A Study Of Ancient Mesopotamian Foundations
Sally Secrest Dunham
This study focuses on a particular aspect of Ancient Mesopotamian architecture: the foundations of buildings and walls. The purpose is to delineate the kinds of foundations the Ancient Mesopotamians used and to try to discern the practical--and perhaps also the conceptual--reasons for building them. The method followed is to examine the archaeological evidence from the Neolothic (ca. seventh millennium) through the Early Dynastic period (Part I); and then to study the occurrences of nine Sumerian words in texts from the Early Dynastic through the Old Babylonian period (Part II). The Sumerian words are im-dub-ba, temen, ur, us/uru, ki-sa, dub-la, ki-gal and suhus.
The examination of the archaeological record is organized in chronological periods and site by site within each period, so that the possibilities and limitations of the evidence can be clearly understood. Summaries at the end of each period define the continuity and change within that period, and a comprehensive discussion at the end of Part I emphasizes the main results: While many of the practices used by the Ancient Mesopotamians were based on practical considerations of the nature of their building materials and the effects of their environment on these materials, some practices, especially those connected with major temples (e.g. high terraces, specially dug and refilled trenches) appear enigmatic to modern eyes.
The study of the texts shows that while the nine terms discussed have each at one time or another been interpreted as meaning foundation, they also have quite distinct connotations from one another. One term, dub-la, appears not really to have referred to a foundation at all. Although not every reference to a foundation is clear, many of the details observed in the archaeology are also mentioned in the texts: e.g. the use of stone, the repair of damp courses, the building of platforms, the digging and refilling of a foundation pit for a temple. Some passages (usually relating to temples) hint that the Ancient Mesopotamians had some cosmological views of their foundation structures. While in a general way, such views might help explain some of the "enigmatic" practices of foundation-building, an attempt to link them more specifically to any archaeological remains would be highly speculative at the present time.