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143-538: Archeological excavations has revealed a chieftain estate from the 8th century; among the remains is a large number of golden figures. Two comparatively large companies, SIA Glass and Berte Quarn , have their headquarters in the village. The 1971 World Table Tennis Championships singles champion Stellan Bengtsson was born in Slöinge. This article about a location in Halland County , Sweden

286-605: A ziggurat dedicated to the city's tutelary god also existed in Sippar. It was known as Ekunankuga (Siumerian: "house, pure stairway to heaven"). It was rebuilt by Samsu-iluna, Ammi-Saduqa, Neriglissar and Nabonidus. The position of Sippar and its tutelary god has been compared to that of Nippur and Enlil - while both of these gods were high-ranking members of the pantheon, and their cities were centers of religious and scholarly activity, they never constituted major political powers in their own right. It has been suggested that

429-464: A basic level of analysis, artifacts found are cleaned, catalogued and compared to published collections. This comparison process often involves classifying them typologically and identifying other sites with similar artifact assemblages. However, a much more comprehensive range of analytical techniques are available through archaeological science , meaning that artifacts can be dated and their compositions examined. Bones, plants, and pollen collected from

572-563: A big impact throughout Europe. However, prior to the development of modern techniques, excavations tended to be haphazard; the importance of concepts such as stratification and context were overlooked. In the mid-18th century, the German Johann Joachim Winckelmann lived in Rome and devoted himself to the study of Roman antiquities, gradually acquiring an unrivalled knowledge of ancient art. Then, he visited

715-460: A birth incantation erroneously identifies him as a moon god and Narundi as a sun deity, explaining their names as, respectively, Sin and Shamash. The main cult centers of the sun god were Larsa and Sippar , specifically Sippar-Ahrurum (Abu Habbah). The latter city was regarded as older in Mesopotamian tradition, and in lists of temples tends to be mentioned before Larsa. In both cities,

858-401: A clear objective as to what the archaeologists are looking to achieve must be agreed upon. This done, a site is surveyed to find out as much as possible about it and the surrounding area. Second, an excavation may take place to uncover any archaeological features buried under the ground. And, third, the information collected during the excavation is studied and evaluated in an attempt to achieve

1001-410: A connection with light. He is attested in multiple theophoric names, chiefly from Sippar. Some researchers, including Antoine Cavigneaux and Manfred Krebernik, consider the reading of the second element of his name to be uncertain due to variable orthography, and transcribe it as Nin-PIRIG. The pair Nigzida and Nigsisa, whose names mean "law" and "order," respectively, are identified as the "vizier of

1144-590: A divine judge, he could be associated with the underworld . Additionally, he could serve as the god of divination , typically alongside the weather god Adad . While he was universally regarded as one of the primary gods, he was particularly venerated in Sippar and Larsa . The moon god Nanna (Sin) and his wife Ningal were regarded as his parents, while his twin sister was Inanna (Ishtar). Occasionally other goddesses, such as Manzat and Pinikir , could be regarded as his sisters too. The dawn goddess Aya (Sherida)

1287-566: A divine tribunal in which they both partake alongside Idlurugu ( ÍD), a river god also known for his association with justice and judgment who represented ordeal by water . A hymn to Utu states that Idlurugu cannot give judgment without his presence. As an extension of his role as a divine judge, Utu could be associated with the underworld, though this connection is not attested before the Old Babylonian period . In exorcisms, he could be implored to help with bringing restless ghosts to

1430-451: A field survey. Regional survey is the attempt to systematically locate previously unknown sites in a region. Site survey is the attempt to systematically locate features of interest, such as houses and middens , within a site. Each of these two goals may be accomplished with largely the same methods. Survey was not widely practised in the early days of archaeology. Cultural historians and prior researchers were usually content with discovering

1573-484: A lack of public interest, and opposition to the excavation of human remains. In Ancient Mesopotamia , a foundation deposit of the Akkadian Empire ruler Naram-Sin (ruled c.  2200 BC ) was discovered and analysed by king Nabonidus , c.  550 BC , who is thus known as the first archaeologist. Not only did he lead the first excavations which were to find the foundation deposits of

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1716-528: A large region or site can be expensive, so archaeologists often employ sampling methods.) As with other forms of non-destructive archaeology, survey avoids ethical issues (of particular concern to descendant peoples) associated with destroying a site through excavation. It is the only way to gather some forms of information, such as settlement patterns and settlement structure. Survey data are commonly assembled into maps , which may show surface features and/or artifact distribution. The simplest survey technique

1859-408: A large saw ( šaššaru ) and rays of light emanating from his shoulders. The reasons behind associating him with the former are poorly understood, and various interpretations have been proposed, for example that it was a representation of the first ray of sunshine of the day, that it was associated with judgment, perhaps as a weapon used to behead criminals, or that the sun god used it to break through

2002-464: A more recent publication that the logogram commonly designates Shamash in the middle Euphrates area, and syllabic writings of his name are uncommon there, though he also states that Shimige cannot be ruled out as a possible reading in some cases. In texts from Susa , Haft Tepe and Malamir in Elam the name of the sun god was usually written logographically as UTU and it is uncertain when it refers to

2145-406: A number of them were daughters or sisters of kings. Both Zimri-Lim of Mari and Hammurabi of Babylon had nadītu of Shamash among their female family members. A ceremony called lubuštu was established in Sippar by Nabu-apla-iddina. It involved providing the statues of Shamash, Aya and Bunene with new garments at specific dates throughout the year. Records indicate it was still celebrated in

2288-505: A secondary hypostasis . Occasionally the sun deity's gender had to be indicated directly, and both UTU- munus (female) and UTU- nita (male) are attested. Joan Goodnick Westenholz proposed that Ninkar in Eblaite texts should be interpreted as Ninkarrak rather than the phonetically similar but more obscure Mesopotamian Ninkar. Occasional shortening of Ninkarrak's name to "Ninkar" is known from Mesopotamian sources as well. This theory

2431-462: A site can all be analyzed using the methods of zooarchaeology , paleoethnobotany , palynology and stable isotopes while any texts can usually be deciphered . Shamash Shamash ( Akkadian : šamaš ), also known as Utu ( Sumerian : utu 𒀭𒌓 " Sun " ) was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god . He was believed to see everything that happened in the world every day, and was therefore responsible for justice and protection of travelers. As

2574-504: A site excavated depends greatly on the country and "method statement" issued. Sampling is even more important in excavation than in survey. Sometimes large mechanical equipment, such as backhoes ( JCBs ), is used in excavation, especially to remove the topsoil ( overburden ), though this method is increasingly used with great caution. Following this rather dramatic step, the exposed area is usually hand-cleaned with trowels or hoes to ensure that all features are apparent. The next task

