A Foundation-Inscription from Tell al Rimah

Abstract

The most interesting epigraphical discovery made in the course of the 1968 season of excavations at Tell al Rimah under the direction of Mr. David Oates was a circular plaque of baked clay, TR.5708, maximum diameter 12·5 cms., found in the Palace area, site C. The plaque was buried in a repaired section of a wall in a building of level 5, the level above that in which Old Babylonian archives had appeared in 1967. The level is tentatively dated by Mr. Oates to about the 16th century B.C., but it was perfectly clear that the plaque was not in its original position. The brick-work at the base of the wall had apparently been eroded by water-action, and the gap had been filled up with a packing of earth, in which was the plaque, and faced by a single row of bricks placed slanting against the wall. The back of the plaque is quite smooth, but two small lumps of libn adhere to it, suggesting that it was originally plastered on to the face of a wall.The slightly convex face of the plaque is inscribed with a six-line inscription written in a clear Old Babylonian script, of which a copy appears as Fig. 1.