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Image Title calendar2024-01-28

NEW INVESTIGATIONS IN THE ENVIRONMENT, HISTORY, AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE IRAQI HILLY FLANKS: SHAHRIZOR SURVEY PROJECT 2009–2011

Recent palaeoenvironmental, historical, and archaeological investigations, primarily consisting of site reconnaissance, in the Shahrizor region within the province of Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan are bringing to light new information on the region’s social and socio-ecological development.

Image Title calendar2024-01-11

Residential project in Chwartaq district

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.

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.

The Iraqi Kurdistan Region has discovered a new Sassanid settlement located on Grdi-Kazhaw

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The Iraqi Kurdistan Region has discovered a new Sassanid settlement located on Grdi-Kazhaw


Gird-î Kazhaw is located at the eastern perimeter of the large spring near Bestansur. The site consists of two mounds extending across an area of 4 ha. Mound A is only 2–3 m in height and of oval shape while Mound B reaches up to 10 m in height. 
In the center of Mound a remains of a large building with limestone-pillars were exposed. The pottery found in situ and in the rubbish layers above the floor indicate a late Sasanian date. Building comparisons suggest that the excavated part represent the central nave of a church, which was integrated into a monastery. 
On the hilltop of Mound B remains of a small fortification were uncovered in two trenches. The main wall of the small fortress is in parts preserved to a height of almost 4 m. In a zone of about 50 m around the fortress, smaller structures, probably dwellings, are visible on the magnetics. Finds of glass directly above virgin soil, give proof, that the whole area around the fortification was exclusively settled in the Sasanian period. 
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.

                                               Drone photography of the church complex in Grdi-Kazhaw.