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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 calendar2024-01-11

Surveying Dukan Lake

The latest archaeological activity is the survey of some of the archaeological Sites in Dukan Lake. It is a joint work between the Archeology and heritage Directorates (Slemani, Raperin and Pisa University) of Italy.

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.

Zarzi was used by groups of hunter-gatherers between 18,000 and 14,000 years ago.

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The cave here at Zarzi was used by groups of hunter-gatherers between 18,000 and 14,000 years ago.


Early Communities


The cave here at Zarzi was used by groups of hunter-gatherers between 18,000 and 14,000 years ago. Zarzi Cave was excavated by Dorothy Garrod in 1928 and by Iraqi archaeologist Ghanim Wahida in 1971. 
After the cave was abandoned at the end of the last Ice Age, communities in this valley built stone buildings at Zawi Chemi Razan and used large grinding stones used for preparing food. The site was discovered during a survey in 2013 and excavated from 2022 by the University of Reading in collaboration with Sulaimani Directorate of Antiquities and Heritage. 
The people who sheltered inside Zarzi Cave ate wild sheep, goat, gazelle, tortoise and fish. As today, the valley is rich in plant and animal wildlife, attracted by the abundant fresh water of the Chemi Razan River.
To preserve these rich water supplies, farmlands and wildlife, we need to protect them from climate change, pollution and other threats.