The 50 letters from Tell Harmal: administrative practices and knowledge in the ancient kingdom of Eshnunna, Mesopotamia

• Grant number: 16/22988-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: February 20, 2017
• End date: August 03, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Henrique Barbosa Gonçalves
• Grantee: Anita Fattori
• Supervisor: Cécile Elizabeth Marie Michel
• Host Institution: Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades (EACH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Archéologies et Sciences de l'Antiquité (ArScAn), France
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/07059-9 - The 50 letters of Tell Harmal: administrative practices and knowledge in the ancient kingdom of Eshnunna, BP.MS

Abstract

This research project proposes an analysis of a group of 50 administrative letters from the archaeological site of Tell Harmal, which corresponds to the ancient city of Shaduppum. In my analysis, I will focus on the role of the central characters of these letters - scribes from the administrative bureaucracy of Shaduppum -, taking into consideration that the city was an important warehouse of the so called Eshnunna Kingdom during the Old Babylonian Period (2000 - 1600 BCE). Specifically, in this project I propose to consider administrative practices as a form of knowledge and as carriers of social experiences and sociability strategies. This aspect will also allow us, in a larger perspective, to think about the operations of production and reception of knowledge in that society, as well as the role of the scribe as a literate mediator of reality, and also as an information provider. (AU)