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This article presents the preliminary results of the joint Kurdish-Italian Faida Archaeological Project (KIFAP) conducted by the Duhok Directorate of Antiquities and the University of Udine at the Assyrian Faida canal and rock art complex in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Investigation of this extraordinary and seriously endangered archaeological site was launched in 2019 and has led to the exploration of an 8.6 km-long irrigation canal cut into the limestone bedrock of the Chiya Daka hill range in the outskirts of the village of Faida, south of Duhok. Ten monumental sculpted rock panels carved along the canal's eastern bank were brought to light, representing an Assyrian ruler depicted at both ends of each panel, framing the cult statues of seven deities standing on pedestals shaped like striding animals. This article discusses the canal's role in the wider context of the Northern Assyrian Irrigation System and the function of the Assyrian hydraulic networks as economic infrastructures with transformative effects on the landscape and staple food production of the empire's core. The Faida bas-reliefs are examined from an archaeological and art historical perspective, and hypotheses are proposed about their religious and ideological meaning, as well as their dating and the identity of the king or kings who commissioned them.

During the Assyrian rule over Northern Mesopotamia (present-day northern Iraq), complex systems of canals were built to increase the surface of cultivable land and improve the movement of people and goods across the irrigated waterscape of the hinterland of Nineveh and other major urban centres, with the aim of granting socio-economic prosperity to the empire. Nevertheless, supra-regional political instability eventually led to the rapid downfall of the Assyrian state during the late seventh century BCE, causing the swift abandonment of the canal systems. In this study, we examine the post-abandonment formation processes of the natural and anthropogenic infillings of three portions of King Sennacherib’s Khinis canal system (705–681 BCE, northwestern Kurdistan Region of Iraq) through means of archaeological, sedimentological and micromorphological analyses. We identify water lain sediments, desiccation features, colluvial gravel intake and pastoral occupation layers, anchoring the deposit to radiometric dating and contextualising it against the known regional climatic history. The interpretation of pedostratigraphic evidence highlights subsequent phases of use, abandonment, and repurposing of the canals, reflecting shifts in land-use from agriculture to pastoralism and dynamic adaptation and resilience of the local ancient communities in response to Late-Holocene climate changes and geopolitical events.

During the late Quaternary, Iraqi Kurdistan was the scenario of several fundamental human-relatedevents including the dispersion of Homo in Asia and Europe, the origin of agriculture, the beginningof urbanization, and the formation of the first state entities. We present the initial results of ageoarchaeological investigation in this area, which aims to reconstruct a detailed framework of therelationship between climatic changes, landscape responses, human adaptation, and settlementdistribution during the Late Quaternary. Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic data were collectedfrom two key areas: the territory of the Navkur and Faideh plains, in northern Kurdistan, and a portionof the Erbil plain, in southern Kurdistan. In the two regions, the Land of Niniveh and MAIPEarchaeological missions are operating. Remote sensing, GIS analyses, and geomorphological surveyare the tools used for the geomorphological reconstruction of ancient hydrology (fluvial pattern) andthe evolution of distinct landforms. Geochemical and geochronological analyses on speleothems fromthe Zagros piedmont caves of same region provide information on Holocene climatic variability inthe area. Whereas environmental settings and human land use are investigated on the basis ofsedimentological, palynological, micropaleontological, and geochemical analyses of a fluvio-lacustrine sequences preliminary dated between 40 and 9 ka BP. The lacustrine sequence is composedby clayey and silt-sandy sediments alternating calcareous and organic matter-rich layers.Environmental and geomorphological data have been compared with archaeological information(mostly the chronological distribution of the archaeological sites) to interpret exploitation of naturalresources, the settlement dynamics and shift in land use.

