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International audience; Kunara is located in the vicinity of the modern city of Suleymanieh (Iraqi Kurdistan). It covers 7-10 ha and comprises an upper town to the west and a lower town. It was surrounded by paleao-channels that could have been used for irrigation purposes. The excavations started in 2012. The aim of this paper is to present the results of the third campaign conducted in 2015. Three areas were opened (B, C, E) in the lower town, and yielded remains dated to the third part of the 3 rd millennium B.C. In Area E, a monumental building was discovered, mainly characterized by a wall at least 1.35 m wide. In Area B, a public edifice was excavated, surrounded by at least three secondary buildings, and accessible by a ramp, and Area C conveyed the remains of two buildings associated with exterior floors and with a sunken cellar. In the latter, eight cuneiform tables were found. They are badly damaged, but two of them recorded entries and deliveries of different kinds of flour. Kunara presents elaborated building techniques. Walls were carefully built, usually on stone footings, with various kinds of earth superstructures in mudbrick and cob. The wide use of several cob techniques is unusual. The pottery shows that the ancient inhabitants of Kunara developed their own production influenced by the major trends attested elsewhere in Mesopotamia. Lithic artefacts are made in flint and in obsidian ; obsidian was probably imported from Anatolia. A jar sealing found in Area C shows great similarities with Akkadian glyptic. Kunara was thus a local or a regional centre in this region, at that time called the Lullubum

International audience; With its relatively small size, between 7 to 10 hectares, Kunara is organized as a city from the Bronze age period. It is located on the Upper Tanjaro and displays a continuous occupation from at least the end of the third millennium till the beginning of the second. It is argued that this area could have been part of the Land of Lullubum. Before excavation, a geophysical survey was undertaken which revealed a monumental building more than 60 m long and 30 m wide. Three areas were opened, one on the upper town, area A, a stratigraphical trench and two on the lower town, areas B and C. Remains of three main levels were excavated. Among the amazing discoveries, we must stress the presence of two monumental buildings and of sophisticated building techniques. A first analysis of the pottery points to a quite homogeneous assemblage including a number of parallels with sites from the Diyala and from south Mesopotamia. As for the small finds, apart from stone tools, flints, grinders, buffers, we also found several bronze pins and needles, a carnelian bead and a cylinder seal. From a chronological point of view, these data find some parallels with other sites from the Akkadian, Ur III or Isin Larsa periods.

La comptabilité a souvent été présentée comme une « invention » de l’époque d’Uruk (4200-3100 av. J.-C.) en Mésopotamie du Sud. Intiment liée à l’écriture, elle aurait accompagné les débuts de l’urbanisation et la naissance de l’État. L’utilisation à très grande échelle d’écuelles grossières produites en masse et le développement du sceau-cylindre seraient d’autres témoins de ces nouvelles pratiques gestionnaires. L’article vise à replacer ces découvertes dans leurs contextes afin de voir dans quelle mesure elles constituent vraiment une innovation dans les procédés comptables et administratifs. We often consider accounting has been invented during the Uruk period (4200-3100 BC) in southern Mesopotamia. Intricately linked to writing, it would have been contemporary with the beginnings of urbanisation and the birth of the State. The wide use of mass-produced bowls and the development of cylinder seals would also reveal the appearance of these new management practices. The aim of this paper is to replace these discoveries in their contexts in order to investigate in what extent they constitute innovations in accounting and administrative procedures. Das Rechnungswesen wurde oft als „Erfindung“ des südmesopotamischen Uruk-Zeitalters (4200-3100 v. Chr.) dargestellt. Da es eng mit dem Schriftgebrauch verbunden war, soll es an den Beginn des Städtewesens und die Ursprünge des Staates gekoppelt sein. Der häufige Gebrauch von Glockentöpfen, die massenhaft hergestellt wurden, und die Entwicklung des Rollsiegels sei ein weiterer Beweis für diese neue Form der Verwaltung. Der hier vorliegende Aufsatz hat zum Ziel, diese Entdeckungen in ihren jeweiligen Kontext zu stellen, um zu sehen, in welchem Maße sie wirkliche Neuerungen in der Entwicklung des Rechenwesens und der Verwaltung darstellten. Suele presentarse la contabilidad como una “invención” de los tiempos de Uruk (4200-3100 a.C.) en la parte sur de Mesopotamia. Estrechamente asociada a la escritura, habría acompañado la incipiente urbanización y el nacimiento del Estado. El uso en gran escala de groseras escudillas producidas en masa y el desarrollo del sello-cilindro serían otros testigos de aquellas nuevas prácticas de gestión. Este artículo se propone ubicar estos descubrimientos en su contexto para determinar en qué medida son una verdadera innovación en los procedimientos contables y administrativos.

International audience; As early as the 13th century, Assyrian Kings showed a keen interest in the Middle Euphrates, a remote area close to Babylonia and located on main roads passing though the steppe. Assyrian military campaigns are mainly known by royal inscriptions. But some iconographic sources also conveyed valuable information pertaining to assyro-suhean relationships, and to the Suhu proper, its diversity, its wealth, its natural environment. Iconographic documentation is constitued by the bronze bands of the Balawat gates, and by reliefs decorating the throneroom in the northwest palace in Nimrud dated to Ashurnasirpal II as well as the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III; Quoique relativement éloigné de l’Assyrie, le moyen Euphrate attira l’attention de ses souverains dès la fin du XIIIe siècle. Ils cherchèrent à contrôler cette région aux portes de la Babylonie et au débouché de grandes routes traversant la steppe. Les inscriptions royales décrivent parfois avec détail les campagnes militaires qui s’y déroulèrent. Le corpus iconographique s’y rapportant est constitué de bandes de bronze découvertes à Balawat et de bas-reliefs de la salle du trône de Nimrud datés du règne d’Aššurnaṣirpal II ainsi que de l’Obélisque noir de Salmanazar III. Il est circonscrit dans le temps, mais apporte de nombreuses informations. Il éclaire ainsi l’histoire des relations assyro-suhéennes, illustre la multiplicité des influences présentes au Suhu, mais aussi ses richesses et son cadre naturel.

International audience; In 2008, a cremation cemetery was found at Tell al-Nasriyah. Located in the lower city, it has so far yielded about 50 cinerary urns. First radiocarbon dates give a time range between the 15th and the 11th centuries BC for the cremation graves. They contained human bones usually well burnt, sometimes faunal remains also cremated, and very frequently shapeless residues of melted vitreous material. We also found a more recent (11th-9th cent. BC) ashy layer with less cremated human bones. This new data allows for a relevant analysis of the role of fire in the cremation process and of its evolution.

In 2008 a cremation graveyard dated to the end of the Late Bronze Age and to the beginning of the Iron Age has been discovered by the Mission syro-française de l'Oronte at Tell al-Nasriyah (Syria). Until now about 50 graves have been found and a stone slab with depressions as well. Even if stones of that kind are already known in the Near East, in Cyprus and in the Aegean, their function remains obscure. They have mainly been interpreted as offering tables or as game boards., En 2008, la Mission syro-française de l'Oronte découvrait dans la ville basse de Tell al-Nasriyah (Syrie) un cimetière à crémation daté de la fin de l'âge du Bronze et du début de l'âge du Fer. Jusqu'à présent, environ 50 tombes ont été mises au jour, ainsi qu'une dalle à cupules. Des pierres comparables ont été trouvées à la fois dans le monde syro-mésopotamien, en Anatolie, mais aussi à Chypre ou en Crète, dont la fonction reste cependant difficile à établir. Interprétées à l'origine comme des tables d'offrandes, elles sont aujourd'hui plutôt considérées comme des tables de jeu.

International audience

International audience

Étude des inscriptions relatives aux expéditions nubiennes de SésostrisIer, Sésostris III et Thoutmosis Ier, incluant la conversion des dates avec mention du mois (et du jour) en vue d'établir le timing de ces expéditions navales à travers les cataractes du Nil. A study of the inscriptions concerning the Nubian expeditions of Senwosret I, Senwosret III and Tuthmose I, including the conversion of dates with mention of the month (and of the day), in order to establish the timing of these naval expeditions through the cataracts of the Nile.

International audience