• 1 This paper does not go into detail on the objective evidence concerning the biological and zoologic (...)

1My ongoing study of the wooden carvings from Royal Palace G of Classic Early Syrian Ebla has raised a series of issues concerning the equipment of draught animals and its recipients: both human, in other words the elites of the Syrian and Mesopotamian kingdoms of the Early Syrian and ED Periods, and animal, especially bovids and above all equids. This paper considers a type of equid, whose precise breed has not yet been determined, which appears frequently in the textual documentation of the Near East and which is of enormous economic value and prestige among the social elites of the period’s largest towns 1.

• 2 From Tell Beydar/Nabada: Sallaberger 1999, p. 393-394, 401 ff.; Van Lerberghe 1996, p. 112-117; Mil (...)

2The textual data, mainly from the Ebla Archives and to a lesser extent from other sites 2, alongside new archaeological and figural evidence, encouraged me to pursue this gradually emerging line of inquiry. At present, wide-ranging connections in the form of “commercial exchanges” and the display of luxury are appearing; these are among the most important in the cultures of the Ancient Near East already from the 3rd millennium bc (EB IV) and cover an extensive geographical area.

• 3 TM.75.G.2428; Archi 1998, p. 8-9; Oates & Oates 2006, p. 402 espec. The kunga equid is considered a (...)
• 4 Archi 1998, p. 9.
• 5 The Eblaite texts often mention two types of equids, IGI-NITA, and BAR.AN (corresponding to asses), (...)
• 6 Archi 1998, p. 10.

4The Eblaite texts have told us much about the trade in equids with some of the period’s important kingdoms, indicating the centrality of these animals in the culture and societies of the mid-3rd millennium bc. These animals were necessary for transport, but some species were also, and perhaps especially, elevated to the status of prestige animals. Here I will cite only a few examples. Ebla purchased large numbers of “Kunga” equids at Nagar (present-day Tell Brak). Ebla sent 10 substantial deliveries of silver to the king of Nagar and his subject cities, destined in part for the purchase of BAR.AN 3. A large purchase of equids, including some BAR.AN, was made by Ebla at Nagar for the high price of 200 jars of olive oil 4, perhaps on the occasion of diplomatic alliances (or marriages?). There was a flourishing trade with Nagar in the prized and expensive “BAR.AN-Kunga”, possibly a hybrid breed with a particularly high commercial value, as we know from the texts 5. The “high superintendents of the charioteers” and those responsible for animal husbandry at Ebla also appear to have travelled frequently to Nagar 6 in relation to this trade, which now seems to be central to the economy of Ebla and elsewhere.

• 7 See previously Catagnoti 1989; Archi 1992; 1998, p. 10-11; Catagnoti 1997, p. 564 and ff.; Biga 200 (...)
• 8 Biga 2009, p. 45-46.

5We learn that BAR.AN may also have been used for the exhibitions of dancers or acrobats from Nagar, during festivals held at the Palace of Ebla 7, proof of their luxury nature, and employed even for entertainments. A large number of equids (both BAR.AN and IGI.NITA) and other animals are given as a dowry to the daughter of the last en of Ebla on her marriage to the heir to the throne of Kish 8, proof of the intrinsic value of this species and its function as a status symbol.

• 9 Biga 2009, p. 46, with ref. to the date provided by De Grossi Mazzorin & Minniti 2000.

6Finally, it should be noted that in Classic Early Syrian Ebla the bones of onagers and asses are documented by archaeozoological analyses 9.

• 10 Dolce in press: on artefact TM.06.G.906 ; Watelin & Langdon 1934, p. 33, Pl. XXV, XXV, 3 in particu (...)

7Virtually no archaeological evidence in the form of artefacts relating to the use of equids survives for Early Syrian Ebla. One possible exception is a bronze artefact found on the floor of room L.9583 of Royal Palace G and consisting of a ring with a central shaft. I have recently advanced the hypothesis that this was a rein-ring, typologically similar to a specimen found in the Y necropolis at Kish, a single ring divided in two by the shaft 10 belonging to the harnessing of the equid buried with the deceased.

• 11 TM.74.G.102; Archi & Biga 2003, p. 19 for the analysis of the text. See also another document (TM.7 (...)

