Editing Hurrians (section)

===Early Bronze Age===
[[File:Foundation tablet, dedication to God Nergal by Hurrian king Atalshen, king of Urkish and Nawar, Habur Bassin, circa 2000 BC Louvre Museum AO 5678.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|{{center|1=Foundation tablet. Dedication to God [[Nergal]] by Hurrian king Atalshen, king of Urkish and Nawar, [[Habur]] Bassin, circa 2000 BC. Louvre Museum AO 5678.<br>"Of Nergal the lord of Hawalum, Atal-shen, the caring shepherd, the king of Urkesh and Nawar, the son of Sadar-mat the king, is the builder of the temple of Nergal, the one who overcomes opposition. Let [[Shamash]] and [[Ishtar]] destroy the seeds of whoever removes this tablet. Shaum-shen is the craftsman."<ref>{{cite web |title=Royal inscriptions |url=http://urkesh.org/pages/571.htm |website=urkesh.org }}</ref>}}]]
The Khabur River valley became the heart of the Hurrian lands for a millennium.<ref>Steinkeller P., "The historical background of Urkesh and the Hurrian beginnings in northern Mesopotamia", In: Buccellati G, Kelly-Buccellati M, eds. Mozan 3: Urkesh and the Hurrians Studies in Honor of Lloyd Cotsen. Malibu: Undena Publications, pp. 75–98, 1998</ref> The first known Hurrian kingdom emerged around the city of [[Urkesh]] (modern Tell Mozan) during the third millennium BC.<ref>Maiocchi, Massimo, "A Hurrian Administrative Tablet from Third Millennium Urkesh", vol. 101, no. 2, pp. 191-203, 2011</ref> There is evidence that they were initially allied with the [[Akkadian Empire]] of [[Mesopotamia]], indicating they had a firm hold on the area by the reign of [[Naram-Sin of Akkad]] (c. 2254–2218 BC). A king of Urkesh with the Hurrian name Tupkish had a queen with the name Uqnitum, Akkadian for "girl of lapis lazuli".<ref>Lawler, Andrew, "Who Were the Hurrians?", Archaeology, vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 46–52, 2008</ref>