2717-414: A site reveals its stratigraphy; if a site was occupied by a succession of distinct cultures, artifacts from more recent cultures will lie above those from more ancient cultures. Excavation is the most expensive phase of archaeological research, in relative terms. Also, as a destructive process, it carries ethical concerns. As a result, very few sites are excavated in their entirety. Again the percentage of

2860-408: A sole source. The material record may be closer to a fair representation of society, though it is subject to its own biases, such as sampling bias and differential preservation. Often, archaeology provides the only means to learn of the existence and behaviors of people of the past. Across the millennia many thousands of cultures and societies and billions of people have come and gone of which there

3003-527: A stone wall, will develop more slowly, while those above other types of features (such as middens ) may develop more rapidly. Photographs of ripening grain , which changes colour rapidly at maturation, have revealed buried structures with great precision. Aerial photographs taken at different times of day will help show the outlines of structures by changes in shadows. Aerial survey also employs ultraviolet , infrared , ground-penetrating radar wavelengths, Lidar and thermography . Geophysical survey can be

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3146-483: A symbol instead. The symbolic representation of Utu was the sun disc , typically represented as a four-pointed star with wavy lines placed between the points. It is attested as early as in the Sargonic period, and continued to be represented in art through the rest of history of ancient Mesopotamia. It is well known from kudurru (boundary stones), where it is typically depicted in the first row of symbols, next to

3289-487: A systematic guide to the ruins and topography of ancient Rome in the early 15th century, for which he has been called an early founder of archaeology. Antiquarians of the 16th century, including John Leland and William Camden , conducted surveys of the English countryside, drawing, describing and interpreting the monuments that they encountered. The OED first cites "archaeologist" from 1824; this soon took over as

3432-403: A time. Bunene , also known under the name Papnunna, was considered his chariot driver. Frans Wiggermann notes that his name and character (as well as these of other well attested sukkals of major city gods: Ninshubur , Alammush , Nuska and Isimud ) do not appear to show direct connection with these of his master, which means that he cannot be considered the personification of the effect of

3575-451: A title of Aya). Craftsmen employed by the Eanna were also responsible for repairing the paraphernalia of the deities of Ebabbar. Such a situation is otherwise unknown, as each temple usually maintained its own workshop. A treasury of Shamash and Aya, distinct from that of the Eanna, is nonetheless attested. Ebabbar most likely remained under control of the temple administration from Uruk in

3718-402: A tradition in which he was the supreme god of the pantheon did exist, but never found official support and its spread was limited to the clergy in Sippar and to a smaller degree Larsa . Common epithets characterize Utu as a "youth" ( Sumerian šul , Akkadian eṭlu ) and "hero" (Sumerian ursaĝ , Akkadian qarrādu ). As a representation of the sun, he was believed to travel every day through

3861-495: A wide range of influences, including systems theory , neo-evolutionary thought , [35] phenomenology , postmodernism , agency theory , cognitive science , structural functionalism , Marxism , gender-based and feminist archaeology , queer theory , postcolonial thoughts , materiality , and posthumanism . An archaeological investigation usually involves several distinct phases, each of which employs its own variety of methods. Before any practical work can begin, however,

4004-598: A wife, the scribes interpreted the name of Aya, present in the Sumerian original, as an unconventional writing of Ea . Instead of the Hurrian spelling of Aya, the name Eyan corresponds to him in the Hurrian column and Ugaritic one lists the local craftsman god Kothar-wa-Khasis . The logogram UTU is well attested in Hittite texts. In addition to Utu himself and his Akkadian counterpart, the deities represented by it were

4147-399: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Archeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture . The archaeological record consists of artifacts , architecture , biofacts or ecofacts, sites , and cultural landscapes . Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of

4290-412: Is a function also well attested for other divine spouses, such as Ninmug and Shala. It has also been pointed out that in the case of Inanna, her sukkal Ninshubur fulfilled a similar role. In legal texts from Sippar, the sun god and his wife commonly appear as divine witnesses. The only other divine couple attested in this role in this city are Mamu and Bunene . Buduhudug, a mythical mountain where

4433-400: Is a symbolic representation of a conflict between day and night, or that the deities confronted by Utu and his allies are rebellious mountain gods. Wilfred G. Lambert suggested that in some cases figures from battle scenes with rays emanating from their shoulders might be representations of Enmesharra rather than the sun god, as in a tradition known from a late myth, Enmesharra's Defeat, he

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4576-460: Is additionally equated with Lugalbanda in it, most likely because the Hurrian pantheon was smaller than that enumerated in Mesopotamian lists, creating the need to have a single Hurrian deity correspond to multiple Mesopotamian ones. The same list also attests the equivalence between Utu, Shimige and the Ugaritic sun goddess Shapash (Šapšu). Apparently to avoid the implications that Shapash had

4719-545: Is agreed that the role of the sun and deities representing it in Mesopotamian religion was not comparable to that known from ancient Egyptian religion . Based on the attestations of theophoric names such as Shamash-bel-ili ( Akkadian : "Shamash is the lord of the gods"), Shamash-Enlil-ili ("Shamash is the Enlil of the gods") and Shamash-ashared-ili ("Shamash is the foremost of the gods"), Wilfred G. Lambert proposed that

4862-495: Is also accepted by Archi, who notes it makes the widespread worship of Ninkar easier to explain. The Hurrian sun god, Shimige , is already represented by the logogram UTU in an inscription of Atalshen, an early king of Urkesh . It is the oldest known reference to him. He is directly equated with Utu in the trilingual Sumero-Hurro- Ugaritic version of the Weidner god list from Ugarit . It has been argued that his character

5005-596: Is also attested in some theophoric names from the Early Dynastic period. However, no evidence exists that Marduk was ever viewed as a member of the family of any sun deity in Sippar, Larsa or any other location in Mesopotamia, which lead Wilfred G. Lambert to suggest this etymology is not plausible on theological grounds. Multiple deities who could be regarded as the sukkal (attendant deity) of Utu are known, and more than one could appear in this role at

5148-606: Is distinct from palaeontology , which is the study of fossil remains. Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for which, by definition, there are no written records. Prehistory includes over 99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until the advent of literacy in societies around the world. Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time. Derived from Greek,

5291-451: Is little or no written record or existing records are misrepresentative or incomplete. Writing as it is known today did not exist in human civilization until the 4th millennium BC, in a relatively small number of technologically advanced civilizations. In contrast, Homo sapiens has existed for at least 200,000 years, and other species of Homo for millions of years (see Human evolution ). These civilizations are, not coincidentally,

5434-426: Is no one approach to archaeological theory that has been adhered to by all archaeologists. When archaeology developed in the late 19th century, the first approach to archaeological theory to be practised was that of cultural-historical archaeology , which held the goal of explaining why cultures changed and adapted rather than just highlighting the fact that they did, therefore emphasizing historical particularism . In

