that have been found in several hundreds in the town. These terracottas were manufactured during the Neo-Assyrian phase of Karkemish and it is currently believed they might have represented male and female characters performing distinguished public roles.[51]

• Cities of the ancient Near East
• Short chronology timeline
• Karkamış
• Carchemish Phoenician inscription

BRITISH MUSEUM EXPEDITION

• Hogarth D.G., Carchemish I: Introductory, The British Museum Press, London 1914, repr. 1969.
• Woolley C.L., Carchemish II: Town Defences: Report on the Excavations at Jerablus on Behalf of the British Museum, British Museum Press, London 1921, repr. 1969, ISBN 0-7141-1002-7. Carchemish II
• Woolley C.L. & Barnett R.D., Carchemish III: Excavations in the Inner Town: Report on the Excavations at Jerablus on Behalf of the British Museum, British Museum Press, London 1952, repr. 1978, ISBN 0-7141-1003-5. Carchemish III

TURCO-ITALIAN EXPEDITION

• Bitelli G., Girardi F., Girelli V.A., Digital enhancement of the 3D scan of Suhi I's stele from Karkemish, in Orientalia 83/2 (2014), pp. 154–161.
• Bolognani B.,The Iron Age Figurines from Karkemish (2011–2015 Campaigns) and the Coroplastic Art of the Syro-Anatolian Region, unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Bologna, Bologna (2017). amsdottorato.unibo.it/8222/7/Bolognani_Barbara_tesi.pdf
• Bolognani B., "The Iron Age Female Figurines from Karkemish and the Middle Euphrates Valley. Preliminary Notes on Some Syrian Pillar Figurines", in Donnat S., Hunziker-Rodewald R., Weygand I. (eds), Figurines féminines nues : Proche-Orient, Égypte, Nubie, Méditerranée, Asie centrale (VIIIe millénaire av. J.-C. - IVe siècle ap. J.-C.), Proceedings of the International Conference “Figurines féminines nues. Proche-Orient, Egypte, Nubie, Méditerranée, Asie centrale”, June 25th-26th 2015, MISHA, Strasbourg, Études d’archéologie et d’histoire ancienne (EAHA), De Boccard, Paris, pp. 209–223 (2020a). Bolognani 2020a
• Bolognani, B., "Figurines as Social Markers: The Neo-Assyrian Impact on the Northern Levant as Seen from the Material Culture", in Gavagnin K., Palermo R. (eds), Imperial Connections. Interactions and Expansions from Assyria to the Roman Period. Proceedings of the 5th “Broadening Horizons” Conference, 5–8 June 2017, Udine(West & East Monografie 2), University of Udine, Udine, pp. 43–57 (2020b).Bolognani 2020b
• Di Cristina S., Gallerani V., Lepore G., Europos on the Euphrates: Continuities and Discontinuities at an Oriental Classical City, in Mesopotamia 52 (2017), pp. 129–150.
• Dinçol A., Dinçol B., Hawkins J.D., Marchetti N., Peker H., A Stele by Suhi I from Karkemish, in Orientalia 83/2 (2014), pp. 143–153.
• Dinçol A., Dinçol B., Peker H., An Anatolian Hieroglyphic Cylinder Seal from the Hilani at Karkemish, in Orientalia 83/2 (2014), pp. 162–165.
• Marchesi G., Epigraphic Materials of Karkemish from the Middle Bronze Age, in Orientalia 83/2 (2014), pp. 166–181.
• Marchesi G., A Bilingual Literary Text from Karmenish Featuring Marduk (with contributions by W.R. Mayer and S.V. Panayotov), in Orientalia 83/4 (2014), pp. 333–340.
• Marchetti N., "The 2011 Joint Turco-Italian Excavations at Karkemish", in 34. kazı sonuçları toplantısı, 28 Mayıs-1 Haziran 2012, Çorum. 1. cilt, T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı, Ankara (2013), pp. 349–364. kulturvarliklari.gov.tr/Eklenti/7332,34kazi1.pdf?0
• Marchetti N., The 2012 Joint Turco-Italian Excavations at Karkemish, in 35. kazı sonuçları toplantısı, 27–31 Mayıs 2013, Muğla. 3. cilt, T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı, Ankara (2014), pp. 233–248. kulturvarliklari.gov.tr/Eklenti/27148,35kazi3.pdf?0
• Marchetti N., Karkemish. An Ancient Capital on the Euphrates (OrientLab 2), Ante Quem, Bologna (2014). free download orientlab.net/pubs, free download)
• Marchetti N., Bronze Statuettes from the Temples of Karkemish, in Orientalia 83/3 (2014), pp. 305–320.
• Marchetti N., Karkemish. New Discoveries in the Last Hittite Capital, in Current World Archaeology 70 (2015), pp 18–24. world-archaeology.com/issue-70/cwa-70.htm
• Marchetti N., Les programmes publics de communication visuelle à Karkemish entre la fin du IIe millénaire et le début du Ier millénaire avant J.-C., in V. Blanchard (ed.), Royaumes oubliés. De l'Empire hittite aux Araméens, Louvre éditions, Paris, (2019), pp. 154–161.
• Marchetti N. et al., Karkemish on the Euphrates: Excavating a City's History, in Near Eastern Archaeology 75/3 (2012), pp. 132–147.jstor.org/stable/10.5615/neareastarch.75.issue-3
• Marchetti N., Peker H., A Stele from Gürçay near Karkemish, in Orientalia 83/2 (2014), pp. 182–188.
• Peker H., A Funerary Stele from Yunus, in Orientalia 83/2 (2014), pp. 189–193.
• Peker H., Texts from Karkemish I. Luwian Hieroglyphic Inscriptions from the 2011-2015 Excavations (OrientLab Series Maior 1), Ante Quem, Bologna (2016).
• Pizzimenti S., Three Glyptic Documents from Karkemish, in Orientalia 83/2 (2014), pp. 194–201.
• Zaina F. (ed.), Excavations at Karkemish I. The Stratigraphic Sequence of Area G (OrientLab Series Maior 3), Ante Quem, Bologna, (2019).
• Zecchi M., A Note on Two Egyptian Seal Impressions from Karkemish, in Orientalia 83/2 (2014), pp. 202–206.

OTHER REFERENCES

• GüterbockH.G., Carchemish, in Journal of Near Eastern Studies 13/2 (1954), pp. 102–114.
• Hayes Ward W.M., Unpublished or Imperfectly Published Hittite Monuments. III. Reliefs at Carchemish=Jerablûs, The American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts, vol. 4, pp. 172–174, (1988).*
• Hawkins J.D.,"Kargamiš.", Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin (1980).
• Hawkins J.D., Corpus of Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions I. Inscriptions of the Iron Age. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin (2000), ISBN 978-3-11-010864-4.
• Hutter M., "Aspects of Luwian Religion", in H.C. Melchert (ed.), The Luwians, Brill, (2003).
• Peltenburg E., Euphrates River Valley Settlement: The Carchemish Sector in the Third Millennium BC, Oxbow Books, (2007).
• Wilson D.M., The British Museum. A history. The British Museum Press, London, 2002.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carchemish.

• Official website of the Turco-Italian Archaeological Expedition to Karkemish
• Land of Carchemish Project, Syria
• Activities of the joint Turkish-Italian Archaeological Mission (in Italian)
• Carchemish
• Carchemish images