About 4 000 years ago, Assyrian merchants established a commercial settlement in the ancient city of Kaneš, within Central Anatolia. They came from Aššur, north of Mesopotamia.  

We have come to understand their history through their writings on clay tablets that have stood the test of time: more than 22 500 cuneiform tablets have been unearthed from the archaeological site of Kültepe.  

How did these Mesopotamian clay tablets arrived in Anatolia and what do they tell us?  

The voice of Tarām-Kūbi, an Assyrian woman who corresponded with her brother and her husband in Kaneš, takes us back in time.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR: 

Vanessa TUBIANA-BRUN is director at CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research). Her work consists to bring to the attention of a wide audience the results of the research works. Recently she directed a MOOC about prehistoric stone working.

 Cécile MICHEL, co-author of the film, is Director of Research at the CNRS. She is an Assyriologist, member of the Kültepe archaeological mission, in charge of deciphering the cuneiform tablets exhumed at Kültepe. She has been working for many years on material culture. She also conducts research on gender history and the economic role of women in the ancient Near East.

AWARDS and SCREENINGS:

- AEI 2020 Film Festival Cyprus (Archaeological, Ethnographic and Historical Documentary Film)

- Rassegna Internazionale Cinema Archeologico, Rovereto - 2020

- Rassegna del Documentario e della Comunicazione Archeologica di Licodia Eubea - 2020

- Foça International Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Documentary Film Days - 2020

- Festival International du Film d'Archéologie de Bordeaux (ICRONOS) - 2020

- Les Rencontres d'Archéologie de la Narbonnaise - 2020