The Cuneiform Tablets from Tell Nebi Mend

Abstract

Excavations at Tell Nebi Mend recovered five clay tablets inscribed in Akkadian in Babylonian cuneiform. They come from a Late Bronze Age deposit, the contents of two of them linking with information from Hittite sources to give the name of its king, Niqmadda, and a date near the end of the 14th century BC, and assure the identification of the site as the famous Qadesh on the Orontes. Although only partially understood, these documents show the place was as cosmopolitan a centre as any other royal seat at the time. A sixth tablet has no writing, but bears the remains of a sealing.