5577-502: Is particularly well attested in the Old Babylonian period, and it has been argued that the institution first developed around 1880 BCE, during the reign of Sumu-la-El of Babylon. Nadītu lived in a building referred to as gagûm , conventionally translated as " cloister ," and Tonia Sharlach notes they can be compared to medieval Christian nuns . They are sometimes described as "priestesses" in modern literature, but while it

5720-507: Is particularly well attested, and the latter could be associated with Aya as well. While no myths focusing on Utu are known, he often appears as an ally of other figures in both Sumerian and Akkadian compositions. According to narratives about Dumuzi 's death, he helped protect him when the galla demons tried to drag him to the underworld. In various versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh and in earlier Gilgamesh myths, he helps this hero defeat

5863-542: Is possible that these events took place during a border conflict between Umma and Lagash. Theophoric names invoking Utu are well attested in texts from this area. Examples include Shubur-Utu, Utu-amu and Utu-kiag. A temple of Utu, Ehili ("house of luxuriance") also existed in Ur. It was rebuilt by Enannatumma, the daughter of Ishme-Dagan , whose inscriptions refer to it as the god's "pure storeroom." A town located near this city, most likely somewhere between it and Larsa, bore

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6006-443: Is reflected or emitted from the observed scene. Passive instruments sense only radiation emitted by the object being viewed or reflected by the object from a source other than the instrument. Active instruments emit energy and record what is reflected. Satellite imagery is an example of passive remote sensing. Here are two active remote sensing instruments: The archaeological project then continues (or alternatively, begins) with

6149-464: Is shown handing them to human rulers. Utu was commonly depicted on cylinder seals as early as in the third millennium BCE. Multiple motifs recur on them, some not known from textual sources. On seals from the Sargonic period , he could be depicted climbing over two mountains, which has been interpreted as a representation of sunrise. He was also commonly depicted traveling in a boat. This motif

6292-428: Is surface survey. It involves combing an area, usually on foot but sometimes with the use of mechanized transport, to search for features or artifacts visible on the surface. Surface survey cannot detect sites or features that are completely buried under earth, or overgrown with vegetation. Surface survey may also include mini-excavation techniques such as augers , corers, and shovel test pits. If no materials are found,

6435-430: Is the single best attested type of cylinder seal image from the third millennium BCE, with over fifty examples presently known. Another recurring image is a depiction of Utu, sometimes accompanied by another god, partaking in a battle between deities. The attendant deity is sometimes interpreted as Bunene . In some cases Inanna is shown watching the battle or partaking in it on Utu's side. It has been suggested that it

6578-596: Is through archaeology. Because archaeology is the study of past human activity, it stretches back to about 2.5 million years ago when the first stone tools are found – The Oldowan Industry . Many important developments in human history occurred during prehistory, such as the evolution of humanity during the Paleolithic period, when the hominins developed from the australopithecines in Africa and eventually into modern Homo sapiens . Archaeology also sheds light on many of humanity's technological advances, for instance

6721-431: Is to form a site plan and then use it to help decide the method of excavation. Features dug into the natural subsoil are normally excavated in portions to produce a visible archaeological section for recording. A feature, for example a pit or a ditch, consists of two parts: the cut and the fill . The cut describes the edge of the feature, where the feature meets the natural soil. It is the feature's boundary. The fill

6864-514: Is uncertain if it was identical with Ebabbar of Assur mentioned in a later topographical text. Additionally, Ehulhuldirdirra ("house of surpassing joys"), while primarily dedicated to Sin , was also associated with Shamash, as attested in building inscriptions of Ashur-nirari I , Tukulti-Ninurta I and Ashurnasirpal II . A sanctuary in Nippur known in Akkadian as bīt dalīli , "house of fame,"

7007-448: Is well attested that they were considered to be dedicated to a specific deity, there is little evidence for their involvement in religious activities other than personal prayer. It is not impossible they were understood as a fully separate social class. Family background of individual nadītu varied, though they came predominantly from the higher strata of society. While many came from families of craftsmen, scribes or military officials,

7150-420: Is what the feature is filled with, and will often appear quite distinct from the natural soil. The cut and fill are given consecutive numbers for recording purposes. Scaled plans and sections of individual features are all drawn on site, black and white and colour photographs of them are taken, and recording sheets are filled in describing the context of each. All this information serves as a permanent record of

7293-409: The Epic of Gilgamesh . Manfred Krebernik argues that in early sources, his chariot was drawn by lions, but this has been questioned by Marco Bonechi. Nathan Wasserman in his translation of a fragment of a hymn to Utu mentioning the animals only refers to them as "beasts." Sunrise and sunset were described as the sun god passing through cosmic gates situated on twin mountains on the opposite ends of

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7436-700: The Achaemenid period, during the reign of Darius I . The Ebabbar in Larsa is mentioned for the first time in a text from the reign Eannatum . It was rebuilt, expanded or repaired by Ur-Nammu of Ur , Zabaya , Sin-Iddinam , Hammurabi, one of the two rulers bearing the name Kadashman-Enlil ( Kadashman-Enlil I or Kadashman-Enlil II ), Burnaburiash I , Nebuchadnezzar II and Nabonidus. Other rulers who have patronized it at some point include Gungunum , Abisare , Sumuel , Nur-Adad , Sin-Iqisham , Kudur-Mabuk , Warad-Sin and Rim-Sîn I . Odette Boivin notes that

7579-588: The Arameans viewed the solar deity as male, like Sumerians and Akkadians. According to Manfred Krebernik, the name Amna, attested as a synonym of Utu in the god list An = Anum and used to refer to the sun god in an inscription of Nabonidus , might be either connected to the toponym Sippar-Amnanum or to a root attested in Northwest Semitic languages , ' -m-n , which can be translated as "to be reliable" or "to be firm." The most common writing of

7722-564: The Early Dynastic god list from Fara . The relation between them could be illustrated by matching epithets, for example in the god list An = Anum Utu is the "small boat of heaven" (Mabanda-anna), while his father Nanna - the "great boat of heaven" (Magula-anna). Ningal was regarded as Utu's mother, and Inanna as his sister. Hymn to the Queen of Nippur refers to them as twins. Due to her identification with Ishtar (Inanna)

7865-568: The Eblaite sun deity was represented with the logogram UTU. Manfred Krebernik assumes that it should be read as Shamash, that the deity was male, and that the goddess Ninkar also attested in texts from Ebla was his spouse. Alfonso Archi instead concludes that the deity was primarily female based on lexical evidence, but points out that the Eblaites were definitely aware of the male eastern sun god, and seemingly adopted him into their pantheon as

8008-534: The Hellenistic period , though known names of the city's inhabitants from this period are predominantly Greek, rather than Mesopotamian. Utu was among the deities worshiped in the territory of Lagash in the Early Dynastic period . A dais dedicated to him existed in Namnuda-kigarra. It was originally erected by Eannatum, then destroyed by Ur-Lumma of Umma , and finally rebuilt by Entemena . It

