Writing outside the Big City: Two New Funerary Stelae from the Necropolis of Yunus at Karkemish.

Abstract

An update on all the inscribed material retrieved both in the old British and in the new Turco-Italian excavations at Yunus, the necropolis of Karkemish, is presented in the paper. Two inscribed stelae are published here for the first time, allowing us to begin reassessing the role of verbal communication in the main burial ground of the city during the 8th century BCE. In addition, an inscribed fragment from the northwestern border of the state of Karkemish is published here as well, adding an element for the evaluation of the spread of monumental writing within peripheral centers.