Towards an understanding of the date and style of the portal lion of Tell Ta’yinat : a deconstructive approach.

Abstract

In 2011, a magnificent discovery was made during the excavation season of Tell Ta’yinat: a basalt lion sculpture was unearthed laying on its side and perfectly intact. Monumental in size and detailed in an outstandingly elaborate manner, this free-standing statue belongs to a sculptural collection of so-called portal lions, which themselves are amongst the various representations of the Syro-Anatolian sculptural repertoire. When it comes to Syro-Anatolian sculpture of the First Millennium BCE, one main question is always posed: is it of a ‘Local’ or ‘Assyrian’ influence? Not only does this question usually aid in stylistic analysis, it also helps with placing a relative dating for the specimen. Broadly speaking, this dating ranges between the rise of the Neo-Hittite city states around the 12th century BCE, and the Annexation of Syro-Anatolia into the Neo-Assyrian Empire by the late 6th century BCE. According to the archaeological data documented within the stratigraphic levels in which it was discovered, as well as recent interpretations, the relative dating of TT1 was suggested to be between the second half of the 9th, and possibly as far back as the 10th c. BCE. It has also been surmised that TT1 is of a Local Neo-Hittite production prior to the Assyrian takeover of Ancient Kunulua (Tell Ta’yinat). However, during a previous expedition at Tell Ta’yinat, another sculptural find consisting of a double lion column base (TT2) has been observed to have striking resemblance to TT1 and might have been created by the same sculptor-workshop. Various theories before the discovery of TT1 have coined down TT2 to the late 8th-7th centuries BCE and attributed it to Assyrian design. These theories mainly relied on vague stylistic analyses that lacked any archaeological context. Through the influence of some theoretical and practical approaches on stylistic analyses of other types of ancient sculpture, both major and minor arts, this study utilizes a different framework in assessi