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Image Title calendar2024-01-28

Shakar Tapa on the Sharazor plain has revealed a new episode of the Neolithic discovery

Shakar Tapa has been known as a conspicuous archaeological site in the south of the Shahrazor Plain since the mid-20th century. It has an oval plan consisting of a low northeastern mound and a high conical southwestern mound with a flat top.

Image Title calendar2024-03-07

HUMAN OCCUPATION ALONG THE FOOTHILLS OF NORTHWESTERN ZAGROS DURING THE LATE PLEISTOCENE AND THE HOLOCENE IN THE RANIA AND PESHDAR PLAINS

The south-western foothills of the Zagros range, in Iraqi Kurdistan, have long been largely unexplored because it has been impossible for archaeologists to carry out fieldwork research in this area for more than half a century.

Image Title calendar2024-01-28

Archäologisch-geophysikalische Prospektion am Rande des Zagrosgebirges in Kurdistan

Im Rahmen eines Forschungsprojektes begab sich ein bayerisches Prospekti onsteam im Oktober des vergangenen Jahres auf eine Forschungsexpedition in den Nordostirak, genauer in die süd kurdischen Provinzen Sulaymaniyah und Halabjah. Hier in der Shahrizor Ebene, nahe der irakisch-iranischen Grenze, sollten an drei Fundorten Un tersuchungen durchgeführt werden.

MAGNETIC INVESTIGATIONS IN THE SHAHRIZOR PLAIN, IRAQI KURDISTAN

Article Name

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.

Our case study is focusing on the area along the Wadi Shamlu, situated within the Shahrizor plain (i g. 1) in northeastern Iraq, where more than 30 ancient settlements were documented and surveyed; the project is funded by Gerda Henkel Stiftung. The area consists of a few multi-period settlements (Gird-i Shamlu, Tell Begum) and of a multitude of single phase settlements or farmsteads. The sites, dating from the Neolithic to Islamic period, are archaeologically surveyed and verii ed by pottery i ndings. The i rst magnetometer surveys in the Shahrizor plain were already undertaken in 2014. They revealed structures of settlements and traces of a Parthian temple at four sites (i g. 1). In spring and autumn 2017, we investigated l at ancient settlements during two geophysical campaigns.

These sites are visible on the surface by a slight elevation and grey soil color. The survey brought to light distinct archaeological features such as remains of buildings, which contain rows of rooms including installations such as ovens or kilns. Furthermore, geoarchaeological features such as ancient river beds and irrigation canals were detected in proximity of these sites. Such features are often covered by sediments and rarely attested by remote sensing methods in this region.