"Their corpses will reach the base of heaven": a third-millennium BC war memorial in northern Mesopotamia?. (August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Porter, Anne; McClellan, Thomas; Wilhelm, Susanne; Weber, Jill; Baldwin, Alexandra; Colley, Jean; Enriquez, Brittany; Jahrles, Meagan; Lanois, Bridget; Malinov, Vladislav; Ragavan, Sumedh; Robins, Alexandra; Safi, Zarhuna
• Is Part Of: Antiquity. Volume 95:Number 382(2021)
• Page Start: 900
• Page End: 918
• Publication Date: 2021-08
• Subjects: Mesopotamia -- Tell Banat -- Bronze Age -- burial practices -- victory monuments; Archaeology -- Periodicals; Antiquities -- Periodicals; 930.05
• DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2021.58
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0003-598X

Abstract

Abstract: Abstract : Burial mounds piled high with enemy corpses are well known in Mesopotamian inscriptions as symbols of victory, but no archaeological examples have so far been recovered. Archaeological investigations of a tall mound adjacent to the site of Tell Banat in Syria have revealed an unusual, late third-millennium BC mortuary population, dominated by adult and sub-adult males. The systematic placement of these human remains and associated assemblages suggests that, rather than containing enemy combatants, this was a memorial to a community's battle dead. The authors propose that the deceased belonged to an organised army, with broader implications for state administration and the adherence or resistance to a new regime fostered by such monumentalisation.