The taphonomy of Middle Assyrian cuneiform tablet clusters: archives or refuse?

In this article we report on the taphonomic analysis of several Middle Assyrian tablet clusters to identify the way these objects ended up in the ground. Rather than in-situ archives that were left behind during some catastrophe, we argue that these tablets were often deliberately discarded. Specifically for the tablet clusters we examined, we propose that they were first temporarily discarded in “office bins.” We claim that the occurrence of clustered, homogenous tablet groups at our sites are the result of the occasional emptying of such bins. The methodology we present could be of value for the analysis of other similar tablet-bearing contexts.