College of Archaeology

The master’s thesis entitled (Cuneiform texts from the era of Ur III in the Iraqi Museum) was defended in the Department of Ancient Iraqi Languages at the college of Archeology at the University of Mosul on Thursday, February 29, 2024, in the hall of Dr. Behnam Abu Al-Suf in the college.
Part of the viva was attended by Assistant Lecturer Khalis Abdul Karim Farman, Assistant Dean for Administrative Affairs at the College, Assistant Professor Dr. Muhammad Muharib Ali, Head of the Archeology Department, and a number of College staff.
The thesis submitted by the student (Issa Zaidan Khalaf) dealt with cuneiform texts from the era of Ur III in the Iraqi Museum. It is from a group of cuneiform texts preserved in the Iraqi Museum, which included (20) previously unpublished cuneiform texts chosen from this group after obtaining the approval of the General Authority for Antiquities. And those in charge of the Iraqi Museum.
The thesis dealt with the origin of the cuneiform texts, as we suggested that they go back to the cities of Durham, Eri Sakerk, Uma and Adab, based on the Sumerian formulas, the names of the months, and the names of the people mentioned in the texts. It also dealt with the names of the years and the names of the Sumerian and Akkadian people mentioned in the texts. It also dealt with a group of researchers’ opinions and conclusions about the geographical location. For the cities of Kimash and Khorti, arriving at the most important opinions presented and their various contents, including the receipt of various materials, such as beer, bread, animal carcasses, and barley, as well as texts on inputs, texts on expenses, a group of texts on the weight of wool, and a group of other texts of miscellaneous content, which were compared with recent corresponding studies.
The thesis aims to reveal the main location from which the unpublished cuneiform texts came, and to determine their geographical framework and the time period they cover, by reading and analyzing them and making many comparisons with studies of other corresponding published texts and modern scientific sources related to the study of Ur III era texts.
The discussion committee was chaired by Professor Dr. Muayyad Muhammad Suleiman and the membership of Assistant Professor Dr. Walaa Sadiq Abd Ali from Al-Qadisiyah University / College of Archaeology / Department of Cuneiform Studies, and Assistant Professor Dr. Shaima Walid Abdel Rahman, under the supervision and membership of Professor Khaled Salem Ismail.