Editing Hurrians (section)

===Middle Bronze Age===
Hurrian names occur sporadically in northwestern Mesopotamia and the area of [[Kirkuk]] in modern [[Iraq]] by the [[Middle Bronze Age]]. Their presence was attested at [[Nuzi]], [[Urkesh]] and other sites. They eventually occupied a broad arc of fertile farmland stretching from the [[Khabur (Euphrates)|Khabur River]] valley in the west to the foothills of the [[Zagros Mountains]] in the east. By this point, during the Old Babylonian period in the early second millennium BC, the [[Amorite]] kingdom of [[Mari, Syria|Mari]] to the south had subdued Urkesh and made it a vassal state.<ref>Kupper, J.-R., "Lettres royales du temps de Zimri-Lim", Archives royales de Mari 28, Paris, 1998</ref> Urkesh later became a Mitanni religious center.<ref>[https://www.avasa.it/rapporti/Kelly-Buccellati_2020_Mittani_ceramics%20de%20Martino%20FS.pdf] Kelly-Buccellati, Marilyn. "The Urkesh Mittani Horizon: Ceramic Evidence." talugaeš witteš (2020): 237-256</ref>

The Hurrians also migrated further west in this period. By 1725 BC they are found also in parts of northern [[Syria]], such as [[Alalakh]]. The mixed Amorite–Hurrian kingdom of [[Yamhad]] is recorded as struggling for this area with the early [[Hittites|Hittite]] king [[Hattusilis I]] around 1600 BC.<ref>Hamblin, William J., "Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC", Routledge, 2006 {{ISBN|978-1-134-52062-6}}</ref> Hurrians also settled in the coastal region of [[Adaniya]] in the country of [[Kizzuwatna]], southern Anatolia. Yamhad eventually weakened vis-a-vis the powerful Hittites, but this also opened Anatolia for Hurrian cultural influences. The Hittites were influenced by both the Hurrian cultures over the course of several centuries.

The city of [[Shibaniba]] (Tell Billa) may have also played an important role at that time. Possible Hurrian occupation was identified at Tell Billa during the middle of the second millennium BC. In 2022 Tell Billa was proposed as the possible site of the city of [[Šimānum]] (possibly known as Asimānum during the Akkadian Empire). [[Šimānum]] was important during the [[Third Dynasty of Ur|Ur III period]] (ca 2100 BC).<ref>Edmonds, Alexander Johannes, and Petra M. Creamer, "More to Tell About Billa!", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1515/za-2022-0011 p.44</ref>