Archaeological Investigation on the Ancient Kingdom Tabetu in the Northern Mesopotamia-Excavations at Tell Taban, Hassake, Syria-

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The main study of this research project has focused on the archaeological excavation at Tell Taban in Syria, which is one of the most, important base towns in the Assyrian EmpireWe have conducted a total of three seasons of excavations at site and were able to obtain significant results. One of them is the discovery of royal archive room at the palace structure dated to the Middle Assyrian period (1300-1200 B.C). The discovery happened in the winter 2005 and around 500 fragments of clay tablets were collected. Furthermore during the seasons of summer 2005 and 2006, Middle Assyrian and Old Babylonian (1730 B.C) cuneiform texts, which include 60 clay tablets, and 47 inscribed cylinders and bricks, were unearthed.The above discovery of a large number of cuneiform texts was the first experience among the Japanese expeditions which have been excavating in the Great Mesopotamia region over 50 years. The news of the discovery was widely broadcasted in the Japanese media as a sensation.The decipherment of the cuneiform texts has been carried out by the Japanese Assyriologists. This was also the first such occasion that the newly discovered cuneiform texts were deciphered and studied first-hand by the Japanese scholars.The study of Middle Assyrian and Old Babylonian cuneiform texts has been carried out by Shigeo Yamada and Daisuke Shibata and so far revealed numerous hitherto unknown historical information during the second millennium B.C. in the Khabur valley and Northern Mesopotamia. We believe that further study of those cuneiform texts will surely shed new light on the so-called "dark age" in the Syrian Jazira and beyond.