8151-545: The Hurrian and Elamite goddess Pinikir is referred to as a twin sister of Shamash and daughter of Sin (Nanna) and Ningal in a text written in Akkadian but found in a corpus of Hurro - Hittite rituals. In a single Maqlû incantation, the rainbow goddess Manzat is referred to as Shamash's sister and as a daughter of Sin and Ningal. The sun god's wife was invariably the goddess of dawn and light, usually known under

8294-607: The Kassite period , Uruk most likely gained influence over it, and in the Neo-Babylonian period , the Ebabbar was functionally a subordinate temple of Eanna . Multiple letters attest that the latter was responsible for providing commodities required for the performance of various rites in the former, for example sacrificial animals or wool for garments of divine statues of Shamash and Belet Larsa ("Lady of Larsa," most likely

8437-478: The Sargonic period . Evidence for the worship of Shamash in the third millennium BCE is available from the entire Akkadian-speaking area, from Mari and western Mesopotamian cities like Sippar, through Agade , to the Diyala area. Celebrations related to the sun god took place on the eighth, fifteenth, twentieth and possibly first day of each month. In the Early Dynastic period kings of Mari most likely visited

8580-522: The Sun goddess of Arinna ( UTU Arinna ), the Sun goddess of the Earth ( taknaš UTU), the male Sun god of Heaven ( nepišaš UTU, UTU AN , UTU ŠAME), as well as Luwian Tiwat , Palaic Tiyaz and Hurrian Shimige. Gary Beckman notes that the Hittite conception of solar deities does not show any Indo-European influence, and instead was largely similar to that known from Mesopotamia. He points out even

8723-530: The humanities . It is usually considered an independent academic discipline , but may also be classified as part of anthropology (in North America – the four-field approach ), history or geography . Archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology

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8866-580: The trench method , on several Native American burial mounds in Virginia . His excavations were prompted by the "Moundbuilders" question ; however, his careful methods led him to admit he saw no reason why ancestors of the Native Americans of his time could not have raised those mounds. One of the major achievements of 19th-century archaeology was the development of stratigraphy . The idea of overlapping strata tracing back to successive periods

9009-500: The 1870s. These scholars individuated nine different cities that had overlapped with one another, from prehistory to the Hellenistic period . Meanwhile, the work of Sir Arthur Evans at Knossos in Crete revealed the ancient existence of an equally advanced Minoan civilization . The next major figure in the development of archaeology was Sir Mortimer Wheeler , whose highly disciplined approach to excavation and systematic coverage in

9152-642: The 1920s and 1930s brought the science on swiftly. Wheeler developed the grid system of excavation , which was further improved by his student Kathleen Kenyon . Archaeology became a professional activity in the first half of the 20th century, and it became possible to study archaeology as a subject in universities and even schools. By the end of the 20th century nearly all professional archaeologists, at least in developed countries, were graduates. Further adaptation and innovation in archaeology continued in this period, when maritime archaeology and urban archaeology became more prevalent and rescue archaeology

9295-631: The Ebabbar in Sippar served as a treasury housing particularly rare objects, as excavations of the Neo-Babylonian level of the structure revealed a number of vases from the Early Dynastic and Sargonic periods, some with signs of repair, as well as the votive statue of Ikun-Shamash, a fragment of a monolith of Manishtushu, a macehead of Shar-Kali-Sharri , a whetstone of Tukulti-Mer of Hana , and other objects from earlier periods of Mesopotamian history. A special group connected to Shamash in Sippar were women referred to as nadītu . Their existence

9438-707: The Ebabbar in Sippar to pay homage to its deity. In later periods, it was renovated by multiple rulers, including Naram-Sin of Akkad (who installed his daughter Šumšani as ēntum-priestess), Sabium of Babylon , Samsu-iluna of Babylon, who called himself "beloved of Shamash and Aya," one of the Kassite rulers bearing the name Kurigalzu ( Kurigalzu I or Kurigalzu II ), Ashurbanipal , Shamash-shum-ukin , Nebuchadnezzar II and Nabonidus . Many other kings are known to have patronized or visited it at some point, including Manishtushu , Apil-Sin , Hammurabi , Abi-Eshuh , Ammi-Ditana , Ammi-Saduqa , Samsu-Ditana , Simbar-shipak and Nabu-apla-iddina . In addition to Ebabbar,

9581-451: The Mesopotamian deity, and when to local Nahhunte . It is possible that in legal texts, when UTU occurs next to Elamite deities Inshushinak , Ruhurater or Simut , the latter option is correct. While the god list An=Anum does mention Nahhunte, he is not explicitly labeled as a counterpart of Utu, and only appears as a member of a group called the "Divine Seven of Elam," associated with the goddess Narundi . A Mesopotamian commentary on

9724-505: The Song period, were revived in the 17th century during the Qing dynasty , but were always considered a branch of Chinese historiography rather than a separate discipline of archaeology. In Renaissance Europe , philosophical interest in the remains of Greco - Roman civilization and the rediscovery of classical culture began in the late Middle Ages , with humanism . Cyriacus of Ancona

9867-676: The Spanish military engineer Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre in the ancient towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum , both of which had been covered by ash during the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 . These excavations began in 1748 in Pompeii, while in Herculaneum they began in 1738. The discovery of entire towns, complete with utensils and even human shapes, as well the unearthing of frescos , had

10010-767: The UK, metal detectorists have been solicited for involvement in the Portable Antiquities Scheme . Regional survey in underwater archaeology uses geophysical or remote sensing devices such as marine magnetometer, side-scan sonar , or sub-bottom sonar. Archaeological excavation existed even when the field was still the domain of amateurs, and it remains the source of the majority of data recovered in most field projects. It can reveal several types of information usually not accessible to survey, such as stratigraphy , three-dimensional structure, and verifiably primary context. Modern excavation techniques require that

10153-426: The ability to use fire, the development of stone tools , the discovery of metallurgy , the beginnings of religion and the creation of agriculture . Without archaeology, little or nothing would be known about the use of material culture by humanity that pre-dates writing. However, it is not only prehistoric, pre-literate cultures that can be studied using archaeology but historic, literate cultures as well, through

10296-408: The archaeological excavations being conducted at Pompeii and Herculaneum . He was one of the founders of scientific archaeology and first applied the categories of style on a large, systematic basis to the history of art He was one of the first to separate Greek art into periods and time classifications. Winckelmann has been called both "The prophet and founding hero of modern archaeology " and

10439-434: The area surveyed is deemed sterile . Aerial survey is conducted using cameras attached to airplanes , balloons , UAVs , or even Kites . A bird's-eye view is useful for quick mapping of large or complex sites. Aerial photographs are used to document the status of the archaeological dig. Aerial imaging can also detect many things not visible from the surface. Plants growing above a buried human-made structure, such as

