This Week in the Ancient Near East

The Case of the Middle Bronze Age Siege That Took Like Ten Days, or War, What Is It Good For, Archaeology (Say It Again)

August 25, 2026·42 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

A new excavation in northern Iraq at a site with the terrific name of Kurd Qaburstan has revealed evidence of siege warfare. But we sort of knew this already from the stele of King Dadusha of Eshnunna who said that he had conquered the site. In ten days. As always the destruction itself, bad for the locals, good for the archaeologists. But how big was it, really? Maybe the ten days thing wasn’t just Dadusha doing a bit.  With special shout outs to Steven Spielberg and a man called Creekmore!

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