9A representative instance is that of the minister and valiant general Ibbi-Zikir, victor over Mari in the last battle won by Ebla over its powerful rival before its destruction, who was rewarded for this triumph with a set of reins and a chariot with wheels decorated in gold, among other valuable gifts. One of the texts recording some of the gifts for the powerful Ibbi-Zikir is found on a small tablet from the lot of documents mainly containing recordings of artefacts for harnessing and chariots. The tablet was discovered in room L.2586, adjacent to L.2601 where the wooden carvings from the decorations of furniture lay, and facing room L.9583 where the aforementioned bronze artefact and other valuable objects were found 11 (fig. 1).

• 12 Biga 1995, p. 145-146.

10The generous gift of this specific type of objects ordered by the king himself seems to become popular, what we would describe as a ‘must have’ at the time of Ishar-Damu when Ebla reached the height of its power and expansion, before the kingdom’s collapse. During this phase, the king himself gave not just clothing and daggers, but also the decorative parts of bits for equids and of the wheels of ceremonial chariots to high-ranking males; significantly, he also frequently gave similar gifts to foreign queens and princesses and to the great ladies of the Ebla court 12. Parts of the harnessing for the animals that drew ceremonial chariots were also often destined for the most important Eblaite women; in my opinion, these ladies expressed their prestige inside and outside the court through possessions and moveable goods of this type, a measure of their influence over the affairs of the kingdom.

• 13 Biga 2007-2008, p. 260-261; for a different interpretation of the funerary gifts of the powerful qu (...)

12Here we will mention only the most striking instances, such as the funerary gifts for Minister Ibrium, in silver and gold, belonging to a two-wheeled chariot with decorated wheels and reins for the equids which drew it; or for Queen Dusigu, mother of the last reigning en, Ishar-Damu, who took with her to the afterlife luxurious funerary equipment including a chariot decorated in silver and gold and equipment for the two equids which drew it 13.

• 14 Archi 1985, p. 31 already identified the terms for studs and pendants of bits and reins for equids (...)

13Furthermore, the terms for various types of artefacts for harnessing and chariot parts are widely documented in the Archive texts, recorded in detail in the administrative accounts; it can be deduced that Ebla manufactured large quantities of high quality goods of this type, made of precious materials ranging from metals to fabrics, often with figurative decorations 14.

• 15 Conti 1997, p. 64.

14Finally, it should be noted that deliveries of precious parts of chariots, equipment and so forth destined for members of the Eblaite royal family and that of other kingdoms, and for the local and foreign elite, generally occur in relation to important events —religious or otherwise— or as gifts to high-ranking individuals 15. We are thus dealing with parade chariots and the luxury equipment of draught animals, used to display the prestige of their patrons and recipients.

• 16 Oates & Oates 2006, p. 402.
• 17 Biga 1998, p. 17-22.

15It is highly likely that in the context of this widespread circulation of animals, equipment and chariots in the form of “gifts”, seen here from the observation point of Ebla, the intense trade between Ebla and Nagar in equids, especially BAR.AN, paved the way for closer relations, as noted by J. Oates 16 and for the most important marriage of the period, between a princess, daughter of the last reigning en of Ebla (Ishar-Damu) and the son-heir of the king of Nagar 17.

• 18 Its location was east of Kirkuk, according to Archi 1998, p. 10; Biga 2009, p. 48; Steinkeller 1998 (...)
• 19 In agreement with the interpretation of Steinkeller 1998, p. 81-82.
• 20 Archi 1998, p. 10; Biga 2009, p. 48-49.

16Another significant episode in Ebla’s international relations where the trade in “good Baran” appears to represent an opportunity to establish an alliance well to the north of its sphere of control concerns the failed overtures to the king of Hamazi, a major town whose location is still unknown but which is generally thought to have lain east of the Tigris 18. Ebla’s purpose appears obvious from the final passage of the letter evoking a “brotherhood” between Irkab-Damu of Ebla and Zizi of Hamazi 19. The episode described in the Archives “only” succeeded in activating the commercial exchange of BAR.AN equids 20, of which Hamazi appears to have been a major supplier, for prized artefacts in boxwood for parts of chariots such as wheels made by the Eblaite workshops; these, as I have already proposed, were certainly renowned in this field.

• 21 Steinkeller 1998, p. 77 and ff., although the same author notes the difficulty of defining the area (...)
• 22 According to Steinkeller 1998, p. 76-77 and previous ref. See also Charpin 2004, p. 166, n. 56. On (...)

