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Northern Akkad Project: Excavations at Ḥabl Aṣ-Ṣaḫr

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

R. G. Killick
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Extract

In autumn 1983 a joint team of the Belgian and British Archaeological Expeditions to Iraq carried out a three week season of survey and excavations along the ruins of Ḥabl aṣ-Ṣaḫr near modern Baghdad. The work was directed by H. Gasche and R. G. Killick with assistance in the field from J. Black, E. McAdam and J. Moon. We wish to extend our thanks to Dr. Muayad S. Damerji, President of the State Organization for Antiquities and Heritage who showed great interest in our work. Sd. Ahmed al-Bayati represented S.O.A.H. and deserves many thanks for all his efforts on our behalf.

The ruins known today as Ḥabl aṣ-Ṣaḫr lie some 20 km south-west of Baghdad and approach to within 2 km of the site of Tell ed-Der (Fig. 1). The name is given to a levee 30 metres wide which now rises 1 metre above the surrounding plain. This levee can be followed for 15 km and may be clearly distinguished from the spoil heaps of the many canals which criss-cross the area by the ubiquitous presence of broken baked bricks. Excavations were undertaken here for the simple reason that Ḥabl aṣ-Ṣaḫr seemed likely to represent the remains of one of the major defensive walls built by Nebuchadnezzar. The building of these walls is described in the commemorative texts of that king (Langdon 1912, Nbk. 4, Weissbach 1906, p. 27, Levy 1947, p. 9). From these records it is clear that Nebuchadnezzar initiated a strenuous building programme to improve the defences of his country.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 46 , Issue 2 , Autumn 1984 , pp. 125 - 129
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1984

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