Abstract
In 1978, H. Weiss and Yale University began excavating Tell Leilan, a large walled oval site located in northeastern Syria, in the Habur plain, some 25 km south of Qamichli, identified with ancient Šehna/Šubat-Enlil. Excavations uncovered remains dating from the Paleo-Babylonian period (1900-1700 B.C. ), including a monumental temple on the acropolis and two palaces in the lower city to the north and east. The southern part of the lower town shows evidence of residential occupation during the second half of the 3rd millennium.
The site yielded numerous Palaeo-Babylonian texts : 122 administrative texts from excavations in the acropolis date from the reigns of Samsi-Addu, Tarum-natki and Haya-abum, while almost 600 tablets of various kinds (administrative texts, letters and treatises) come from the eastern palace of the lower city and date mainly from the reigns of Mutiya, Till-Abnu and Yakun-Ašar and around 650 administrative texts, sealed by servants of Qarni-Lim of Andarig and mainly concerning beer, were extracted from the northern palace of the lower city.
Among these epigraphic finds, some twenty administrative texts concern animal oils and fats. The latter, known only through the doctoral work of two students, Cl. Vincente and F. Ismail, defended in 1991, document not only the types of lipids available in the region, but also their management and archival practices. The study of these documents, often considered insignificant, illustrates the wealth of information that can be extracted from a corpus provided with an archaeological context.
