Ancient Assyrians in northwest Iran near Urmia

During the last two years Iranian and Italian archeologists have found various Assyrian cuneiforms which attest to their presence in this region near the city of Urmia which has been the homeland of the Christian Assyrians who have lived there since time immemorial. In fact the name of this city and the lake near it means the 'City of Water' in the Assyrian language . Because of being massacred during World War One and persecution after World War Two a majority of the Assyrians were forced to abandon this histortic region and migrated to the lager cities of Iran or to the west.

There are now a number of tablets from various eras in museums across Iran, including three in the Urmia museum.

Considered unique tablets, they carry scriptures in cuneiform from Urartu kings who ruled a government northwest of Iran some 2,000 years ago.

One of the tablets, called Mavana, was discovered in [a formerly Assyrian] village by the same name west of Urmia in 1995.

Measuring 170x71x35, Mavana contains scriptures in Urartu and Assyrian cuneiform on both sides. It describes a visit by the Urartu king Rusa to Musasir, a major city of the empire. The reading of the tablet is yet to be completed.

The second tablet is called Mahmoudabad, which was discovered in 1976. It measures 90x61x22 cms and details the rituals of sacrificing in the time of peace and war in the Urartu cuneiform.

Stan Koldshin is another tablet, whose name in Kurdish means the livid grave stone, was discovered in 1985. It contains 41 lines in Assyrian and Urartu cuneiform scripture.

Clay tablet in cuneiform script unearthed in

Rabat Tepe – Picture courtesy of MNA

Another Cuneiform Brick Inscription Found in Rabat Tepe

Archeologists at the historic site of Rabat Tepe, northwest Iran, discovered the fourth cuneiform inscription written with white glaze. Similar inscriptions had previously only been seen in the structure of the Gate of Babylon.
Tehran, 26 December 2006 (CHN Foreign Desk) -- Continuation of archeological excavations in Rabat Tepe II, located in the Iranian northwestern province of West Azarbaijan, resulted in unearthing the fourth cuneiform brick inscription in Assyrian script. Just like the ones previously found in this historic site, the newly discovered inscription is written with white glaze.

According to Reza Heidary, head of the archeology team in Rabat Tepe, the 33x33 square centimeter inscription in the Assyrian language is inscribed on a glazed brick eight centimeters thick and is dated to the first millennium BC. “This discovery shows that some 3000 years ago the inhabitants of the region used white glaze to inscribe tablets in cuneiform script. Prior to this, white enameled brick inscriptions were discovered in the famous Ishtar Gate of Babylon,” explained Heidari to CHN.

The Ishtar Gate of Babylon was built in the 6th century BC and was the main entrance to the inner streets and temples of Babylon. The foundations of the gate were discovered between 1899 and 1914, including numerous glazed bricks and unglazed figures.

Heidary further said that a team of Iranian graphologists is now busy decoding the brick inscriptions unearthed so far in the 3000-year-old historic Rabat Tepe, hoping that they could shed light on some of the historic events of northwest Iran during the ancient times.

“Existence of large numbers of bricks in the region must have something to do with the architectural style of the region. Thus continuation of excavations will for sure lead us into discovering more bricks which would provide more information on this historic site,” added Heidary.

Rabat Tepe is located near the town of Sardasht in West Azarbaijan province, northwest Iran. Archeologists believe that the hill used to be the center of Musasir Government some 3000 years ago.

First season of archeological excavations in Rabat Hill resulted in the discovery of 3000-year-old 180x180 square centimeter flagstones as well as statues of winged goddesses and a naked winged goddess in the region. Such unique findings have attracted the attention of world archeologists to this historic site.
Soudabeh Sadigh
foreigndesk@chn.ir

http://www.chnpress.com/news/?section=2&id=6899

Sargon inscription located in Uramanat, Kurdistan, has at last been deciphered into Persian.

Tehran, 22 September 2005 (CHN) -- Tangvar cuneiform inscription in Uramanat of Kurdistan province, Iran, which was a mystery for 10,000 years, has been read at last. [Tangavar was one of the many areas in this region where Christian Assyrians lived before world war one.]

No further studies were carried out on the inscription until the time the British scholar, Grant Frame, managed to decipher it.

Mohamad Ebrahim Zarei, head of the Kurdistan branch office of Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization, says that the inscription consists of 47 lines in cuneiform which had been carved in Assyrian language. The inscription refers to the Second Sargon, Assyrian King, on which his captures of Arpad, Simirra, Damacsus, Egypt and other countries have been inscribed. The inscription dates back to around the eight century before Christ.

Zarei has recently translated the English text into Persian, while trying to locate the historical places on today’s maps and areas, and adding previous studies and descriptions of the inscription to his work.

