Terracotta Figurines in the Persian Achaemenid Near East: New Perspectives from the Unpublished Materials of Tell Mardikh, Syria
Final Report Abstract
The research involved a comprehensive examination of a substantial corpus of unpublished terracotta figurines from Tell Mardikh (the site that was Ebla in the Early and Middle Bronze Age in Syria) from the levels that have traditionally been regarded as the Persian-Achaemenid settlement of the site, with its eventual post-Achaemenid occupation (TM VIA-B). The material was recovered during the field seasons between 1964 and 2010. It represents the most extensive surviving corpus of terracotta from this site, after that of the Middle Bronze Age. The fragments can be broadly grouped into three categories: female characters, male characters and quadrupeds. The majority of the latter are associated with male character representations, which has led to the interpretation of some quadruped fragments as fragments of ‘Persian riders’. The project has conducted a comprehensive analysis of a sample of 2000 fragments, selected from an initial pool of almost 3000 pieces. The documentation of these fragments spans almost 40 years of fieldwork, during which time they have been collected using a wide range of formal documentation standards and supports. The standardisation of the documentation of the fragments and of their architectural/stratigraphical contexts of provenance (including the transcription in digital format of the first 20 years of the excavation notebooks and object description sheets as well as the scanning of the original negatives reproducing the objects) was an essential step of the entire project and one of its most challenging tasks. The research scope was extensive, encompassing the organisation of the first ever scientific dataset of these fragments—a first-of-its-kind project that could only be realised through a comprehensive reassessment of the existing documentation and visual record of these fragments held at the MAIS archive at the Sapienza University of Rome— as well as the creation of a robust framework for interpreting similar figurines from other sites in the region with an unclear stratigraphical or chronological context. The specific results and findings obtained are relevant to the overall accomplishment of the scientific value of the project. They can be reassumed as follows: 1. A reassessment of the field documentation related to the unpublished fragments; 2. A reassessment of the visual documentation related to the fragments; 3. The first comprehensive and consistent dataset of these types of figurines based on activities 1 and 2; 4. A GIS; 5. A stratigraphical and chronological evaluation of the material and the reassessment of the function of its architectural context; 6. A new comprehension of other sites’ material in light of the material from Tell Mardikh; 7. A new comprehension of the circulation of iconographies and material in the region and intra-regions in the same centuries, and the role of small portable objects; 8. A comprehensive and critical analysis of the most recent publications on the subject, which addresses the evident methodological limitations of coroplastic studies for the ancient Near East.
Publications
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“La coroplastica”, in D. Nadali, F. Pinnock (a cura di), Archeologia della Siria antica. (Manuali Universitari 221 Archeologia). Carocci: Roma, 414-436. ISBN 10: 8829011193 ISBN 13: 9788829011193.
M.G. Micale