10582-560: The artifacts they had found in chronological order. A major figure in the development of archaeology into a rigorous science was army officer and ethnologist Augustus Pitt Rivers , who began excavations on his land in England in the 1880s. Highly methodical by the standards of the time, he is widely regarded as the first scientific archaeologist. He arranged his artifacts by type or " Typology (archaeology) ", and within types chronologically. This style of arrangement, designed to highlight

10725-563: The best-known; they are open to the inquiry of historians for centuries, while the study of pre-historic cultures has arisen only recently. Within a literate civilization many events and important human practices may not be officially recorded. Any knowledge of the early years of human civilization – the development of agriculture, cult practices of folk religion, the rise of the first cities – must come from archaeology. In addition to their scientific importance, archaeological remains sometimes have political or cultural significance to descendants of

10868-429: The corresponding major deity's actions (unlike such deities as Nabium, deified flame and sukkal of the fire god Girra or Nimgir, deified lightning and sukkal of the weather god Ishkur ) or a divine personifications of specific commands (unlike such deities as Eturammi, "do not slacken," the sukkal of Birtum ). Ninpirig was referred to as Utu's sukkalmah ("great sukkal"). It has been proposed that his name might hint at

11011-501: The deified concept of truth , according to Jacob Klein regarded as his principal daughter, and Ishum . In myths both about himself and about Lugalbanda , the legendary king Enmerkar was referred to as a son of Utu. However, in the Sumerian King List Utu is instead his grandfather, and his father is a human ruler, Meškiağašer . Unlike other legendary kings of Uruk, namely Lugalbanda and Gilgamesh , Enmerkar

11154-527: The deities of Larsa were apparently well represented in the pantheon of the First Sealand dynasty . She suggests that those kings might have associated their position both with Larsa and with its tutelary god. The Larsean form of the sun god was also worshiped in Uruk and a close connection between these two cities is well documented. At an unknown point in time after Larsa's loss of status, possibly in

11297-518: The earliest Sumerian sources Ishkur, who was analogous to Adad, was not associated with divination, it is possible that it was based on the association between Hadad and the solar deity in Ebla and possibly elsewhere in Syria and Upper Mesopotamia . According to a late ritual text, Shamash and Adad were responsible for teaching divination to the mythical king Enmeduranki . Subsequently, he taught it to

11440-473: The early 20th century, many archaeologists who studied past societies with direct continuing links to existing ones (such as those of Native Americans , Siberians , Mesoamericans etc.) followed the direct historical approach , compared the continuity between the past and contemporary ethnic and cultural groups. In the 1960s, an archaeological movement largely led by American archaeologists like Lewis Binford and Kent Flannery arose that rebelled against

11583-615: The eight-pointed star representing Inanna (Ishtar) and the crescent representing Nanna (Sin). Additionally the symbol of a winged sun came to be associated with the sun god in Assyria in the first millennium BCE. Some depictions of it add a bird tail as well. It only arrived in Babylonia during the reign of Nabonidus . The sun god was traditionally viewed as a son of the moon god in Mesopotamian religion, both in Sumerian and Akkadian texts. They are already attested as father and son in

11726-643: The empirical evidence that existed for the understanding of the past, encapsulated in the motto of the 18th century antiquary, Sir Richard Colt Hoare : "We speak from facts, not theory". Tentative steps towards the systematization of archaeology as a science took place during the Enlightenment period in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. In Imperial China during the Song dynasty (960–1279), figures such as Ouyang Xiu and Zhao Mingcheng established

11869-644: The established cultural-history archaeology. They proposed a "New Archaeology", which would be more "scientific" and "anthropological", with hypothesis testing and the scientific method very important parts of what became known as processual archaeology . In the 1980s, a new postmodern movement arose led by the British archaeologists Michael Shanks , Christopher Tilley , Daniel Miller , and Ian Hodder , which has become known as post-processual archaeology . It questioned processualism's appeals to scientific positivism and impartiality, and emphasized

12012-633: The evolutionary trends in human artifacts, was of enormous significance for the accurate dating of the objects. His most important methodological innovation was his insistence that all artifacts, not just beautiful or unique ones, be collected and catalogued. William Flinders Petrie is another man who may legitimately be called the Father of Archaeology. His painstaking recording and study of artifacts, both in Egypt and later in Palestine , laid down many of

12155-651: The fact that the Sun god of Heaven was believed to travel in a quadriga drawn by horses, similar to Greek Helios , is not necessarily an example of the former, as deities traveling in chariots are already depicted on Mesopotamian seals from the Sargonic period. The logogram UTU also designated the sun deity or deities in Emar in the late Bronze Age . According to Gary Beckman, the Mesopotamian, West Semitic, Hurrian and Hittite sun deities might all be potentially represented by it in texts from this city. Eduardo Torrecilla notes in

12298-538: The father of the discipline of art history . The father of archaeological excavation was William Cunnington (1754–1810). He undertook excavations in Wiltshire from around 1798, funded by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Cunnington made meticulous recordings of Neolithic and Bronze Age barrows , and the terms he used to categorize and describe them are still used by archaeologists today. Future U.S. President Thomas Jefferson also did his own excavations in 1784 using

12441-765: The fifteenth century, and the general accuracy of his records entitles him to be called the founding father of modern classical archeology." He traveled throughout Greece and all around the Eastern Mediterranean, to record his findings on ancient buildings, statues and inscriptions, including archaeological remains still unknown to his time: the Parthenon , Delphi , the Egyptian pyramids , the hieroglyphics . He noted down his archaeological discoveries in his diary, Commentaria (in six volumes). Flavio Biondo , an Italian Renaissance humanist historian, created

12584-528: The first history books of India. One of the first sites to undergo archaeological excavation was Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments in England. John Aubrey (1626–1697) was a pioneer archaeologist who recorded numerous megalithic and other field monuments in southern England. He was also ahead of his time in the analysis of his findings. He attempted to chart the chronological stylistic evolution of handwriting, medieval architecture, costume, and shield-shapes. Excavations were also carried out by

12727-597: The first millennium BCE, the so-called Sun God Tablet . It is commonly discussed in scholarship, and has been described as "one of the masterpieces of ancient Near Eastern art." It was discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in December 1880 during his excavations in Abu Habbah in modern Iraq . Its discovery subsequently made it possible to identify this site with Sippar. It dates to the Neo-Babylonian period, but its style has been described as "archaizing," and most likely

12870-475: The ideas behind modern archaeological recording; he remarked that "I believe the true line of research lies in the noting and comparison of the smallest details." Petrie developed the system of dating layers based on pottery and ceramic findings , which revolutionized the chronological basis of Egyptology . Petrie was the first to scientifically investigate the Great Pyramid in Egypt during the 1880s. He