17In my opinion, it is interesting that Hamazi has for some time been proposed as the capital of the original region known as Subartu (Subir) in the Pre-Sargonic period 21 before the extensive official use of this name on the part of Naram-Sin of Akkad: this may be a large area north of the Diyala Basin, stretching from the Tigris up to the Zagros mountain range 22.

• 23 Marriages between Eblaite princesses or the daughters of ministers of the kingdom and the heirs to (...)

18It can be deduced that luxury goods, in the form of some species of equids indispensable at the courts of the time, played more than a purely economic role and became in part an instrument of international relations, including interdynastic marriages, at Ebla and elsewhere 23.

• 24 Archi 1998; for the inscriptions of the 3rd millennium bc from Tell Brak/Nagar see n. 2.

19In contrast to Ebla, the picture emerging from other sites in Syria provides some archaeological evidence of help in the preliminary reconstruction of the organizational and economic dynamics relating to these commodities on a local/regional and interregional scale, even when cuneiform data from individual cities are scarce or absent, though such data are sometimes indirectly available from the Ebla archives themselves 24.

• 25 Oates & Oates 2001a, p. 41 and ff. illustrating the structure of some rooms (nos 2, 13) in level 5 (...)
• 26 Oates & Oates 2006, p. 404-405.
• 27 Oates 2001b, p. 286, 288. For the frequent presence of equids in the FS area see n. 25; cf. previou (...)

20The city that appears to play a leading role in the Land in equid breeding and trade is Nagar. As mentioned above, Ebla sourced “hybrids” and equids in general from this town. According to the archaeologists, the evidence from the site has definitely confirmed the presence of structures for the housing and rearing of equids in the Complex Building in the FS area near the city’s North Gate 25, as well as the find of “dockets”, attested up to the Akkadian period 26. Additionally, numerous remains of equid bones have been found at Nagar, although it is not certain whether these belong to the BAR.AN species or to donkeys 27.

• 28 Van Lerberghe 1996, p. 112 ff.; the remains of equids (here generally anše) come both from domestic (...)
• 29 On Beydar/Nabada see Sallaberger 1996, p. 103-106; Oates & Oates 2006, p. 403-404, 405, n. 8; Oates(...)
• 30 Sallaberger 1996, p. 104-106; 1999, p. 400.

21At Tell Beydar (ancient Nabada), the site of a city subject to Nagar, the presence of equids is also documented, managed by functionaries as at Ebla 28; according to the texts on the tablets found at the site the city also had a way station (or caravanserai) for these animals, and dockets as at Nagar 29. The king of Nagar himself travelled here on a chariot drawn, perhaps, by special equids, for cult ceremonies and other events30.

• 31 Jans & Bretschneider 1998, p. 155, 158 and ff., 179-180, fig. 11-15, Pl. I; Sallaberger 1998, p. 17 (...)
• 32 As recently noted by W. Sallaberger during the seminars held at the University “La Sapienza”, in Ro (...)

22Whether or not the role of Beydar in the rearing and care of equids was wholly subordinate to the regional capital Nagar remains in my opinion an open question. The recurrence of vehicles drawn by equids in the images on the local glyptics, as at Nagar, suggests the importance of this activity for the economy of Beydar itself and the people involved, members of the elite class 31 (fig. 2). Tell Beydar/Nabada is also a centre for the production of chariots, a valuable commodity 32.

• 33 Oates & Oates 2006, p. 408; 2001b, p. 389-392, fig. 313; Matthews 1997, p. 136, 245, Pl. XIX, nos 2 (...)
• 34 Dohmann-Pfälzner & Pfälzner 2000, p. 226-227, fig. 29; the seal impression recurs several times on (...)

23It has rightly been observed that the use and dissemination of “chariot-scenes” in glyptics are typical of the territory of the kingdom of Nagar33, although we should also consider the albeit sporadic evidence from elsewhere —the specimen on a seal from Urkesh dated to the E.D Period and the material from Mari 34 (fig. 3).

• 35 Matthiae 1992, p. 234-235; Dolce 2008, p. 150, 157-159; Matthiae 2010, p. 99 and ff., p. 172-178, 1 (...)

