Settlement Maps

Sun-baked mudbrick was the primary construction material in ancient Mesopotamia. During periods of successive habitation or occupation, abandoned or destroyed buildings were leveled, creating foundations for new structures. Thus, over millennia, a mound (tepe) was built up, often rising to heights well above the original founding level of a settlement.

Evidence revealed that the Iraqi archaeological site now called Yorghan Tepe (ancient Nuzi) was occupied intermittently from the 6th millennium BC through the 4th century AD (see Site History). As they excavated from the top down, archaeologists labeled the various occupational phases they encountered with Roman numerals, from Stratum I to VIII, with Stratum I being the most recent. There was some limited evidence, including a cemetery, for additional settlement following Stratum I. The mound was heavily damaged by erosion, cutting down into early strata and almost thoroughly obliterating the later, post-Stratum II, archaeological features. The layout of the earliest settlements cannot be reconstructed completely because they were only glimpsed in relatively small probes dug below the floors of later buildings (see the Stratum III map above).

The archaeologists focused their efforts on exposing the structures of the better preserved Stratum II city of Nuzi, which was destroyed in the 14th century BC (see Stratum II in Site History or the Stratum II map). The main settlement measured roughly 200 square meters and was surrounded by a rectangular town wall; some houses of wealthy private citizens (see House of Shilwa-Teshshup map) also stood about 300 meters to the north.

The interactive links at the top of the page also allow exploration of the object finds in each stratum.

Refer to Starr's two-volume text and illustrations for the complete set of maps of all areas surveyed.