13013-472: The importance of a more self-critical theoretical reflexivity . However, this approach has been criticized by processualists as lacking scientific rigor, and the validity of both processualism and post-processualism is still under debate. Meanwhile, another theory, known as historical processualism , has emerged seeking to incorporate a focus on process and post-processual archaeology's emphasis of reflexivity and history. Archaeological theory now borrows from

13156-664: The joy of heaven and the underworld"), built by Yahdun-Lim . An inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II might indicate that the sun god's manifestation from Larsa was also worshiped in Ekarra ("house of the quay"), a temple located in Dilmun , on the Failaka Island , which was dedicated to the local deities Inzak and Meskilak . The Canonical Temple List , which dates to the Kassite period, mentions further temples, whose location

13299-419: The land of the dead. In this capacity he could be associated with the deified legendary king Gilgamesh , commonly portrayed in a similar role. Shamash and Adad were jointly regarded as gods of divination , especially extispicy . The connection between the sun god and the weather god is well attested in Mesopotamian sources and goes back to the Old Babylonian period. Its origin is uncertain, but since in

13442-399: The left" and "vizier of the right" in the god list An = Anum . Nigsisa alone is mentioned by Ninsun as Shamash's sukkal in the Epic of Gilgamesh . Nigzida could be equated with Niggina, another goddess regarded as the sun god's sukkal, though the latter deity's role varies between that of a servant and oldest daughter in known copies of the god list An = Anum . Her Akkadian counterpart

13585-444: The lives and interests of the populace. Writings that were produced by people more representative of the general population were unlikely to find their way into libraries and be preserved there for posterity. Thus, written records tend to reflect the biases, assumptions, cultural values and possibly deceptions of a limited range of individuals, usually a small fraction of the larger population. Hence, written records cannot be trusted as

13728-671: The locations of monumental sites from the local populace, and excavating only the plainly visible features there. Gordon Willey pioneered the technique of regional settlement pattern survey in 1949 in the Viru Valley of coastal Peru , and survey of all levels became prominent with the rise of processual archaeology some years later. Survey work has many benefits if performed as a preliminary exercise to, or even in place of, excavation. It requires relatively little time and expense, because it does not require processing large volumes of soil to search out artifacts. (Nevertheless, surveying

13871-540: The main temple dedicated to Utu and his spouse Aya was known as Ebabbar. Less important temples dedicated to him, located in Girsu and Assur , bore the same name. It means "shining white house "in Sumerian . The oldest attested votive objects dedicated to Utu (or Shamash) are a mace head from Ur offered by a king named Anbu or Anunbu, and a statuette from Sippar from the reign of Ikun-Shamash of Mari . Both predate

14014-537: The monstrous Humbaba . In the myth Inanna and An , he helps his sister acquire the temple Eanna . In How Grain Came to Sumer , he is invoked to advise Ninazu and Ninmada . The two most common names of the sun god used in Mesopotamian texts are Sumerian Utu and Akkadian Shamash. A further relatively commonly attested name is Amna, whose origin is uncertain. The name Shamash is a cognate of Akkadian terms šamšu ("sun") and šamšatu (" solar disc "), as well as

14157-724: The most effective way to see beneath the ground. Magnetometers detect minute deviations in the Earth's magnetic field caused by iron artifacts, kilns , some types of stone structures , and even ditches and middens. Devices that measure the electrical resistivity of the soil are also widely used. Archaeological features whose electrical resistivity contrasts with that of surrounding soils can be detected and mapped. Some archaeological features (such as those composed of stone or brick) have higher resistivity than typical soils, while others (such as organic deposits or unfired clay) tend to have lower resistivity. Although some archaeologists consider

14300-416: The mountains during his daily journey. Christopher Woods points out that both in Sumerian and Akkadian, judgments had to be "cut" ( kud / parāsum ), and therefore considers the association with judgment to be most likely. The saw's presence is often used to identify depictions of gods as Utu. He could also be depicted holding the rod-and-ring symbol , commonly associated with major deities. In some cases he

14443-470: The name Aya , though the forms Ninkar, Sudaĝ, Sherida and Sudgan are also well attested. Typically they were worshiped together, though sometimes Shamash shared his temples with other gods instead. Utu/Shamash and Aya are the single most common divine couple in cylinder seal inscriptions from Sippar , with only the number of dedications to Ishkur and Shala being comparably high. Aya was believed to intercede with her husband on behalf of worshipers, which

14586-469: The name Kar-Shamash, KAR. UTU . Most likely a temple dedicated to the eponymous god existed there as well. In Babylon, Shamash was worshiped in the temple Edikukalamma ("house of the judge of the land"), first attested in the Old Babylonian period and still mentioned in inscriptions from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. He was also one of the many gods worshiped in the Esagil temple complex, where his seat

14729-487: The name was most likely Śameš, though many variant syllabic spellings are attested. Additionally, the name for the sun in Mandaean cosmology , Shamish ( Mandaic language : ࡔࡀࡌࡉࡔ ), is derived from Akkadian Shamash. Utu was understood as a masculine deity. According to Manfred Krebernik, this most likely also resulted in his Akkadian counterpart being viewed as such, even though in the majority of Semitic languages both

14872-717: The names of his wife Aya ), Nimindu (possibly related to the name of the goddess Nimintabba ), Si'e ("who shines forth"), Ṣalam (possibly a name referring to a winged sun symbol) and U'e ("sunrise"). The sun god was one of the principal deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon . In the Early Dynastic god list from Fara , he is the sixth among the deities listed, after Anu , Enlil , Inanna , Enki and Nanna . In later god lists, for example in An = Anum , he and his circle appears between Nanna (Sin) and Ishkur (Adad). The Old Babylonian Nippur god list instead places him between Ishkur and Ninurta . Despite Utu's typical high status, it

15015-443: The now-destroyed archaeology and is used in describing and interpreting the site. Once artifacts and structures have been excavated, or collected from surface surveys, it is necessary to properly study them. This process is known as post-excavation analysis , and is usually the most time-consuming part of an archaeological investigation. It is not uncommon for final excavation reports for major sites to take years to be published. At

15158-472: The only available evidence are early ambiguous theophoric names, which according to him do not necessarily point at the existence of female Shamash, and might omit prepositions necessary to identify the gender of the deity invoked in them. Manfred Krebernik notes that a well known example of a female deity in what he deems the "cuneiform cultural sphere" is Shapash . At the same time, both the Amorites and

15301-529: The original research objectives of the archaeologists. It is then considered good practice for the information to be published so that it is available to other archaeologists and historians, although this is sometimes neglected. Before actually starting to dig in a location, remote sensing can be used to look where sites are located within a large area or provide more information about sites or regions. There are two types of remote sensing instruments—passive and active. Passive instruments detect natural energy that

