After some time (due to the pandemic, that has kept many archaeological missions at home for a couple of years), Mar Shiprim is finally back “In the Field”!
The Land of Nineveh Archaeological Project has kindly accepted our invitation to present to our readers its most recent and very exciting new discoveries. You can read about archaeological discoveries, future plans and outreach activities in the text below. Enjoy!
Introduction
The Land of Nineveh Archaeological Project (LoNAP) is a multidisciplinary project conducted by the University of Udine in the Duhok Governorate of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. LoNAP was established in 2012, during a new wave of archaeological ventures[1] focused on the north-eastern region of Iraq where a safe and stable socio-political environment and the warm hospitality of the local General Directorate of Antiquities in Erbil facilitated the establishment of several new archaeological projects.
LoNAP is a wide-ranging enterprise that combines archaeological survey, excavations and training programmes with protection and valorisation activities for the understanding and safeguarding of the rich and diverse cultural heritage of the Duhok region.
The survey
The region investigated by the Land of Nineveh Archaeological Project covers an area of c. 3,000 km2, characterized by fertile rolling plains, hills and mountains. Here, in the hinterland of the large Assyrian capitals of Nineveh and Khorsabad, over 1,150 archaeological sites have been identified, documented and studied during the past 10 years of LoNAP activities in the region.
The main goal of the project was to explore and understand the formation and transformation of this previously unknown archaeological landscape from prehistoric times up to the modern era. Extensive and intensive archaeological survey were the main tools used to unveil the settlement history of this region that encompasses large areas of the Governorates of Duhok and Ninawa.
Figure 1 – Map of the LoNAP licence area and the over 1140 sites identified and documented by the project. © LoNAP
The multidisciplinary teams comprise specialised prehistory and Islamic period research units, led respectively by C. Conati and C. Tonghini, which investigated the earliest and latest evidence of human occupation in the region using specific methodologies and approaches. The Gaugamela Project involved another team, led by M. Marciak, which studied the Navkur Plain from written sources, satellite images and in the field, looking for the location of the famous battle where Alexander the Great defeated the Persian king Darius III.
One of LoNAP’s main goals was to conduct for the first time a systematic reconnaissance of the monumental irrigation network built by the Assyrian King Sennacherib to irrigate the fertile agricultural land in the Zagros foothill plains and bring water to his capital, Nineveh. This extraordinary system of canals had never before been systematically investigated on the ground. The survey activities were also accompanied by geoarchaeological soundings and topographic surveys of several strategic stretches of the canals and the documentation and study of all the monuments (i.e. rock-reliefs, inscriptions and stone aqueducts) connected with the hydraulic network.[2]
Excavations at Gir-e Gomel
Gir-e Gomel sits in the centre of the largest and most fertile alluvial plain in the region, the Navkur Plain (literally the “Plain of Mud” in modern Kurdish), and is the largest and most prominent site in the entire area. The site was intensively surveyed in the framework of the Tell Gomel Archaeological Survey[3] (TGAS) and due to its long and uninterrupted occupation sequence, from the Late Chalcolithic to modern times, it was selected by LoNAP as the perfect site for conducting an archaeological excavation that might yield a well-stratified sequence of artefacts, in particular, pottery finds.
Figure 2 – Left: Topographic map of Gir-e Gomel with the location of the excavation trenchers. Right: A photo of the mound in front of the Jebel Maqloub from North. © LoNAP
At Gir-e Gomel soundings started in 2012 and continued during the 2013 campaigns, focusing on a funerary area at the southern edge of the Lower Town. In 2017, a new joint project, the Kurdish-Italian Gomel Archaeological Project (KIGAP), started in collaboration with the Duhok Governorate of Antiquities.[4] The KIGAP project continued work in the funerary area previously identified at Gomel, extending the 2012-2013 test-trench (Operation 1). Here the team of archaeologists was able to identify a long sequence of burials spanning from the sub-recent period to the 3rd millennium BC. Among the most important discoveries are the incineration graves dated to the Neo-Assyrian period containing Late Assyrian pottery vessels as grave goods. With the only exceptions of findings at Tell Sheikh Hamad (eastern Syria)[5] and Ziyaret Tepe (eastern Anatolia)[6], where in-situ cremation burials identical to those recorded in Gomel were excavated, incineration was not a common funerary practice in the core region of the Assyrian Empire. Although other hypotheses cannot be excluded, the most plausible interpretation of Gomel’s unusual funerary evidence is that the in-situ Gomel cremations belong to deportees coming from regions in which cremation was practised during the Iron Age, such as the Levant and eastern Anatolia.
