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The Mosaic from Tell Khwāris in the Iraq Museum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

P. M. Costa
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Extract

In the Iraq Museum are displayed two large fragments of a floor mosaic found during a series of emergency surveys and excavations, carried out in 1957–58 by the Directorate General of Antiquities of Iraq. The works were conducted in the plain on the Lower Zab river, south of Rānya (Arbil Liwa), which was due to be flooded on the completion of the Dokan dam.

This work was necessary because in the plain—known locally as Dasht-i-Bitawīyn and some 80 square miles in area—there were at least forty tells which would be submerged on the completion of the artificial lake.

The mosaic was found about 10 miles south of Rānya, at Tell Khwāris which is situated at the confluence of the Lower Zab and its tributary Rubar-i-Basalam. Tell Khwāris is 100 m. long, 80 m. wide and 4 m. high.

Nearby dwellers in the course of their agricultural works had dug a deep trench on the summit of the mound and had brought to light several pieces of the floor mosaic which were subsequently destroyed. Members of the Directorate General of Antiquities when informed of the discovery, were able to trace all extant parts of the ancient floor and remove them to Baghdad.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , Autumn 1971 , pp. 119 - 124
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1971

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References

1 I would like to thank the former Director General of Antiquities Dr. Feisal al Wailly who allowed me to study the fragments of the mosaic and the former Director of the Iraq Museum Dr. Faraj Basmachi for the help he gave me on that occasion.

2 Abd al Qader al Tikriti, Assistant Director General of Antiquities, directed the excavations assisted especially on the site of Tell Khwāris by Khalid Adami. I owe to them all the information on the discovery. Ali al Saʿid Nasir al Naqshabandi, Director of the Iraq Museum laboratories, carried out the very delicate work of collecting and removing the fragments from the site, as well as putting them together in the laboratory in Baghdad. To him are due my most heartfelt thanks for the kind, skilful and extremely patient cooperation he proved during our discussions about the mosaic fragments in the laboratory.

3 These photographs were taken by Ali Saʿid Nasir al Naqshabandi.

4 On a wall in the Sasanian Hall (room No. 17 of the Iraq Museum). A reconstruction has been attempted here and the pieces have been placed in positions relative to one another which would seem to be correct, However, owing to lack of space, they have had to be placed closer together than would otherwise be the case.

5 Dantine, P., Le palmier dattier et les arbres sacrés dans l'iconographie de la Mésopotamie, Paris 1937Google Scholar.

James, E. O., The Tree of Life. An Archaeological Study, Leiden 1966Google Scholar.

Lechler, G., “The tree of life in indo-european and islamic cultures”, Ars Islamica IV (1937), 369–416Google Scholar.

6 Smimov, I. I., Vostochnoe Serebro, St. Petersburg, 1909 (hereafter Smirnov), pl. XLIII, 76Google Scholar.

7 Smimov, pl LX, 95.

8 Shepherd, D. G., “Sasanian Art in Cleveland”, The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 04 1964, 83–85; pls. 20–22Google Scholar.

9 Smirnov, pl. LII, 86.

10 Sasanian Silver. Late Antique and Early Mediaeval Arts of Luxury from Iran. University of Michigan Museum of Art 1967 (Hereafter Sasanian Silver).

11 Sasanian Silver, No. 40.

12 Sasanian Silver, no. 41.

13 Sasanian Silver, nos. 50–51.

14 Smirnov, LIV, 88.

15 Sasanian Silver No. 21.

16 Smirnov, pl. XLVII, 81.

17 Sasanian Silver, nos. 3, 4, 25, 26.

18 Ghirshman, R., Arte Persiana, Parti e Sasanidi, Milano 1962, fig. 241Google Scholar.

19 Doro-Levi, , Antioch Mosaic pavements, Princeton 1947Google Scholar.

20 No comparison can be made with the only known mosaics found in Iran, in the palace of Bishapur. They are of a definitly higher quality, but above all their subjects are directly derived from cartoons created in Antioch and Africa, and only some icono-graphic elements are due to the taste of the Sasanian period and to the interpretation of local craftsmen. Ghirshman, R., Bichapour Vol. II, Les Mosaïques Sassanides (1956)Google Scholar.