24It has also been correctly noticed that hitherto nothing of this kind has been found in the figurative documentation from contemporary Ebla, including the palace glyptics. The latter focus on the celebration of kingship and its mythical roots 35. In my opinion this represents a distinction in the visual choices for the legitimation of power at Ebla, compared to those made in other towns discussed in this paper.

• 36 Buccellati & Kelly-Buccellati 2000, p. 7-9, fig. 3; 2002, p. 22-25, fig. 5. The owner of the seal i (...)

25Alongside these observations, we can broaden the field to further archaeological and visual data from other Syrian sites indicating the close connection between kingship/the power of leaders and the ostentatious display of valuable equids. Clear evidence of this can be found in the palace glyptics of the late Akkadian period from Urkesh, the capital of a Hurrian kingdom in northern Mesopotamia whose cultural horizon differs from that of inner Syria and the rest of the Khabur. Selected specimens of equids (perhaps hybrids) are shown next to the throne, facing a god in the act of feeding them, and as a valuable gift in homage by other deities in the form of a baby equid 36 (fig. 4a).

• 37 Felli 2001, p. 144 and ff., fig. 181; Oates 2001a, p. 137 and ff. The addition of the inscription a (...)

26This is a clear indication of the great significance of equids, beyond their intrinsic economic value, in the representation of kingship and its prestige in the kingdom of Urkesh, exclusive to the elite and a visible mark of the solidity of their power. This immediately suggests a reflection on another famous seal of the Akkadian period from a royal palace context in Nagar itself, of which numerous impressions from the monumental building SS survive, again belonging to a high functionary, a scribe, perhaps Murish according to the inscription 37 (fig. 4b).

• 38 According to the suggestion advanced by Buccellati & Kelly-Buccellati 2000, p. 8; 2002, p. 22, 24.

27A few remarks are in order: on both seals, from Urkesh and Nagar, gods appear as protagonists. In both, equids play a central role in the figural representation. In both there is an obvious relationship between the illustrious seated figures, gods or humans, to whose identity we will return shortly, and the equids or other animals which they take care of. Again, in both, this connection, essential to the visual message, is expressed through the same compositional scheme: a seated figure towards whom the equid stretches. Finally, it seems that the species of equid represented in both images is the prized hybrid 38.

• 39 Felli 2001, p. 148 espec.; Oates 2001a, p. 138 is of the same opinion. As concerns the identificati (...)
• 40 Perhaps Shamagan lord of the steppe animals: Felli 2001, p. 146; Oates & Oates 2001b, p. 387-388.

28However, there are some distinctions. The first noteworthy difference is that whereas all the individuals on the Urkesh seal are interpreted as gods, on the Nagar seal one of the two figures seated on a throne has been considered, rightly in my opinion, to be a human 39, and likely a king, who displays his close relationship with the seated deity facing him. I would add that the posture of god and “king” and the gestures reserved for the two young animals mirror one another; next to the god is an equid 40.

• 41 Buccellati & Kelly-Buccellati 2002, p. 24; Weber 2012, p. 161 states that the kunga of Marra buried (...)

29A peculiarity of the composition of the Nagar seal is the association of two different themes (though this may be due simply to our way of looking at the issue): one traditionally Akkadian, the struggle between gods, the other celebrating a valuable commodity, the object of special care in the kingdom’s economy: animals and in particular equids. Once again, we can conclude that equids played a fundamental role not only in the economy but also in the ideological context of that regional state and elsewhere. Support for this theory comes from the fact that in both seals equids explicitly belong to the divine world, as noted by Buccellati 41; this is important for the dynamics underlying the economy, politics and the legitimation of power in part of Syria at least in the last quarter of the 3rd millennium.

• 42 Vila 2010, p. 607-611.
• 43 Vila 2010, p. 607 and ref.; Pruss 2000, p. 1431-1435, fig. 1, 2; Meyer 2006. For the various propos (...)
• 44 During the phase of its reuse as a pottery workshop; Vila 2010, p. 607-608.
• 45 Orthmannet al. 1995, p. 17-93, 121-172; cf. n. 43.
• 46 Vila 2010, p. 610-611 espec.; according to the author, the exact definition of the remains of equid (...)