Underneath the Assyrian cremation burials, a Middle Bronze Age I-II elite cemetery was found, characterised by several baked brick vaulted graves with rich ceramic inventories. Two of these barrel-vaulted structures were particularly monumental. One contained at least 15 buried individuals, whilst the other contained an abundant pottery assemblage but no human remains. This led us to believe that this vaulted structure might have functioned as a funerary chapel in the Middle Bronze Age graveyard.
Figure 3 – From left to right: Operation 1, a Middle Bronze Age vaulted baked brick tomb; Operation 2, monumental building of the first half of the 2nd millennium BC; Operation 3, the step trench at the foot of Gomel’s high mound with Late Chalcolithic levels. © LoNAP
Other striking finds relate to a series of Early Bronze Age (mid-late 3rd millennium BC) graves characterized by numerous prestigious grave goods (precious metals and stones) showing the existence of an élite at the site and the pre-eminence of Gomel in the Navkur plain.
In 2018, two new excavation areas, Operation 2 and Operation 3, were opened. Operation 2, in the eastern lower town, was characterized by the presence of poorly preserved Parthian-period residential architecture and a monumental building dating to the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE, which was probably an administrative building, seat of the Gomel urban élite. These discoveries, together with the monumental Middle Bronze Age chamber-vaulted graves excavated in Operation 1, demonstrate the prosperity and importance of the urban site of Gomel at this time.
Lastly, in Operation 3, on the mound’s western side, the earliest occupation of the site was investigated. Here an area devoted to pottery production dating to the 4th millennium BCE was found.
Excavations at Faida
Since 2019, a joint Italian-Kurdish team has also been excavating the archaeological site of Faida (20 km south of Duhok). Here twelve unique Neo-Assyrian rock reliefs were brought to light by the Kurdish-Italian Faida Archaeological Project (KIFAP) a joint project of the Duhok Directorate of Antiquities and the University of Udine.
The archaeological complex of Faida is a unique site that comprises a c. 9 km canal cut into the limestone bedrock of the Çiya Daka Hill range and a series of twelve rock-reliefs sculpted on its inner bank. The complex dates to the eighth-seventh century BC and is part of the wide-ranging irrigation programme carried out by the Neo-Assyrian rulers in the hinterland of Khorsabad and Nineveh.
The Faida canal was fed by a series of karst springs – in part still active today – situated in a wadi on the mountain’s northern flank. The canal had an average width of 4 m and today is buried under deposits eroded from the mountain. For this reason, before the excavation, only the upper parts of the sculpted panel frames emerged from the colluvial deposits; in some cases, it was possible to recognize the crowns of the deities depicted on the buried panels. Julian Reade was the first archaeologist to identify the presence of a canal and three rock reliefs in 1973. This was followed by a visit to the site in 1978 by Rainer M. Boehmer. In August 2012 the LoNAP team visited Faida, surveyed all of the canal that was visible and identified the presence of six new reliefs carved along its east bank, thus bringing the total number of reliefs known to nine. Subsequent excavation of the canal led to the discovery of a tenth relief in 2019 and two new panels in 2021.
The sculpted panels are slightly different from one another, but they are generally almost 5 m wide and 2 m high. The bas-reliefs portray a series of statues of seven of the main Assyrian deities standing on podia resting on sacred animals in the presence of the king – who is depicted twice, at both the left and right ends of each panel. The figures are shown in profile facing left and thus looking in the same direction as the water flowing in the channel. The deities can be identified as Ashur, the main Assyrian god, on a dragon and a horned lion or a bull, his wife Mullissu sitting on a decorated throne supported by a lion, the moon god Sin on a horned lion, the god of wisdom Nabu on a dragon, the sun god Shamash on a horse, the weather god Adad on a horned lion and a bull, and Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, on a lion.
Figure 4 – Relief n. 8. © LoNAP, Photo: D. Tagen
Excavation during the 2019 and 2021 campaigns focused on digging long portions of the canal in order to obtain information regarding its function and mode of operation. The canal head was identified and documented and two overflows, created to regularise the water level, were located. Along the canal, at least twelve sculpted reliefs were carved on the eastern bank, without a regular distribution, and others may still be buried by debris.
Unfortunately, the entire complex is part of a post-conflict scenario, and it is strongly affected by vandalism, illegal excavations and the expansion of the nearby village and its productive activities. To document and protect this extraordinary and unique site, several emergency actions were carried out in a salvage operation. Thanks to the support of the Gerda Henkel Stiftung, the site was marked off and protected by the construction of a 3 km long fence. The canal and the bas-reliefs were recorded by means of UAV technology, laser scanning, and digital photogrammetry. With the support of the ALIPH Foundation, detailed documentation (graphic and photographic) was accomplished, the state of preservation of all reliefs was assessed, and a plan was drawn up for targeted conservation treatment and protection measures.
