Skip to main content

Moulding Kassite Identity: Preliminary Observations on New Moulded Bricks from ‘Aqar Qūf

VIGGIANO, Ylenia Pia

Moulded bricks are considered one of the architectural trademarks of Late Bronze age Mesopotamia and SW Iran. New moulded bricks were recovered during the first campaign of 2024 by the Iraqi-Italian archaeological expedition at ‘Aqar Qūf by the University of Bologna and the Iraqi SBAH, directed by Nicolò Marchetti. My analysis aims at reconstructing the local specificity of moulded bricks at this Kassite capital city during the mid-late Kassite period, by highlighting the differences, in terms of influences and innovative features, with other regional productions. The use of moulded mudbricks for creating architectural elements in relief, namely columns, is attested through the Old Babylonian period at Tell al-Rimah, Tell Leilan and Ur. However, baked moulded bricks which depict human or divine figures in relief make their first appearance during the Kassite period. This paper aims at setting our new materials into their archaeological context and cultural framework, with a focus on iconographical and technical aspects. Some additional moulded bricks were collected at ‘Aqar Qūf during the previous Iraqi excavations in the Enlil temple during the 1940s. Beside the well-known Inanna temple’s moulded brick façade at Uruk, scattered other examples are also known from Kassite levels at Ur, Nippur and Susa.

Session 4. Crafting Identity and Clusters through Material Culture, Iconography and Texts [info]