Das sogenannte Ägypter-Archiv von Assur (N31) : Archäologische Bemerkungen zum Komplex N 31A+D

Abstract

The contribution discusses a detail of the documentation history of the excavations undertaken by the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft at Assur in 1908. Its concern is the archaeological documentation of the so-called archive(s) of the Egyptians, which – in the view of the author – needs urgent correcting as it has created an interpretational dynamic that is based on problematic premises. The enormous merits of Pedersén’s fundamental 1985/86 study on the archives and libraries from Assur notwithstanding, the suggested mixing of tablets from what he introduced as ‘archive’ N31A and N31D is not born out by the excavation documentation. I showcase in my contribution the evidence for explicit observation of Middle and Late Assyrian strata including tablet finds from either stratum in both excavation areas (eA7II and eE6V) as well as indications for area-internal mixing of the Middle and Late Assyrian tablets. This is a much more likely explanation for the presence of Middle and Late Assyrian tablets in the find complexes Ass. 13319 (N31A; eA7II) and Ass. 13058 (N31D/M7; eE6V) than a cross-area mix in the excavation house. The correction has major implications also on a socio-cultural level, as it shows that the documentation of the financial, administrative and juridical activities of the Egyptians living in Assur was spread at least over four different living quarters across the town.