Recently a virtual tour of the archaeological complex of Faida was released; it is available at: http://www.terradininive.com/visita-virtuale-di-faida/?lang=en
The Sennacherib’s Archaeological and Environmental Park
With the support of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and the encouragement of the Duhok Directorate of Antiquities, LoNAP has drawn up a project for the creation of an archaeological-environmental park of Sennacherib’s irrigation network in the Duhok region, a conservation project regarding the Maltai and Khinis rock reliefs, and a dossier proposing the inscription of this hydraulic system in the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List. The project has been now published in the first volume of the new monograph series “Italian Archaeological Mission to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Monographs”.
After the discovery of the Faida archaeological complex, it is planned to include this unique site together with the other Assyrian canals, aqueducts and rock reliefs in the Duhok region (Khinis, Maltai and Shiru Maliktha reliefs, and Jerwan aqueduct) in the newly designed archaeological and environmental park. This will allow this unique group of sites to be adequately and sustainably protected and managed.
The creation of the Archaeological and Environmental Park of Sennacherib’s Irrigation Network will not only benefit the conservation of Duhok region’s cultural heritage, but will also offer the opportunity to open these areas to visitors and strengthen the local economy through the growth of local and international tourism.
Community Engagement and Outreach
Since its foundation, LoNAP has always been focused on creating a relationship between the public and the archaeological project. A number of communication activities – from press conferences to social media engagement – are carried out throughout the year in Kurdistan, as well as in Italy.
Since summer 2021, the project has featured a pilot programme aimed at the direct on-site engagement of local communities. Thanks to collaboration with the Direction of Antiquities in Duhok, in particular its director Dr Bekas Jamaluddin Hasan and Mr Kovan Ihsan Yaseen, we were able to organize several meetings and site visits during our field campaign. We had the pleasure of being hosted by the Faida Cultural Center for an open meeting with the people of Faida. Furthermore, two classes from the village elementary schools visited the site, as did also a group of students from the Duhok Institute of Fine Arts.
The pilot programme was a success and the response of the people involved was enthusiastic. The activities were fundamental to raising awareness of the unique site of Faida – brought to light only recently – and to start a fruitful dialogue with the inhabitants of the nearby village. Engagement with local communities, together with information and awareness-raising, are undoubtedly crucial for the area’s protection and sustainable development. A new goal of LoNAP is to establish over the next few years a strong community engagement programme covering several sites involved in our work, such as Faida, Jerwan and Maltai among others.
Figure 5 – Site visit by a Faida elementary school. © LoNAP
The Land of Nineveh Archaeological Project is supported by: University of Udine, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Friuli Venezia Giulia Regional Authority, Friuli Banking Foundation, Italian Ministry of Universities and Research, Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, Lab GIS of the University of Roma Tre, ArcheoCrowd, 3DTarget and 3Dflow.
Daniele Morandi Bonacossi (daniele.morandi@uniud.it)
Francesca Simi (francesca.simi@uniud.it)
[1] Ur J. 2017 – The Archaeological Renaissance in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Near Eastern Archaeology 80:3, 176-187.
[2] Morandi Bonacossi, D. 2018 – Water for Nineveh. The Nineveh Irrigation System in the Regional Context of the ‘Assyrian Triangle’: A First Geoarchaeological Assessment, in H. Kühne (ed.), Water for Assyria, Studia Chaburensia 7, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden.
[3] Simi F., “The Tell Gomel archaeological survey. Preliminary results of the 2015-2016 campaigns”, in: Costanza Coppini, Francesca Simi (Edited by), Interactions and New Directions in Near Eastern Archaeology. Volume 3. Proceedings of the 5th “Broadening Horizons” Conference (Udine 5-8 June 2017), Trieste, EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2020, pp. 279-292. http://hdl.handle.net/10077/30239
[4] Morandi Bonacossi, D., H.A. Qasim, C. Coppini, K. Gavagnin, E. Girotto, M. Iamoni and C. Tonghini 2018 – The Italian-Kurdish Excavations at Gir-e Gomel in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Preliminary Report on the 2017 and 2018 field seasons, Mesopotamia LIII: 67-162.
[5] Kreppner, J. 2014 – “The New Primary Cremation Custom of Iron Age Tell Sheikh Hamad/Dūr-Katlimmu (North-East- ern Syria)”, in P. Pfälzner, H. Niehr, E. Pernicka, S. Lange, T. Köster (eds.), Contextualising Grave Inventories in the Ancient Near East, Qaṭna-Studien Supplementa 3, Wiesbaden, 171-186.
[6] T. Matney, M. Roaf, J. Macginnis, H. Mcdonald, 2002 – “Archaeological Excavations at Ziyaret Tepe, 2000 and 2001”, Anatolica 28: 47-89.