15444-413: The past. Since its early development, various specific sub-disciplines of archaeology have developed, including maritime archaeology , feminist archaeology , and archaeoastronomy , and numerous different scientific techniques have been developed to aid archaeological investigation. Nonetheless, today, archaeologists face many problems, such as dealing with pseudoarchaeology , the looting of artifacts,

15587-399: The people of Sippar, Nippur and Babylon . Whether referred to as Utu or Shamash, the sun god had identical iconography. Due to distinct attributes, he is considered one of the few Mesopotamian deities who can be identified in art with certainty. Depictions of him are known from many sites, for example Eshnunna, Tell al-Rimah , Sippar , Ur and Susa . His best attested attributes are

15730-698: The people who produced them, monetary value to collectors, or strong aesthetic appeal. Many people identify archaeology with the recovery of such aesthetic, religious, political, or economic treasures rather than with the reconstruction of past societies. This view is often espoused in works of popular fiction, such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Mummy, and King Solomon's Mines. When unrealistic subjects are treated more seriously, accusations of pseudoscience are invariably levelled at their proponents (see Pseudoarchaeology ) . However, these endeavours, real and fictional, are not representative of modern archaeology. There

15873-550: The precise locations of objects and features, known as their provenance or provenience, be recorded. This always involves determining their horizontal locations, and sometimes vertical position as well (also see Primary Laws of Archaeology ). Likewise, their association , or relationship with nearby objects and features , needs to be recorded for later analysis. This allows the archaeologist to deduce which artifacts and features were likely used together and which may be from different phases of activity. For example, excavation of

16016-414: The primary god of justice, presumably because due to traveling through the sky every day he was believed to see everything that happened in the world. He could be assisted in this role by his father Nanna , his sister Inanna , and various minor judge deities. At least in the third millennium BCE, Ishtaran was regarded as a divine judge equal in rank to Utu, and a fragment of a myth from Ebla mentions

16159-573: The reign of Rim-Sîn I , a king of Larsa well known for his devotion to Ninshubur. Many deities belonging to the court of Utu were regarded as divine judges. They could be grouped together, and collective labels such as "Eleven Standing Gods of Ebabbar" or "Six Judges of Shamash" are known from various sources. One well known example of such a deity is Ishmekarab , who could also be associated with Inshushinak and Lagamal . Kusarikku (bull-men, or, as argued by Frans Wiggermann, bison -men ) were frequently associated with Utu, and especially through

16302-462: The second millennium BCE were commonly depicted as members of his court, for example as standard bearers. Similarly, the human-headed bull ( alima ) could accompany the solar disc in art, and a reference to its head serving as an emblem of Utu is known. It is possible that the association between bison-like mythical beings and the sun god was based on their shared connection to eastern mountains. A further type of apotropaic creature associated with Utu

16445-464: The sky from east to west, and at night in the opposite direction through AN.ŠAG 4 , a "nether sky" located directly above the underworld , though the notion of a night journey only developed later, and in sources from the third millennium BCE Utu usually rests at night. A reference to the latter tradition is also known from the "Standard Babylonian" version of the Epic of Gilgamesh , where Shamash meets with his wife Aya after sunset. Utu's vehicle

16588-475: The sub-discipline of historical archaeology . For many literate cultures, such as Ancient Greece and Mesopotamia , their surviving records are often incomplete and biased to some extent. In many societies, literacy was restricted to the elite classes, such as the clergy , or the bureaucracy of court or temple. The literacy of aristocrats has sometimes been restricted to deeds and contracts. The interests and world-view of elites are often quite different from

16731-481: The sun god's name was the logogram UTU, which could be read as Utu, Shamash, or, as attested in the god list An = Anum , as Amna. Syllabic spellings of all three of these names are also known. A further logographic spelling used the numeral 20, which was associated with him. Dozens of other variant names, epithets or possibly minor deities who came to be seen as synonymous with Utu are attested in god lists. Examples include Karkara (possibly related to Ninkar, one of

16874-419: The sun god, and that the former functioned as his sukkal during his nightly journey through the underworld, while the latter fulfilled the same role during the day. Lugal-namtarra is otherwise sparsely attested and might be analogous to Namtar . Boivin speculates that SUKKAL developed from the male version of Ninshubur, and assumes it is plausible a connection between the latter and the sun god developed during

17017-417: The sun was believed to set, was regarded as "the entrance of Shamash to Aya" ( nēreb Šamaš <ana> Aya ), the place where they were able to reunite each day after he finished his journey through the sky. The deities counted among Utu's children include the dream goddess Mamu (as well as two other, male, dream deities, Sisig and Zaqar ), Šumugan , a god associated with animals, Niggina ( Kittum ),

17160-467: The temples of Šamaš the sun god, the warrior goddess Anunitu (both located in Sippar ), and the sanctuary that Naram-Sin built to the moon god, located in Harran , but he also had them restored to their former glory. He was also the first to date an archaeological artifact in his attempt to date Naram-Sin's temple during his search for it. Even though his estimate was inaccurate by about 1,500 years, it

17303-476: The term archaeology means "the study of ancient history". The discipline involves surveying , excavation , and eventually analysis of data collected, to learn more about the past. In broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Archaeology developed out of antiquarianism in Europe during the 19th century, and has since become a discipline practiced around the world. Archaeology has been used by nation-states to create particular visions of

17446-559: The tradition of Chinese epigraphy by investigating, preserving, and analyzing ancient Chinese bronze inscriptions from the Shang and Zhou periods. In his book published in 1088, Shen Kuo criticized contemporary Chinese scholars for attributing ancient bronze vessels as creations of famous sages rather than artisan commoners, and for attempting to revive them for ritual use without discerning their original functionality and purpose of manufacture. Such antiquarian pursuits waned after

17589-576: The use of metal detectors to be tantamount to treasure hunting, others deem them an effective tool in archaeological surveying. Examples of formal archaeological use of metal detectors include musketball distribution analysis on English Civil War battlefields, metal distribution analysis prior to excavation of a 19th-century ship wreck, and service cable location during evaluation. Metal detectorists have also contributed to archaeology where they have made detailed records of their results and refrained from raising artifacts from their archaeological context. In

17732-472: The usual term for one major branch of antiquarian activity. "Archaeology", from 1607 onward, initially meant what we would call "ancient history" generally, with the narrower modern sense first seen in 1837. However, it was Jacob Spon who, in 1685, offered one of the earliest definitions of "archaeologia" to describe the study of antiquities in which he was engaged, in the preface of a collection of transcriptions of Roman inscriptions which he had gleaned over

17875-479: The word referring to the sun itself and names of solar deities are grammatically feminine . Julia M. Asher-Greve considers this the oldest attested example of a Mesopotamian deity's gender being impacted by syncretism . However, not all researchers agree with the assumption that the name Shamash was ever understood as referring to a female deity in Akkadian-speaking areas. Christopher Woods argues that

