Appendix 1 - Two small finds and the Ituraeans

Summary

Although the two small finds discussed here are in themselves unable to affirm or support Ituraean identity, each in its own unique way offers some insight into the cultural milieu Ituraeans inhabited. One find is from the designated Ituraean site of Har Sena‘im, the other is from a site several hundred kilometres to the north-west, within a strikingly different context. Each of these small finds has its own ‘story to tell’, albeit a tenuous one relative to the Ituraeans.

Kulullû: the Assyrian fish-man

Excavations conducted at Har Sena‘im from 1983 to 1989 investigated four areas where two cult enclosures were identified, one upper and one lower. Within the lower cult enclosure were the remains of two small temple structures. From excavations at the lower temple area, in the lower cult enclosure, an intact ornamental brass ring was found. At its widest point the ring has a diameter of 19 mm, is 1.5 mm wide at its narrowest, with the face 9 mm at its maximum. Described as ‘lentil-shaped’, the face is engraved with what ‘appears to be an erect fish with a triangular head from which a hand extends leftward and upward, while a right hand extends to the bottom of the image and ends in two intersecting lines resembling a star’. On closer examination of the photograph in Dar's book (p. 74) the ‘right hand’ in fact would appear not to be connected as it comes down from the triangular ‘head’.