30The results of the archaeozoological analysis of equid remains, though controversial 42, also draw attention to the site of Tell Chuera for the EB Period occupation phase, the most extensive, and covering a broad chronological period (2600-2200 bc) 43. Equid remains have been found in different contexts in the archaic settlement from the Steinbau (II, I) to the area of the Late EB Period Palace 44, according to the archaeologists 45, the domestic area and the Lower Town. These animals are thought by the archaeozoologists to be partially hybrids, if not yet horses, raising the vexata quaestio of the presence and domestication of the horse as early as the late 3^rd millennium bc rather than the 2nd 46, a topic which obviously falls outside the scope of this paper and which has numerous implications for the fields of science, history and geography.

• 47 Cf. Vila 2010, p. 611 and ref., who nonetheless expressed reservations regarding their date. Numero (...)

31Of interest here is the widespread occurrence in Syria during the second half of the 3^rd millennium bc of equids that were likely domesticated: at Tell Selenkahiye, at Mumbaqa, at Tell Sweyhat, as well as, and above all, at Umm el-Marra, as we will see below 47.

• 48 Vila 2010, p. 613-614; Holland 2006, p. 229, Pl. 116 a, b. Espec. at Nagar: Oates 2001b, p. 286-292 (...)
• 49 See already Moorey 1970, p. 41, 45-46 and passim. Here we will recall only that the representation (...)

32Also important is the figural documentation on equids and their equipment during the same period on clay figurines, plaquettes and glyptic from Syria and Mesopotamia, for example at Tell Chuera, Tell Sweyhat, Tell Brak/Nagar itself 48, and even Kish and Ur 49.

• 50 Cf. recently Schwartz 2010, p. 376, n. 3. A similar proposal was advanced by Matthiae 1979, p. 118. (...)

33In this context we must consider the broader archaeological and archaeozoological documentation hitherto known on equids, and very probably also hybrids, found in western Syria in the most recent excavations at Umm el-Marra, probably the ancient Dub/Tuba 50.

• 51 On another occasion I will formulate an analytical consideration of the available data which provid (...)
• 52 Schwartz 2010, p. 376.

34Here I will survey only the most telling evidence, which may suggest new lines of research and reconstruction regarding the interactions between cultural identities —specific and regional— and different cultures 51. Although G. Schwartz considers the ancient site a mere secondary regional centre, subservient for over a millennium to other larger cities, initially Ebla and later perhaps Alep 52, he rightly sees it as a sort of “Cult Centre” on raised ground, fully visible from the surrounding plains, with a peculiar configuration (fig. 5).

• 53 Such as objects in gold, silver, ivory and lapis lazuli: Schwartz 2009, p. 19-20.
• 54 Schwartz 2007, p. 40 and ff.; 2009, p. 18 and ff.; 2010, p. 376.

35This is an “elite mortuary Complex” on the Acropolis, consisting of at least nine tombs, used on several occasions, often with valuable funerary equipment 53 containing male and female individuals of varying age and another set of nine installations with skeletons, prevalently of equids, sometimes associated with human infant remains dating to a period between ca. 2500 and 2200 bc 54 (fig. 6).

• 55 Schwartz 2009, p. 20, Tomb 1.
• 56 Schwartz 2007, p. 52-53; 2009, p. 21.
• 57 Schwartz 2009, p. 22-27. Some of the equids were killed, others were treated after a natural death, (...)

36The pottery evidence from one of the tombs indicates that the Complex was partially contemporary with the final phase of the kingdom of Ebla 55. It has been suggested that the whole Complex was devoted to ancestor worship on the part of the local elites: this practice is also well known from other Syrian sites, from Tell Banat to Tell Bi’a, from Tell Ahmar to Mari 56. The associated structures held over 30 complete skeletons of equids, alongside a smaller number of other animals, which according to Schwartz died of different causes and as a result of different practices 57.

• 58 Weber 2008, p. 505-516; 2009, p. 29-30, 32 and ff., 35 espec.; Schwartz 2012, p. 22, 25; Weber 2012 (...)
• 59 Schwartz 2009, p. 25.

37Last but not least: recent archaeozoological research on the equids from Marra indicates that the animals were onager-donkey hybrids, and thus may be evidence for the highly prized and ostentatiously displayed BAR.AN species, in other words the “kunga” known from contemporary texts especially from Ebla 58. To quote Schwartz, these are not animal remains intended as food for the deceased in the afterlife (in accordance with widespread, extremely ancient and consolidated funerary traditions) but as “[...] an equid cemetery found within a grave complex for aristocratic people”! 59.