18018-443: The words referring to sun in other Semitic languages , such as Arabic šams and Hebrew šemeš . The linguistic connection between the name of the god and the corresponding celestial body has been compared to that between Adad (and Syrian Hadad) and the word addu , "storm." The Amorite form of the name is Samsu, as attested for example in the theophoric name Samsu-iluna ("Samsu is our god"). The ancient Aramaic form of

18161-403: The world. It was believed that his daily journey let him see everything happening on earth. He was also responsible for protection of travelers. Formulas common in both prayers and literary compositions indicate that he was likely often invoked outside temples, presumably as an astral body. Early morning was likely regarded as the most appropriate time for imploring him for help. Utu was also

18304-412: The years of his travels, entitled Miscellanea eruditae antiquitatis. Twelfth-century Indian scholar Kalhana 's writings involved recording of local traditions, examining manuscripts, inscriptions, coins and architectures, which is described as one of the earliest traces of archaeology. One of his notable work is called Rajatarangini which was completed in c.  1150 and is described as one of

18447-443: Was Kittum, whose name has the same meaning, "truth." In An = Anum Kittum is instead male and a brother of Niggina. She had a sukkal of her own, Iqbi-damiq . None of Utu's sukkals known from other sources are present in documents from the archive of the First Sealand dynasty . Odette Boivin proposes that in local tradition, this role was instead fulfilled by the deities Lugal-namtarra and SUKKAL, who frequently appear alongside

18590-522: Was a solar chariot , which was pulled by four animals bearing the Sumerian names Uhegalanna ("the abundant light of heaven"), Uhushgalanna ("the terrifying great light of heaven"), Usurmurgalanna ("the dreadful great light of heaven") and Unirgalanna ("the noble light of heaven"). Their species is not entirely consistent, though in most cases the sun chariot is apparently associated with equids : "choice steeds" ( niskum ) in an inscription of Gudea , horses in various prayers and incantations, and mules in

18733-525: Was a restlessly itinerant Italian humanist and antiquarian who came from a prominent family of merchants in Ancona , a maritime republic on the Adriatic . He was called by his contemporaries pater antiquitatis ('father of antiquity') and today "father of classical archaeology": "Cyriac of Ancona was the most enterprising and prolific recorder of Greek and Roman antiquities, particularly inscriptions, in

18876-421: Was also responsible for mentoring and training a whole generation of Egyptologists, including Howard Carter who went on to achieve fame with the discovery of the tomb of 14th-century BC pharaoh Tutankhamun . The first stratigraphic excavation to reach wide popularity with public was that of Hissarlik , on the site of ancient Troy , carried out by Heinrich Schliemann , Frank Calvert and Wilhelm Dörpfeld in

19019-423: Was borrowed from the new geological and paleontological work of scholars like William Smith , James Hutton and Charles Lyell . The systematic application of stratigraphy to archaeology first took place with the excavations of prehistorical and Bronze Age sites. In the third and fourth decades of the 19th century, archaeologists like Jacques Boucher de Perthes and Christian Jürgensen Thomsen began to put

19162-421: Was developed as a result of increasing commercial development. The purpose of archaeology is to learn more about past societies and the development of the human race . Over 99% of the development of humanity has occurred within prehistoric cultures, who did not make use of writing , thereby no written records exist for study purposes. Without such written sources, the only way to understand prehistoric societies

19305-403: Was his wife, and multiple texts describe their daily reunions taking place on a mountain where the sun was believed to set. Among their children were Kittum , the personification of truth, dream deities such as Mamu , as well as the god Ishum . Utu's name could be used to write the names of many foreign solar deities logographically. The connection between him and the Hurrian solar god Shimige

19448-510: Was influenced at least in part by his Mesopotamian counterpart. Gary Beckman goes as far as suggesting that at least in Hittite texts, he "cannot (yet?) be distinguished sufficiently" from the latter. Due to this association, Aya was regarded as his spouse in Hurrian tradition, as attested in sources from Hattusa and Ugarit. In the trilingual god list, Bunene (transcribed as wu-u-un-ni-nu-wa-an ) appears in association with Shimige. Shimige

19591-461: Was inspired by motifs found in presentation scenes from the Ur III period . It shows three individuals, an intercessory minor goddess ( lamma ) and two men, possibly the king Nabu-apla-iddina and the priest Nabu-nadin-shumi, facing Shamash. While other anthropomorphic depictions of the sun god are known from Assyria from the same period, in Babylonia he came to be usually portrayed in the form of

19734-449: Was jointly dedicated to Nisaba , Kusu , Ningal , Shamash and Bēl-āliya. In the Old Babylonian period, Shamash was worshiped in Susa in Elam , where the local pantheon consisted out of both Elamite deities, such as Inshushinak and Simut , and Mesopotamian ones. He appears in oath formulas and theophoric names. In Mari, Shamash was worshiped in a temple named Egirzalanki ("house of

19877-457: Was not deified, despite the existence of a tradition attributing divine ancestry to him. In various sources, Utu seems to serve as a special protector to several of Uruk's other kings. AMAR.UD, an early writing of Marduk 's name, can be translated as "bull calf of Utu," as long as it is assumed that the sign UD should be understood as a writing of Utu's name without the divine determinative (a cuneiform sign preceding names of deities), which

20020-464: Was still a very good one considering the lack of accurate dating technology at the time. The science of archaeology (from Greek ἀρχαιολογία , archaiologia from ἀρχαῖος , arkhaios , "ancient" and -λογία , -logia , " -logy ") grew out of the older multi-disciplinary study known as antiquarianism . Antiquarians studied history with particular attention to ancient artifacts and manuscripts, as well as historical sites. Antiquarianism focused on

20163-537: Was the girtablullu ("scorpion man"). In the Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh , a scorpion man and a scorpion woman guard the mountain of sunrise. According to Christopher Woods, it is possible that in a single case the minor serpentine god Nirah is attested as a member of the court of Shamash. He proposes that it was a result of the well attested association between the sun god and Ishtaran , whose servant Nirah usually was. The name of

20306-567: Was the E-ešbaranki ("house of decisions of heaven and the underworld"). A socle dedicated to him called Edikugal ("house of the great judge") was also present in Erabriri, most likely the temple bearing this name located in Babylon which was dedicated to Mandanu . In Assur, a temple of Shamash was refounded by king Arik-den-ili , though as no name is given in sources mentioning this event it

20449-426: Was their original owner. In the second millennium BCE, Utu was typically portrayed in front of worshipers, either standing or seated on a throne. One well known example of such an image is a stele of Hammurabi of Babylon , inscribed with his legal code . Anna Kurmangaliev points out that only a single depiction of the sun god in anthropomorphic form has been identified among works of art from Babylonia from

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