In the Vassal-Treaties of Esarhaddon, section 32 says:
If you smear your face, your hands, or your throats with red paste which (is like) šapuhru in the eyes of the gods, or tie it to the hem of your garments in order to avoid the consequences of the oath -
Apparently šapuhru means cedar. Can anyone explain the significance of what is being described here?
Secondly, a treaty between Ashurnirari V of Assyria and Mati'ilu of Arpad, in its opening sections, makes reference to a sacrificial lamb:
This spring lamb has been brought from its fold... to sanction the treaty between Ashurnirari and Mati'ilu. If Mati'ilu sins against this treaty made under oath by the gods, then, just as this spring lamb, brought from its fold, shall not return to its fold and will not behold its fold again, Mati'ilu, together with his sons, daughters, officials, and people will be ousted from his country, will not return to his country and will not behold his country again.
It goes on to describe how the lamb's head is the head of Mati'ilu and his sons, daughters, officials, etc., and will be torn off and its knuckle placed in its mouth; the lamb's shoulder is the shoulder of Mati'ilu et al and will be rent from its body, etc.
So, I'm wondering, was there an aspect of public ritual to the formation of treaties? As it was recorded, would it have been accompanied by a presentation of the slaughter of the lamb mentioned? What was the practice here? Do we know?
Regarding question 1, I don't yet have a good answer to what exactly is going on with the "red paste"(šaršerru) but the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary(CAD) cites several other ritual contexts for its use. There are several texts in which sculptures are smeared with "red paste"; I don't have them handy but at least one of them(KAR 227) is an exorcism ritual and another(KAR 298) is a ritual concerning protective sprits; I should be able to track down texts of these tomorrow or Monday if you'd like. Another text mentioned in the CAD describes "red paste" being used as part of a prescription to avert witchcraft. A parallel passage in another Vassal Treaty(SAA 2 006) is translated as "You shall not smear your face, your hands, and your throat with ... against the gods of the assembly, nor tie it in your lap, nor do anything to undo the oath", which to my mind suggests that this passage should be understood either as a description of a ritual for voiding an oath which made use of "red paste" or a description of the use of "red paste" as a sort of amuletic substance to protect against evil. The second one seems more plausible to me, but I would want to check the texts.
EDIT: I think I accidentally deleted my comments on question 2, but all I said was that slaughtering livestock is attested as part of making a treaty in the 2nd millennium so it's not inherently implausible that the sheep slaughter was a real ritual. Having said that, I'd have to check in the library tomorrow or Monday to see if there's anything floating around that would flesh out these ritual descriptions.