Article

Desperately seeking Kašpuna…Notes on the historical topography of the 'Akkar plain

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Abstract

As one of many Levantine toponyms still defying an acceptable identification to date, the case of the 8th century BC settlement Kaspuna ((uru)Ka-as-pu-(u)na) is particularly illustrative of the difficulties met with by many a scholar while attempting to pin down ancient place names onto the archaeological map. Due to a misspelling in the original transcription from the cuneiform, the search for Kaspuna started as far south as the Sharon Plains, to end up more than a century later at the Syrian-Turkish border zone. Following a succinct outline of previous research on the topic, a new identification based on the evidence from the ancient records will be formulated, locating Kaspuna at et-Taale/Kastina, at the mouth of the Nahr el-Bared. The search for Kaspuna having become quite desperate by now, it is hoped that this proposal will finally render full justice to the history of a settlement the very name of which has caused misinterpretations, as well as to the tell it is identified with and which has maintained its name until the 1970s.

How to Cite:

Gubel, E., (2018) “Desperately seeking Kašpuna…Notes on the historical topography of the 'Akkar plain”, Akkadica 139(2), 109–126. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/akkadica.99659

Rights: © The author