This paper presents a preliminary assessment of the prehistoric and protohistoric periods investigated by the Udine University in collaboration with the Sapienza University of Rome and the Duhok Directorate of Antiquities in the region of Northern Kurdistan (Iraq). The investigated area features different geographical units, such as mountains, piedmont areas, intermontane basins and valleys, and the alluvial plains of the Tigris River and its tributaries, each of which has different types of vegetation, soils and natural resources. Despite this very rich and variegated landscape, the region has been thus far little explored: except for an initial phase of groundbreaking research in the mid-twentieth century, archaeological projects have been limited to spatially circumscribed surveys and rescue excavations. Attention has been given to the historical periods, while the most ancient phases of human occupation of the area have been little investigated. In this paper, we aim to fill this gap with a preliminary summary of seven years of archaeological survey (2012-2018) that allows us to outline the principal chrono-cultural aspects and settlement strategies that characterised this region from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Ninevite 5 period. Cet article présente une synthèse des recherches sur les périodes préhistorique et protohistorique effectuées par l’université d’Udine en collaboration avec l’université Sapienza de Rome et la direction des Antiquités de Duhok dans la région du Kurdistan septentrional (Iraq). La zone étudiée comprend différentes unités géographiques, telles que des montagnes, des zones de piémont, des bassins, des vallées intercalées entre les reliefs montagneux et les plaines alluviales du Tigre et de ses affluents – chacune présentant différents types de végétation, de sols et de ressources naturelles. En dépit de ce paysage très riche et varié, la région a jusqu’à présent été peu explorée : à l’exception d’une phase initiale de recherche au milieu du xxe siècle, seuls des prospections assez limitées et des fouilles de sauvetage ont été effectuées. De plus, ces recherches ont concerné surtout les périodes historiques, alors que les phases les plus anciennes de l’occupation humaine de la région ont été peu explorées. Dans cet article, nous comblons cette lacune en présentant le bilan synthétique des connaissances issues des programmes de prospections géo-archéologiques effectuées entre 2012 et 2018 qui nous ont permis de retracer les principaux aspects chronoculturels et les stratégies de peuplement ayant caractérisé cette région du Paléolithique inférieur à la période Ninevite 5.

This paper presents a preliminary report on the first two seasons of work by The Land of Nineveh Archaeological Project (LoNAP) of Udine University that aims to understand the formation and transformation of the cultural and natural landscape of northern Mesopotamia, (embracing large parts of the governorates of Ninawa and Dohuk) from the Palaeolithic to the Islamic period. Its purpose is to comprehend patterns of settlement, land use and management, based on a regional archaeological surface survey and excavation. These objectives are closely tied to the geoarcheological and bioarchaeological reconstruction of the ancient natural environment and its evolution as a result of global climatic fluctuations and human impact.

A la suite de la reconnaissance menee par la mission syro-italienne dans l’oasis de Palmyre et les zones desertiques situees au sud et a l’ouest, les donnees paleo-environnementales indiquent une discontinuite entre une periode humide Tardi-glaciaire/Holocene ancien et une periode suivante seche. Cette derniere, dont on suppose qu’elle a debute au cours du Neolithique preceramique final-Neolithique ceramique ancien, voit la nucleation progressive de l’oasis de Palmyre et un changement dans les modes d’occupation et l’exploitation des ressources naturelles de la region. L’article etudie cette adaptation, dans l’occupation et l’exploitation des territoires, contemporaine de l’apparition d’un paysage de desert-kites et de cairns.

Cet article presente les decouvertes archeologiques, relatives a l’âge du Fer II‑III sur le site de Mishrifeh, faites par la partie italienne de la mission syro-italienne. Les donnees obtenues au cours de neuf campagnes de fouille seront exposees conjointement aux resultats deja publies afin de presenter les differents aspects (urbanisme, architecture residentielle, activites artisanales et industrielles, pratiques funeraires, organisation administrative, culture materielle et fonction du site) de Mishrifeh entre le ixe et le milieu du vie siecle av. J.‑C. On abordera ensuite la question des ruptures et des continuites sur cet important site de Syrie centrale au temps des principautes louvito-arameennes et de la domination assyrienne.

New geoarchaeological investigations of the Qatabanian irrigation system of the Wadi Bayhan Valley were carried out by means of remote sensing and ground survey. Previous studies had suggested that, from a pure speculative viewpoint, the abandonment of the regional canal system around the end of the second century A.D. was due to the political, economic and social changes linked to the collapse of the Qatabanian kingdom and to the decrease in imports of oriental goods in the Mediterranean. Our research however shows that a severe neotectonic activity, which with cyclic earthquakes affected the whole valley, caused the folding and tilting of the ancient field plots thus compromising the functionality of the whole irrigation system.

SUMMARY We report on the first archaeomagnetic directional data obtained from Syria. Reliable palaeomagnetic directions were collected from four pyrotechnological archaeological structures dated by type of pottery and radiocarbon from the 19th to 8th century BC (Middle Bronze to Iron Age) in Tell Mishrifeh/Qatna, Syria. Fairly constant northward declination values (within confidence limits) were obtained, whereas inclination values increased from 42.3 ◦ to 73.0 ◦ from the Middle Bronze to Iron Age. At first approximation, these new data are consistent with coeval archaeomagnetic directions from Western Europe and Bulgaria. The high inclination (73.0 ◦ ± 2.8 ◦ ) documented for the Iron Age (translating to a VGP latitude of 65.9 ◦ N) suggests that very strong secular variation was occurring during the 8th century BC.

Publication de deux ceintures de bronze urartiennes de provenance inconnue (objets de contrebande saisis par la police) conservees au musee national de la ville d'Alep.

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