Uramanat region starts in Kurdistan province of Iraq, which is the greenest part of it, and runs to Kermanshah and Kurdistan provinces in Iran

Payvand's Iran News ...

12/5/06

Latest Findings Reject Urartu King's Direct Presence in Iran

By Maryam Tabeshian
 
Tehran, 5 December 2006 (CHN) -- Studies by a team of Iranian and Italian archeologists on the eastern banks of Uromia Lake rejected previous theories regarding the direct involvement of the Kingdom of Urartu in northwest Iran. The new findings were congruent with a number of Assyrian historic documents such as the one denoted to King Sargon II (722-705 BC) which was inscribed sometime during the 8th century BC.
 
The team of archeologists recently started its studies in the region in an area which dates back to the Iron Age with the aim of verifying the borders separating the Median and Mannai governments and Urartu Kingdom, believing that this region was under the direct influence of Urartu Kings. Examining the region’s political and social conditions between 1500 and 550 BC was another objective behind this season of excavations in northwest Iran.
 
According to Hamid Khatib-Shahidi, co-director of the joint archeology team, a proper environment that fostered agricultural development drew in large numbers of people to this region during the Iron Age which ultimately resulted in the formation of local governments.‌ He also said that large number of castles were built during this period by the local rulers on the mountain-skirts of Sahand to have full control over the valley.

The team of archeologists recently started its studies in the region in an area which dates back to the Iron Age with the aim of verifying the borders separating the Median and Mannai governments and Urartu Kingdom, believing that this region was under the direct influence of Urartu Kings. Examining the region’s political and social conditions between 1500 and 550 BC was another objective behind this season of excavations in northwest Iran.
 
According to Hamid Khatib-Shahidi, co-director of the joint archeology team, a proper environment that fostered agricultural development drew in large numbers of people to this region during the Iron Age which ultimately resulted in the formation of local governments.‌ He also said that large number of castles were built during this period by the local rulers on the mountain-skirts of Sahand to have full control over the valley.
 
Shahidi further said that one of the most outstanding accomplishments by the Irano-Italian archeology team during their recent studies in northwest Iran has been the discovery of archeological evidence of the Chalcolithic period (6th millennium BC). “The inhabitants of this region used to build their fortified dwellings on the heights; but we have not yet found out the reason the heights were preferred over the plain for living,” said Shahidi adding that more archeological studies are needed to unlock this mystery.
 
According to him, if archeologists could find evidence of architectural constructions of the Chalcolithic period in this region, then they may claim that they discovered the oldest defensive habitations in the Middle East.
 
“One thing is clear and that is Urartu people were in an indirect relationship with the people of this area (east of Uromia Lake). They sometimes got into conflict with the local governments of this region and sometimes allied to them, but never had any direct influence on Tabriz and Maragheh plains – that is in the northern and southern steeps of Sahand Mountain – to build defensive fortifications there,” explained Shahidi.
 
Shahidi added that the area which today falls within the boundaries of West Azarbaijan province and some parts of the neighboring Iranian province of East Azarbaijan were either indirectly under the domain of Urartu kingdom or allied to it during the end of the eighth to the beginning of the ninth centuries BC. “Before the rise of the Median Empire in 728 BC, the region’s local governments used to pay taxes to the Urartu kings. Historic accounts left from the Assyrian Kingdom (860-640 BC), especially those of the reign of Sargon II, also point to this fact,” said Shahidi.
 
The Median Empire came after the fall of the Mannaean kingdom (10th-7th century BC). Many archeologists believe that the Urartu government took temporary control of the area during the interregnum before Sargon II conquered the region and brought it under his power. During his reign, Sargon II had several attacks to Mannai city states as accounted by a number of clay inscriptions left from his kingdom.
 
Recent excavations in the region also resulted in unearthing of potshards dated to the Achaemenid dynastic period (550 BC–330 BC). “Thus far, large numbers of clay objects dated to the Achaemenid Empire have been discovered in an area expanding between ‘Send River’ valley in present-day Pakistan to the westernmost point of Turkey. The potshards discovered recently in northwest Iran, especially in East Azarbaijan province, indicate that this region was under the Achaemenid rule,” said Shahidi.
 
Historic evidence and archeological relics ranging in date from the Neolithic epoch up to the middle of the seventh century AD were also found during latest excavations in the eastern banks of Uromia Lake.
 
Out of the total of 27 historic sites identified so far east of Uromia Lake in the Iranian northwestern province of West Azarbaijan, 6 had been excavated in the past years and the remaining 21 ancient sites were studied recently by Iranian and Italian archeologists. A full report of the recent studies will be presented this evening by team directors, Hamid Khatib-Shahidi from Iran and Rafael Bishune from Italy, at the Documents Center of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization.