Arslan Tash Palace: a reconsideration of the architecture, phases, chronology and use

Abstract

This study reconsiders the plan of Arslan Tash Palace as presented through the excavations carried out by F. Thureau-Dangin in the early part of the 20th century. The north-eastern part of the Palace is shown to be the royal residence, with a reconstruction attempted by studying the walls and blocks used. A comparative study between the Arslan Tash Palace and Nimrud Palace in Iraq, which is a typical primary palace and the most similar to Arslan Tash’s plan, is undertaken. Arslan Tash is then compared with other Assyrian palaces in western Assyria (Syria). Using the visible architecture, archaeological levels and building materials, this study attempts to reconstruct the various phases the palace went through. The results show that two phases were mixed within the main gate and the southern part, affecting the general layout of the palace. The phases in this area were defined using the differing levels of older buildings, beginning with the structures in the Bâtiment aux Ivoires, the north, the north-east and the south of the Assyrian Palace. Finally, the latest phase that included the Arslan Tash Palace was identified and analyzed. As the archaeological excavations were not completed in some parts of the palace, there are, inevitably, some gaps in relation to the plan, architecture, chronology and stratigraphy.

Keywords:

• Syria
• Assyria
• Palace
• Arslan Tash
• Assyrian palatial architecture

Acknowledgements

I express my gratitude to CARA (the Council for At-Risk Academics) for providing support and Prof. Mark Altaweel of UCL, Institute of Archaeology, for his academic mentoring during this research journey. I also thank Dr Caroline Middleton and the two reviewers for their feedback and corrections that helped shape this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This research is part of Tareq Awwad’s MA thesis, which was developed for this article with the support of Cara (the Council for At-Risk Academics) with a small grant in 2019.

2 https://n9.cl/hd33x

3 François Thureau-Dangin (1872–1944) was a French archaeologist, Assyriologist and epigrapher. He played a major role in the deciphering of Sumerian and Akkadian languages.

4 Please note that in the labelling there are capital letters and small letters: they refer to different contexts.

5 This was the height of the building when discovered (1928–1932), but after a few years, the site was covered by a new urban settlement (Shiran).

6 Phase III, according to the sounding by the Italian Team represents the earliest archaeological evidence in the area of the Bâtiment aux Ivoires.

7 As only two walls (h and g) of Bâtiment (B) have been found it is mentioned, but not included in the comparison.