Death at the Dunnu: Investigating Funerary Variety at Middle Assyrian Tell Sabi Abyad, Syria

The Middle Assyrian dunnu at Tell Sabi Abyad was in operation for about a hundred years (ca. 1225 – 1125 BCE) and contained forty-nine graves of striking diversity. The graves were analysed to generate new insights on Middle Assyrian society, including burial type, location, orientation, position, grave goods, and osteological data. Most graves were inhumation graves dug into abandoned spaces, while cremation graves were also present, possibly belonging to (Hurrian) deportees who adhered to their homelands' funerary traditions. The inventories of the two graves with the most grave goods were both cremation graves, containing sumptuous items of Middle Assyrian style and iconography, suggesting people of non-Assyrian backgrounds were just as capable of socio-economic success in Assyrian society.

Format: Hardback
Length: 200 pages
Publication date: 07 September 2023
Publisher: Sidestone Press

During the approximately one hundred years (ca. 1225 – 1125 BCE) that the Middle Assyrian dunnu at Tell Sabi Abyad was in operation, forty-nine individuals were interred in graves of remarkable diversity. In this book, their burial type, location, orientation, position, grave goods, and osteological data are analyzed to provide new insights into Middle Assyrian society. Most graves appear to have been inhumation graves dug into abandoned spaces in and around the settlement. Men, women, and children were placed in mudbrick-lined cists, unlined pits, pre-existing architecture, and jars. Burial practices similar to those at Tell Sabi Abyad are found at many other Middle Assyrian sites, suggesting they were part of an overarching Middle Assyrian funerary repertoire. At the same time, Tell Sabi Abyad also contained cremation graves – a burial practice that is at odds with Mesopotamian views of the afterlife. These may belong to (Hurrian) deportees who chose to adhere to the funerary traditions of their homelands. The cremated remains were deposited in jars that were subsequently buried in the ground or buried at the place of the funeral pyre. While almost all graves contained some form of grave goods – usually consisting of items of bodily adornment and ceramic bowls placed close to the head and hands – the two graves with the most grave goods were both cremation graves. Their inventories contained sumptuous items of Middle Assyrian style and iconography, suggesting people of non-Assyrian backgrounds were just as capable of socio-economic success in Assyrian society.

Dimension: 254 x 178 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789464261837