Bit Zamani and Assyria

Abstract

Recent excavations and surveys in the Upper Tigris valley have offered new evidence for contacts between Assyria and the local populations of southeast Anatolia. However, these excavations have generated as many questions as they have helped to answer. One of the most vexing of these questions concerns the nature of the transition from the Late Bronze to the Early Iron Age, and the changing status of Aramaean and Assyrian control of the Upper Tigris. Although the cuneiform record indicates a long relationship between Assyria and the Aramaean kingdom of Bît Zamani from the 13th to the 9th century, the presence of Aramaeans in this region has been difficult to demonstrate archaeologically. This paper explores the problem of the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age transition within the context of tribe-state encounters, the consequences of which may be evident in the archaeological record. New cultural links that develop between the Upper Tigris and the northern tribes of Nairi at the beginning of the Iron Age may be tied to the Aramaean tribal sociopolitical structure that replaced the Assyrian administrative presence in Bît Zamani.