Gordon Loud | University of Chicago (original) (raw)

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Gordon Loud (1900-1971) was the field director at Khorsabad from 1932 to 1935 and field director at Tel Megiddo from 1935 to 1939. James Henry Breasted, the founder of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, appointed Loud to both important positions. A graduate of the University of Michigan and Harvard’s School of Architecture, Loud was not a trained archaeologist but an architect, a degree path common for early twentieth century excavators in the Middle East. After Loud graduated in 1928, he first took part in the Oriental Institute’s excavation at Fayoum in Egypt. Shortly after, he joined the Institute’s team at Khorsabad in northern Iraq.
Khorsabad is the modern term for the ancient Assyrian city Dur-Sharrukin. Dur-Sharrukin was the short-lived capital city during the reign of King Sargon II (721-705 BCE). During the seasons under Loud’s directorship, the team focused on excavating one of the city gates, the palace, and the temple complex. Since Dur-Sharrukin was never expansively populated and abandoned before even being finished, the excavations revealed little in the way of small finds. The key discoveries were all in the way of Assyrian architecture.

Loud took over the excavations at Tel Megiddo from the British archaeologist and army officer Philip Langstaffe Ord Guy. Loud pursued a different strategy of excavations at Tel Megiddo than his predecessors. Rather than trying to excavate the entire mound one layer at a time, Loud dug an exploratory trench west of the city gate. Loud labeled the stratum from the Late Bronze Age: VIII, VIIB, and VIIA.

During Loud’s excavation seasons, the team discovered (and dismantled) a large city wall from the Early Bronze Age. They also unearthed the round stone altar from the Canaanite period. According to Loud’s letters from the time, they had yet to find something sensational. That changed with the excavations at the northern palace. Loud’s team, working in the Late Bronze Age Stratum VIII/VIIA, found a hoard of gold objects and some ivories buried under the floor in an outer room on the northern end of the palace. Soon after, they found an additional hoard in a three-room annex that was added to the palace in its last phase. Semi-underground, the annex protected 400 unique ivory objects scattered throughout the rooms. The ivories reflect the internationalism of the age with a mix of Egyptian, Aegean, Hittite, and Levantine style motifs. The hoard provides a close look at a wealthy Canaanite site at the close of the Bronze Age. Loud’s theory was that the Prince of Megiddo was an ivory collector.

From his seasons at Khorsabad, Loud published Khorsabad, Part 1: Excavations in the Palace and at a City Gate and Khorsabad, Part 2: The Citadel and the Town. From his seasons at Megiddo, he published one specifically on the treasure, The Megiddo Ivories, and another summarizing the rest of his excavations down to bedrock, Megiddo 2. Seasons of 1935-39.

For all of Gordon Loud's publications, including the two publications that are too large of files for Academia, go to the Oriental Institute Publications page:
https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/publications/oip/oip-40-khorsabad-part-2-citadel-and-town
https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/publications/oip/oip-62-megiddo-2-seasons-1935%E2%80%9339-text-and-plates
https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/publications/oip/oip-52-megiddo-ivories
https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/publications/oip/oip-38-khorsabad-part-1-excavations-palace-and-city-gate

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