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Image Title calendar2024-03-28

PRELIMINARY REPORT OF THE CHARMO (JARMO) PREHISTORIC INVESTIGATIONS, 2022

The archaeological mission from the University of Tsukuba began to investigate the Neolithic sites in the Iraqi-Kurdistan region in 2014. The purpose of our investigations was to reconsider the issue of Neolithization in Iraqi-Kurdistan, where research began in the 1940s and 50s and was stalled by political issues starting in the 1960s. With the full support of the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture of the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Slemani Department of Cultural Heritage, we first began our research at the Qalat Said Ahmadan site, located in the Pshdar Plain. We were able to identify the cultural deposits of the end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period, those of the Hassuna, Samarra, Halaf, Ubaid, and Iron Age, and have clarified the nature of the Neolithic site located at the edge of the fan deposits [Tsuneki et al. 2015, 2016, 2019].

Image Title calendar2024-01-30

Some maps and data of archaeological sites in Slemani province

Some maps and data of archaeological sites in Slemani province

Image Title calendar2024-01-11

New exhibition of the archaeological investigations at Gird-i Yasin Tepe

The site is one of the largest tell-type sites in the Slemani Governorate and contains rich archaeological remains from the Neolithic to the Islamic periods.

The Last Hunters of the Eastern Fertile Crescent Archaeological Project

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Ashkawta Rash(ئەشکەوتە ڕەش)  is a Palaeolithic cave site located. 35 km northwest of the city of Slemani, near the Bazian Gates. Excavations at Ashkawta Rash Cave began in May-June 2023 by a joint team from the University of Liverpool and the Slemani Directorate of Antiquities & Heritage directed by Professor Eleni Asouti, with Professor Douglas Baird as co-director and Mr Amanj Ameen (MA) as the Slemani Directorate representative.

Research at Ashkawta Rash Cave is conducted as part of the Last Hunter-Gatherers of the Eastern Fertile Crescent (LASTHUNTER) project, with a permit issued by the General Directorate of Antiquities & Heritage in Erbil, and are generously supported by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung and the British Institute for the Study of Iraq. The first season of work at Ashkawta Rash Cave revealed late Pleistocene deposits at the cave threshold and in its main chamber dating from the Epipalaeolithic period, based on the lithic industry which displays clear affinities with that of neighbouring Palegawra Cave.

Late Pleistocene sediments were unusually rich in charred plant remains while burnt animal bone (wild caprines, tortoise, etc.) was also abundant. Previous research by the same team at Palegawra Cave (published in 2020) has established a chronology for the Epipalaeolithic period in the Slemani region between 20,000 and 13,000 years ago. The excellent charcoal preservation will enable an extensive programme of radiocarbon dating at Ashkawta Rash Cave, and help determine how it relates to the Epipalaeolithic habitation known from the neighbouring Palegawra Cave. Large scale, intensive sampling of soil and its processing by water flotation has produced approximately 200 bags of charred plant remains from Epi palaeolithic deposits at Ashkawta Rash.

Such scale of charred plant recovery is unique for Palaeolithic sites anywhere in the Zagros, and makes Ashkawta Rash Cave the most important source of new data about Palaeolithic plant uses and late Pleistocene vegetation ecology in the Eastern Fertile Crescent.