Winter 2018, Cover Stories, Daily News
Archaeologists unearth record of ancient Assyria’s demise
By Dan McLerran Thu, Dec 14, 2017
A team of archaeologists excavating at the site of Ziyaret Tepe in southeastern Turkey have discovered a rare and unique cuneiform tablet — one that tells a story of frustration and desperation expressed by an ancient Assyrian official, providing a glimpse of conditions in the Assyrian Empire just before its collapse in the 7th century, B.C.
Recovered within the remains of what archaeologists have identified as an administrative complex, the clay tablet, small enough to be held in the palm of one’s hand, features, in cuneiform script, a letter written by Mannu-ki-libbali, who was a senior official of the Assyrian provincial capital of Tushan. Tushan was a 7th-century city that governed an area on the outskirts of the Assyrian Empire. In the letter, he responds to an order to assemble a unit of chariotry, but he explains that all of the skilled professionals he needed to accomplish it had already fled the city. He expresses his frustration and resignation with these final statements:
https://popular-archaeology.com/issue/winter-2018/article/archaeologists-unearth-record-of-ancient-assyrias-demise
