{"title":"A Survey on the Geological Origin of the Stele of the Assyrian King Sargon II from Quwakh Tapeh, Kermanshah, Western Iran","authors":"S. Alibaigi, J. MacGinnis, I. Rezaei","doi":"10.1086/725774","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In the recent excavations of Quwakh Tapeh, located forty-five kilometers west of Kermanshah in the Mahidasht Plain in western Iran, two fragments were discovered of an Assyrian royal stele belonging to the end of the eighth century BCE and erected on the site following the attack of the Assyrian king Sargon II (722–705 BCE). Considering the high quality of the material, a dolostone, as well as the high quality of the carving of both the relief and the cuneiform inscription, an important question arises as to where the stele was manufactured. In this article we present the results of petrographic and ICP analysis carried out in order to identify the origin of the raw material used for the Quwakh Tapeh stele. The results of our investigations indicate that the stone used to make the stele was probably extracted from the Shahbazan Formation, which outcrops across the Chahar Zabar-Hasanabad Pass to the west and southwest of Quwakh Tapeh.","PeriodicalId":51934,"journal":{"name":"NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1086/725774","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"ARCHAEOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In the recent excavations of Quwakh Tapeh, located forty-five kilometers west of Kermanshah in the Mahidasht Plain in western Iran, two fragments were discovered of an Assyrian royal stele belonging to the end of the eighth century BCE and erected on the site following the attack of the Assyrian king Sargon II (722–705 BCE). Considering the high quality of the material, a dolostone, as well as the high quality of the carving of both the relief and the cuneiform inscription, an important question arises as to where the stele was manufactured. In this article we present the results of petrographic and ICP analysis carried out in order to identify the origin of the raw material used for the Quwakh Tapeh stele. The results of our investigations indicate that the stone used to make the stele was probably extracted from the Shahbazan Formation, which outcrops across the Chahar Zabar-Hasanabad Pass to the west and southwest of Quwakh Tapeh.
期刊介绍:
Archaeological discoveries continually enrich our understanding of the people, culture, history, and literature of the Middle East. The heritage of its peoples -- from urban civilization to the Bible -- both inspires and fascinates. Near Eastern Archaeology brings to life the ancient world from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean with vibrant images and authoritative analyses.