Type tell Region Mesopotamia | Excavation dates 1941–1942 | |
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Alternate name Tell Uquair, Tell Aqair Location Babil Governorate, Iraq Archaeologists Seton Lloyd, Taha Baqir, Fuad Safar | ||
Tell Uqair (Tell Uquair, Tell Aqair) is a tell or settlement mound northeast of Babylon and about 50 miles (80 km) south of Baghdad in modern Babil Governorate, Iraq.
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History of archaeological research
The site of Tell Uqair was excavated during World War II, in 1941 and 1942, by an Iraqi Directorate General of Antiquities team led by Seton Lloyd, with Taha Baqir and Fuad Safar. The buildings and artifacts discovered were primarily from the Ubaid period, Uruk period, and the Jemdet Nasr period and included four proto-cuneiform tablets.
Tell Uqair and its environment
Tell Uqair is a small mound just north of Tell Ibrahim, the large mound marking the site of ancient Kutha. The topography consists of two sub-mounds separated by what is apparently the bed of an ancient canal. At maximum the hills are 6 metres (20 ft) above the terrain line.
Occupation history
The site of Tell Uqair first had significant occupation during the Ubaid period, and grew to its greatest extent during the Jemdet Nasr and Uruk periods. Some Early Dynastic graves and a scattering of Akkadian and Babylonian artifacts indicate the location continued in limited use up through the time of Nebuchadnezzar. Because of clay tablets found at the site, it is believed to be the ancient town of Urum. The toponym for Urum is written in cuneiform as ÚR×Ú.KI, URUM4 = ÚR×ḪA, besides ÚR×A.ḪA.KI, from earlier (pre-Ur III) ÚR.A.ḪA.
The most prominent discovery at Tell Uquair was the "Painted Temple", a large complex similar in design to the "White Temple" found at Uruk. Some of the original frescos were still visible at the time of the excavation and were copied. Several frescos were recovered intact and sent to the Baghdad Museum. The temple is believed to date to the Uruk or early Jemdet Nasr period. A small adjacent Jemdet Nasr temple was of somewhat later construction and contained large amounts of pottery from that period.