Die Zitadelle von Dur-Katlimmu in mittel- und neuassyrischer Zeil.

• Author: Postgate, J.N.

Die Zitadelle von Dur-Katlimmu in mittel- und neuassyrischer Zeil. Edited by HARTMUT KUHNE. 3 vols. Berichte der Ausgrabung Tall Seh Hamad / Dur-Katlimmu, vol. 12. Wiesbaden: HARRASSO-WITZ VERLAG, 2021. Pp. xl + 433 (vol. 1); xi + 307 (vol. 2); 57 loose supplements in case. [euro]298.

The rich harvest of Middle Assyrian government archives from Dur-Katlimmu, to which volumes 4, 9, and 18 of the BATSH series have already given us access (with one more to follow), came from one room (Room A) in "Gebaude P" (here and also in the publication "Building P"), on the west side of the citadel. Volume 1 of this twelfth number in the series gives us (in part I, chapters 2-5) the definitive account of the excavation of this building, accompanied in part IV (chapters 14-17) by the report on Neo-Assyrian levels in the same part of the mound. Part II comprises five chapters describing the clay sealings (6: H. Dohmann--Tonversicherungen), the Egyptian seal impressions (7: S. J. Seidlmayer), early iron artifacts (8: H. Kuhne), glass and glazed wares (9: K. Tantrakarn, K. Kikugawa, Y. Abe, and I. Nakai), and the Middle Assyrian ceramics (10: J. Rohde). Part III is devoted to the city and its administration in Middle Assyrian times (chapters 11-13, by E. Cancik-Kirschbaum, H. Kuhne, and C. W. Hess).

In the first chapter Kuhne gives an introductory account of the site and the project, including details of the disastrous consequences of the disintegration of law and order in Syria after the excavation was inevitably suspended. The supplement case holds "Beilage 1-57," including outsize plans, high-quality color photos, and, as Beilage 29, a huge isometric reconstruction of the precise location of many of the tablets and sealings in Room A.

As expected, the text is essentially in German, but throughout there are summaries in English, some quite lengthy, and there are over thirty pages of Arabic text in Vol. 1. Vol. 2 contains chapter 18, giving the detailed excavation records of the different areas, followed by chapters 19-22 by Jens Rohde, with object catalogues to accompany the texts in Vol. 1, of which chapter 20 dealing with the artifacts from Building P is much the most substantial, occupying pp. 95-252. Thus, the book comprises exemplary reports on the excavation results, providing a fully documented and illustrated account of the standard we have come to expect, with updated study of the ceramics and a comprehensive publication of other artifacts accompanied by some detailed studies on specific topics.

In one respect it is unusual, in...