The article presents the discovery of two metal figurines retrieved at Karkemish, Turkey, between 2011 and 2013. Renewed work on this important site, since 2011 directed by the Author on behalf of the University of Bologna, targeted also old excavation areas with the aim of checking the results of the British Museum dig carried out between 1911 and 1920. In so doing, two metal statuettes came to light, one from the so-called Storm-god Temple and one from and the so-called “Hilani”, in reality an in-antis temple. The former produced a standing armed figurine in metal that can be dated to the Iron Age periods on the basis of iconographic evidence, providing linkages with a well-documented cultic tradition in Middle to Late Bronze Age sanctuaries in the Levant. The latter, a bronze figurine of a four-legged animal, most probably a dog, also to be dated to the Iron Age period, is interpreted as a votive offering. In both cases, cultic paraphernalia from the renovate work at Karkemish provide important new elements for understanding the religious dimension of the northern Levant in the Iron Age.
Bronze Statuettes from the Temples of Karkemish
MARCHETTI, NICOLO'
2014
Abstract
The article presents the discovery of two metal figurines retrieved at Karkemish, Turkey, between 2011 and 2013. Renewed work on this important site, since 2011 directed by the Author on behalf of the University of Bologna, targeted also old excavation areas with the aim of checking the results of the British Museum dig carried out between 1911 and 1920. In so doing, two metal statuettes came to light, one from the so-called Storm-god Temple and one from and the so-called “Hilani”, in reality an in-antis temple. The former produced a standing armed figurine in metal that can be dated to the Iron Age periods on the basis of iconographic evidence, providing linkages with a well-documented cultic tradition in Middle to Late Bronze Age sanctuaries in the Levant. The latter, a bronze figurine of a four-legged animal, most probably a dog, also to be dated to the Iron Age period, is interpreted as a votive offering. In both cases, cultic paraphernalia from the renovate work at Karkemish provide important new elements for understanding the religious dimension of the northern Levant in the Iron Age.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
