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traditionally designated "Assyrian alace' or "Palace of Ueri" since its discoery in

194- (Figure ). Although lacing any definite basis in the tets, it as the second

term hich as retained (until ٦o, and ithin inerted commas) for ractical rea­
sons the term

"alace', in its

ear Eastern ar­

chaeological

sense, generally

refers to a con­

struction of

hich the eact

limits funciton

(s) as ell as

the length of oc­

cuation, could

ary considera­

bly. The refer­

ence to the fa­

mous local ing

Ueri, contem­
Figure The "Palnce of "‫ﻻ‬eri area afterife sensons of French ecnntions (1994) o‫ﻥ‬raneous ith

Sargon , originally suggested by G Bibby (192: 169) had at least the merit of lac­
ing the imosing building in a historical ersectie hich is aboe all regional, thus
resonding to the concern hich e eoed earlier the chronological reconsrtuciton
hich e ill roose at the comleiton of the roject ill mae it ossible to erify
the alidity of this hyothesis and, if necessary, to modify the terminology.

We ill see later that this stone building of imressie arcihtecutre (u to 4 m
resered in eleaiton) is comosed aarently of to units of ihch olny the
southern oriton ere brought to light at hte beginning of our on ecaations: (1) a
one of residenital tye, of ihch hte lan aears to be insired by formulas in use
in the 1st millennium BC in Assyria or in Babylonia, and (2) an ensemble to ihch
e may attribute a religious function, of urely local lan (Oates 1986 Lombard
1986), Based on this oring hyothesis, the resent roject aims then, at its
conclusion, to clear the northern areas of that hich e agree today to all the

"esidence" and the "temle'.

hTese consrtuct- ions, situated at an aerage alitutde of ca. 6 m, are coered and
sealed by layers of the Hellenisitc and Partihan (bet- een about hte rd cent. BC and
the 2nd/rd cent AD) and Middle lslamic eriods (1h-1th cent. AD), ihch total
thicness reaches u to 4 m. The attenite ecaaiton of these later leels hae taen
u a large art of the actiity of our team beteen 1989 and 1992.

We shall imiit ourseles here to a brief resentation, in snythesis, of the most

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