Khafajah

Khafajah was excavated for 7 seasons in the early 1930s primarily by an Oriental Institute of Chicago team led by Henri Frankfort with Thorkild Jacobsen and Pinhas Delougaz. For two seasons, the site was worked by a joint team of the American Schools of Oriental Research and the University of Pennsylvania.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

Khafajah lies on the Diyala River, a tributary of the Tigris. The site consists of four mounds, labeled A through D. The main one, Mound A, extends back as far as the Uruk period and contained an oval temple, a temple of the god Sin, not surely and a temple of Nintu. The Dur-Samsuiluna fort was found on mounds B and C. Mound D contained private homes and a temple for the god Sin where the archive tablets where found in two heaps.

Scarlet Ware pottery excavated in Khafajah. 2800-2600 BCE, Early Dynastic II-III, Sumer. British Museum.[9]

Khafajah was occupied during the Early Dynastic Period, through the Sargonid Period, then came under the control of Eshnunna after the fall of the Ur III Empire. Later, after Eshnunna was captured by Babylon, a fort was built at the site by Samsu-iluna of the First Babylonian dynasty and named Dur-Samsuiluna.

The history of Khafajah is known in somewhat more detail for a period of several decades as a result of the discovery of 112 clay tablets (one now lost) in a temple of Sin. The tablets constitute part of an official archive and include mostly loan and legal documents. The Oriental Institute of Chicago holds 57 of the tablets with the remainder being in the Iraq Museum.[10] Some Early Dynastic Sumerian statues from Khafajah are on the Oriental Institute's list of Lost Treasures from Iraq (after April 9, 2003); however, they have been housed at the Sulaymaniyah Museum since 1961 (see the gallery below).[11][12][13][14]

The Iraq Museum's Sumerian Gallery displays several Sumerian statues from the Temple of Sin and the Temple of Nintu (V and VI), including part of a hoard found at the Nintu Temple.

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  Female worshiper, Sin Temple, Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Female worshiper, Sin Temple, Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Statue from the Sin Temple, Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Statue from the Temple of Sin at Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Statue from the Hoard of Nintu Temple V at Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Statue from the Hoard of Nintu Temple V at Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Male statue from Hoard in Nintu Temple V at Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Statue from Nintu Temple VI at Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Male statuette, Nintu Temple VI, Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Male statuette, Sin Temple IX, Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Male statuette, Nintu Temple VI, Khafajah, Iraq Museum
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  Limestone human head found at Khafajah, Early Dynastic II (c. 2700 BC)
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  Cylinder seal found at Khafajah, Jemdet Nasr period, (3100–2900 BC)
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  Three Sumerian statues, Early Dynastic Period, 2900-2350 BCE, from Khafajah, Iraq. The Sulaymaniyah Museum
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  Head of a Sumerian female, from Khafajah, excavated by the Oriental Institute, Early Dynastic III, c. 2400 BCE. The Sulaymaniyah Museum
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  Headless statue of a Sumerian man, from Khafajah, Early Dynastic Period, 2900-2350 BCE. The Sulaymaniyah Museum

• Cities of the ancient Near East

• Old Babylonian Public Buildings in the Diyala Region: Part 1 : Excavations at Ishchali, Part 2 : Khafajah Mounds B, C, and D (Publication Series 98), Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1990, ISBN 0-918986-62-1

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Khafajah.

• Oriental Institute slides of the site
• Archaeology of Khafah write-up at Brown University
• Two wrestlers balancing vessels (jars) on their heads- ca. 2600 B.C at Oriental Institute
• Bowl with mosaic inlays on outside - ca. 3000 B.C at Oriental Institute
• Plaque, decorated with three registers of relief, showing banquet scene with musicians - ca. 2600 B.C at Oriental Institute