Urban Landscape and State Formation at Iron Age Samal (Zincirli, Turkey)
Final Report Abstract
The aim of this project, encompassing two seasons of excavation and related analyses at Zincirli, Turkey, was to produce a more dynamic and holistic picture of the site’s urbanization and its role in the formation of an Iron Age territorial state, by refining the chronology of urban expansion and development and investigating the socioeconomic organization of the first settlers. The results make two major revisions to the conventional view of this urbanization process: first, the urbanization took place in stages, rather than all at once, with the settlement of a large lower town taking place later (Iron Age IIB, late 9th/early 8th century BC) than the reoccupation of the central citadel (Iron Age I-IIA transition, early 9th century BC); second, the monumental structure formerly believed to be the palace of the first Iron Age rulers, Hilani I, actually dates to the Middle Bronze Age. Excavation of the earliest Iron Age strata in other areas of the citadel and lower town suggests initial modest residential settlement throughout the city followed by increasing functional and social differentiation over time. In combination, these results support a model of urban expansion and population nucleation as a second stage of the consolidation of royal power following the initial claim of royal supremacy.
Publications
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(2018) Architectural glazed decorations in the Iron Age Northern Levant: Two case studies from Tell Afis (Syria) and Zincirli (Turkey). 1 (1) 185-206
Soldi, Sebastiano
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2017. “Appropriation and emulation in the earliest sculptures from Zincirli (Iron Age Sam’al).” American Journal of Archaeology 121(2): 237–74
Herrmann, V.R.
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2017. “Urban organization under empire: Iron Age Sam’al (Zincirli, Turkey) from royal to provincial capital.” Levant 49(3):284–311
Herrmann, V.R.
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2017. “’Assyrian clay hands’ in the architecture of the Ancient Near East.” Metropolitan Museum Journal 52: 8-24
Soldi, S.
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The Northern Levant and Assyria: ceramics productions in the Kingdom of Sam’al during the Neo-Assyrian expansion to the West. In K. Gavagnin & R. Palermo (eds.), Broadening Horizons 5: Proceedings of the International Conference, Udine, June 5-8, 2017, Vo
Soldi, S.
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Zincirli Höyük, ancient Sam’al: a preliminary report on the 2017 excavation season. In A. Otto and M. Herles (eds.), Proceedings of the 11th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Vol. 2: Field Reports. Islamic Archaeology, 3-
Herrmann, V.R. & Schloen, J.D.
