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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 calendar2024-01-11

Darband-i Rania Archaeological Project, with an area in excess of 70 ha a special interest in the first millennium BC

Darband-i Rania Archaeological Project the Darband-i Rania Archaeological Project was a project directed by Dr. John MacGinnis of the British Museum, carried out in co-operation with the General Director of Antiquities of Kurdistan, the Directorate of Antiquities and Heritage of Raparin and the Directorate of Antiquities and Heritage of Slemani.

Image Title calendar2024-01-28

In the land of the highlanders: from the kingdom of Simurrum to Mazamua in the Shahrizor

In the late third and early second millennium bc, the large plain known today as the Shahrizor and its surrounding region, located in the province of Suleymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan, likely formed an important region of the kingdom of Simurrum (Fig. 31.1; Altaweel et al. 2012). For much of the remaining second millennium bc and into the irst two centuries of the irst millennium bc, the region was a contested border zone between northern and southern Mesopotamian kingdoms or became splintered into small kingdoms.

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

Article Name

Yasin Tepe (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. Yasin Tepe Archaeological Project led by Chubu University has been conducting the archaeological investigation of the site since 2015 and the excavations continues since 2016. So far, we have identified intensive Iron Age (Assyrian period) occupations in the lower town area containing an elite residence and un-looted brick tomb.

Yasin Tepe is located in the western part of the Shahrizor Plain, ca. 30 km south of Sulaymaniyah. The site is one of the largest tell-type sites in the Sulaymaniyah Governorate. It measures ca. 700 × 600 m (40 ha) with 20 m in height. The consist of acropolis mound and the lower town.

Chubu University (Japan) expedition started the excavation of the site in 2016. Since then, we have identified extensive Iron Age (8th-7th centuries BCE) settlement in the lower town. Yasin Tepe was probably an important military and commercial city when the Assyrian Empire controlled Iraqi Kurdistan. The excavations continue to reveal the Iron Age history of Sulaymaniyah Governorate.

 

 

The Yasin Tepe exhibition was setup in the Slemani Museum in November 2023. It was carried out by Chubu University funded by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan. It is a part of the training program for the enhancement of the Slemani Museum. It is also intended to inform the public people about the importance of cultural heritage in the Slemani Governorate. 

 

The exhibition shows a bathtub coffin which was excavated from the un-looted brick tomb dated to the 8th-7th centuries BCE. The coffin was placed inside a tomb camber built with baked bricks and had a vaulted ceiling.

Next to the bathtub coffin, a showcase contains some selected finds which are stored in the Slemani Museum. Noteworthy is a bronze necklet with cuneiform inscription which was found in a room of the elite residence, southeast of the lower town. It shows the possibility that the temple of Nabû was erected at Yasin Tepe. Other major finds included the bronze lamp, pottery, and stamp seals excavated from the un-looted tomb. These objects inform us that there was a strong Assyrian cultural influence was present during the Iron Age at Yasin Tepe. (Shin Nishiyama: Chubu University, Japan).