Stratum II
Most of the expeditions’ efforts focused on uncovering Stratum II, the settlement phase of Nuzi that had been destroyed in the 14th century BC (see Stratum II map). The main settlement measured roughly 200 square meters,  and the top of the mound was covered largely by a palace (or administrative center) and a temple. The mayor of Nuzi, the administrator who was in charge of the town for the king of Arrapha, lived in the palace, which, although it was built of mudbrick, boasted such luxurious appointments as fine wall paintings (see Wall Paintings) and a marble-topped indoor toilet.
A singularly important edifice in Nuzi was its temple, which was originally founded at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. It had two cellas, or interior rooms, in Stratum II. The presence of numerous figures of lions, both naturalistic (see 1931.162.A) and grotesque (see photo below), suggests that the northwestern cella was devoted to the goddess Shawwushka, the Hurrian equivalent of Ishtar,  the Babylonian goddess of sex and war. It is not known what god was worshipped in the southeastern cella, although the Hurrian weather god Teshshup has been proposed.
The temple was renovated and rebuilt several times until it was destroyed with the rest of the town in the 14th century BC. Neither the palace nor the temple was rebuilt during the time of the short-lived Stratum I settlement.
Grouped around the palace and temple were the houses of Nuzi’s inhabitants, both rich and poor. Pipes made of many short ceramic sections connected the drains and toilets inside the palace and many of the houses to similarly constructed sewers running under the streets of the town. The sewage, however, was not carried any further than the sides of the mound the town was built upon.
The town was surrounded by a rectangular defensive wall that was partially exposed by the excavators at the eastern corner of the site. The very wealthiest citizens of Nuzi, including Tehip-tilla, who was perhaps the richest man in town, and Prince Shilwa-teshshup, a member of the royal house of Arrapha, lived a few hundred meters north of the walled town and upwind of its foul odors (see the house plan). Although these houses may have been part of a walled outer town, no trace of an outer wall has been discovered. The erosion pattern of the mound and the location of the main streets suggest that the city had at least three gates. A main street connected the gates in the northeast and southwest, effectively bisecting the main city, and a cross street connected to the southeast gate. An additional street may have run along the inner sides of the city wall.
Stratum II and the “suburban” houses to the north of the site were destroyed and abandoned in the third quarter of the 14th century BC. The town was taken by an enemy army—almost certainly the Assyrians—as part of a larger war that resulted in the destruction of the kingdoms of Arrapha and Mittani.
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