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Image Title calendar2024-01-28

Gird-î Qalrakh: a small mound in the North-eastern Shahrazor Plain

The site of Gird-î Qalrakh is a small but steep settlement place in the North-eastern Shahrazor-Plain. It was excavated in three seasons (2016, 2017 and 2019), the fourth season 2023 has just started. The archaeological discovery will be carried out jointly by the Slemani Archaeological and Heritage Directorates, along with two universities (University of Erlangen and University of Frankfurt), in Gridi-Kazhaw and Qalrgh. It will continue for years.

Image Title calendar2024-01-29

Excavations at Shaikh Marif, Iraqi Kurdistan Preliminary Report of the First Season (2022)

Grdi-Shaikh Marif The archaeological site of Shaikh Marif, located in the Shahrizor Plain ca. 500 m south of Gird Shamlu along the Wadi Shamlu, was registered by the Iraq Museum in 1943. In November 2012, the Shahrizor Survey Project additionally identified several new artificial mounds near Shaikh Marif. Among them, a cluster of two tiny mounds is called, together with Shaikh Marif itself, “Se Tapanسێ تەپان ” by the local people, and thus all three mounds were designated “Shaikh Marif”: Shaikh Marif I (the original northern mound), Shaikh Marif II (a western mound also called “Ash Shaikh Marif” by the locals), and Shaikh Marif III (an eastern mound). The land is seasonally cultivated today, and the water of the Darband-i Khan Dam Lake occasionally covers almost entire areas of the mounds. Owing to modern cultivation and the erosion by flowing water, a large amount of archaeological materials were easily observed on the surface. While no prehistoric material was identified at Shaikh Marif III, numerous Late Neolithic potsherds were scattered across the other two mounds as well as the materials dated to the younger periods. The date of these Late Neolithic sherds was estimated to be ca. 6400 6000 BC. A Japanese archaeological team (directed by Takahiro Odaka, Kanazawa University) excavated Shaikh Marif II in 2022 and revealed the Late Neolithic layers, which directly accumulated on the virgin soil. Most of the finds were dated to ca. 6100-6000 BC, although a small amount of the artefacts from the historical periods indicate human activities in the middle Medieval and the Ottoman Periods.

Image Title calendar2024-01-28

MAGNETIC INVESTIGATIONS IN THE SHAHRIZOR PLAIN, IRAQI KURDISTAN

Archaeological features, such as architecture etc. can be traced by high resolution and large-scale magnetometer prospecting. Moreover, soil magnetic data deliver additional information about the alteration of the ancient landscape. In combination with an archaeological survey, the geophysical results can provide information to reconstruct the spatial organization within these settlements as well as an epoch-spanning analysis of settlements and their role in urbanization processes and within settlement hierarchies.

Residential project in Chwartaq district

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In the Chwartaq district, there is a residential project. As per the Guidelines for the Implementation of the Law on The Management and Preservation of Heritage the Kurdistan Region of Iraq No. 5 of 2021, which were published in Al-waqa'a Al-iraqiya Newspaper (306), Number (23) on 14/7/2023, Article (10) and paragraph (3) state that if the land area for a commercial project exceeding more than (10 Acres), a test pit needs to be excavated to determine if the land is an archaeological site or not. This requirement is due to the significance of this matter as per the archaeological administration's directive.

The project includes a residential development on land area number 72 of the 43rd sector, as well as a portion of the main road from 3/44 of the 43rd sector in Chwartaq. It is situated on the border of Chwartaq village in Arbat, covering an area of (84 Acres and 5 olk). The project is located in the northern part of Arbat district, adjacent to Chwartaq village.

The purpose of the test pit is to ensure that there are no archaeological remains present or the land is located at a considerable distance from the archaeological site. What is intriguing is that these projects are specifically designed to safeguard the archaeological sites and prevent any harm caused by the project.