The northern Levant and Assyria: ceramic productions in the Kingdom of Sam’al during the Neo‑Assyrian expansion to the West

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to give some insights on the results coming from the renewed excavations in Zincirli, in south-eastern Turkey, carried out by the Chicago-Tübingen Expedition, in order to analyze and bring new data to the discussion of the mutual relationships between Assyria and local communities in the northern Levant during the period of expansion of the kings of Assur into the Syrian and Anatolian far West. The northern Levant in the first half of the first millennium BC provides interesting case studies for the various levels of interaction between Assyria and the neighbouring regions. According to historical sources the region between southern Anatolia and northern Syria is included into the boundaries of the Neo Assyrian empire, with a remarkable increase of land control by the central power. Through the analysis of the archaeological data from the site of Zincirli, ancient capital of the kingdom of Sam’al, we try to identity, and see in which degree, intercultural processes can be detected and explained through the support of material culture. Luwian and Aramaean city-states, with their peculiar culture deeply rooted into Syrian Bronze Age and Anatolian background, confront themselves with the impact of Assyrian expansion from the campaigns of Ashurnasirpal II to the definitive inclusion into the empire by Tiglath-pileser III and Sargon II. Can we assume elements of material culture as an asset to identify different levels of identities and interaction through this outgoing process?