• 60 These include the display of elite status in the form of a combination of wealth and power; sacrifi (...)

38The cemetery of distinguished people and valuable equids at Umm el-Marra is unique in our current picture of cultural identities in EB IV Syria, but it sheds light on a fundamental issue that connects the various pieces of evidence dealt with here in an ideological, media and economic circle: equid hybrids were a mark of wealth, prestige and thus of political power; a mark of social distinction for elites and sovereigns, but not of gender. Aside from the various explanations hypothetically proposed by the excavators for the presence of hybrids in the Mortuary Complex of Umm el-Marra 60, these animals were a mark of maximum prestige for their owners, in life and after death, to the same and perhaps to a greater extent than other luxury goods which circulated and drove the economy of the Ancient Near East between the EB and MB periods.

• 61 Marchetti 2006, p. 100 for most of the 122 tombs.
• 62 Watelin & Langdon 1934, p. 20-21, 27-28, fig. 4, Pl. XXI (tomb no. 494); cf. Moorey 2001, p. 346 an (...)
• 63 Marchetti 2006, p. 100-102; for Moorey’s opinion on a date still in the ED IIIa for the “cart buria (...)
• 64 Three certain burials with the same funerary equipment of carts, and three dubious ones; only in on (...)

40The reference to elite necropolis and the funerary rites of early dynastic Mesopotamia appears obligatory here and raises further issues that will be discussed only briefly. We will restrict ourselves to a reference to necropolis Y at Kish, even recently dated mainly to between the ED I and II 61, where in one of the tombs (no. 494) the bones of the deceased turned out on palaeoanthropological analysis to present features compatible with those of a habitual rider. Judging from the funerary equipment 62, this was an individual of high status, a member of the elites. The “cart burials” from the sounding, again in area Y at Kish (whose date in my opinion remains open within the ED III a-b) 63 contain carts drawn by equids, sacrificed and buried with the deceased 64 (fig. 7).

• 65 Moorey 1978, p. 105-106: here Moorey still believed that the draught animals were bovids (p. 106), (...)

41These have not been considered burials of kings given the absence of valuable funerary equipment and the similarity of the objects with those from other tombs in the necropolis, with the exception of the carts and equids, but rather of the illustrious dead, of the elites 65.

• 66 Cf. very recently Vidale 2011, p. 427-428 for ref.; Marchetti 2006, p. 102; Reade 2001, p. 15-26, a (...)
• 67 Woolley 1934, p. 78, Pl. 39b, 166 (U.10439). Equipment of the chariot-sledge from the tomb of Queen (...)

42The Royal Tombs in the Ur Cemetery, chronologically dated to the ED III, and possibly to the ED IIIb 66, in some cases contain carts or vehicles (without wheels) drawn by oxen buried with their high-ranking deceased owners, such as Queen Puabi (PG/800) or maybe Abargi (PG/789), the owner of the seal found inside the tomb 67 (fig. 8).

• 68 Hansen 1973, p. 70, fig. 26 espec.: here the animal is identified as an ass of as yet unknown type; (...)

44At Lagash (present-day El-Hiba), again in the middle ED Period, we find a tomb where the deceased, an elite man, was buried with his rich funerary equipment above a male equid 68 (fig. 9).

• 69 See above, n. 20, 21. The complex issue of the origin of equids and their domestication and other a (...)

45It is clear that equids were often included in the trade circuits for luxury goods and in the transregional economy, from Syria to Mesopotamia (fig. 10), even among communities ruled by tribal leaders or chiefdoms; among the numerous issues raised (which require further study) I have limited myself here to the importance of some species, likely hybrids, and perhaps the “kunga” of the Eblaite texts, which may originate outside Mesopotamia 69 before the mid-3rd millennium bc.

• 70 According to Weber 2012, p. 169 who states that “[...] it is unlikely that the donkey, rather than (...)

46However, their success probably resulted from the “exclusive” management of this species in the original Subartu for a certain period of time; this may have had an impact on the socio-economic and political dynamics of this area. The equid covering the rein-ring from the Royal female Grave in Ur Cemetery resembles that depicted on the royal seal from Urkesh, perhaps belonging to a hybrid species, the renowned “kunga” (fig. 11) 70?