Sumer Journal

The numbered piece of land (1/39976) District (3) Nahrawan is a piece of land with an area of (2000) dunam located in Nahrawan district which is away from it at a distance of (5) km from the northeastern side. This piece was offered to an investment opportunity for establishing Baghdad Industrial Economic City. Rescue excavations were conducted for this area two seasons ago, because parts of the area of this plot contain archaeological sites represented by two Arkob and an archaeological area. Our work in the archaeological area began by defining its borders, networking them with grid squares, and dividing them into three excavation areas. The results of the work at the three work points resulted in the discovery of multiple building units which varied in importance from one point to another. A number of graves of various shapes and sizes were also uncovered, in addition to vertical pottery pipes for water channels, and archaeological finds of various types and materials. Upon studying these results, it became clear that the archaeological area dates back in its history to the period of the Esin- Larsa and the Old Babylonian era. The ancient site, and shortly before the end of this season’s work, we and the follow-up committees reached the necessity of extending the work in the archaeological area to a third season due to its importance.

The importance of archaeological excavations is that they provide us with important information about ancient times through the study of architectural remains and archaeological finds of different types and materials, whether pottery, seals, metals, stones, bones, etc. They are studied and documented in order to gather more knowledge regarding these societies. Each era has unique features that differ from the other in terms of architecture or various archaeological finds. Sometimes there is an archaeological overlap between successive eras. Tell Abu al-Dhahab is one of the distinctive archaeological sites in al-Hammar Marsh. It was among the goals of the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage within the Marshes Revitalization Project. This research sheds light on the results of archaeological excavations of the third season to continue to uncover the temple building and conduct a test probe between the main stone building and the temple building on the western side, and to complete the contour map of the site. I would like to point out here that through the archaeological excavations in the previous two seasons in Tell Abu al-Dhahab, a part of the residential neighborhood built of mud bricks was revealed to us, which included a group of rooms of varying dimensions, a number of archaeological floors, a large group of diverse archaeological finds, and a number of graves below the floor level in basin shapes made of pottery. The stone building was also revealed, as it included a large hall leading to a number of halls, rooms built with large, trimmed stones and plaster, and the walls of the main hall that were decorated with spiral columns.

In 2018 and 2019, University of Babylon- Department of Archaeology in collaboration with the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage continued their field works for two seasons, 2nd and 3rd seasons as part of the contract with the SBAH. In these two seasons the field work concentrated on the same area of the first season which located in area C, which represents the central part of the site. In the first season, a temple was unearthed in the area but no written evidence to whom it was dedicated or who constructed it. But, in these two seasons we were able to find ten inscribed bricks on the walls of the two towers on the main gate contain Sumerian inscriptions dated to the Kassite period mentioning God’s name, king’s name, temple’s name and name of the city as Dilbat. In this article we give detailed information of the excavated parts of the temple with description to the variety of objects found inside the temple or those found on the surface of the site. In addition, this article is enhanced with more details by using drawing of the ground plans, 3D drawing of the main gate, and photos of all details of the temple, and photos of the objects.

This article is the first publication of a previously unrecorded fragment of an Early Dynastic plaque which appeared on the London market in 2019, reported by the British Museum as probably the result of illicit trafficking, investigated and seized by UK police, briefly exhibited at the British Museum and returned to Baghdad in 2023, Details of the iconography are compared with other plaques in order to establish its date, possible original appearance and likely context, and the paper concludes with a brief exploration into how it came to be fragmented in the manner it has

The Italian Archaeological Expedition at Seleucia on the Tigris (IAES) restarted field research in October 2022, after a break of more than thirty years. Activity was resumed in April 2023. These are the first steps of a new research project framed in a five-year agreement signed in 2022 by the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage of Iraq (SBAH), the Centro Scavi di Torino (CRAST) and the University of Torino (UniTo). The expedition is co-directed by Carlo Lippolis and Vito Messina.
Two campaigns have been conducted in October-November 2022 and April 2023. According to a program jointly developed by all parties, the aim of these two campaigns was to update topography and acquire preliminary information on the site’s geomorphology, so to conduct further extensive excavations

The article presents an overview and results of the prospections and excavations in the area of historical al-Hira conducted in autumn 2021 and spring 2022, funded by the DFG. The magnetometer survey carried out in the area south of al-Najaf International Airport confirmed the results of the Hira Survey Project (2015–2018) and substantiated the evidence of a densely built settlement area. The evaluation of the magnetometer data adds to a better understanding of the extent and the structure of the settlement. The recording of surface features (find sites M01–M07) revealed at most of these sites courtyard houses of varying size and layout. Some of them consist of several parts, indicating longer phases of use and reconstruction. As part of a doctoral thesis magnetic susceptibility measurements were carried out to understand if anomalies interpreted as mudbrick wall structures (class 3) can actually be put in context with wall structures visible on the surface and in the excavation trenches. Excavations were conducted in two areas. At mound HD clear evidence for a church was produced, adding to the spectrum church buildings (HA, HB and HC) known from previous excavations in al-Hira. Whereas some stucco finds show parallels to Sasanian examples, the evaluation of the pottery indicates a dating to the 8th century with a possibility of 7th century dated materials. A further excavation area lay on the north side of Tell TK3, where previous excavations and prospections gave evidence of a so called ‘main building’ and a surrounding ‘large enclosure’. Here, a section of the ‘large enclosure’ wall was excavated, constructed in earthen layer technique (tauf). Also, one of the U-shaped towers as well as a hitherto unknown gateway was discovered. An ashy destruction layer with pottery and glass, dating late 8th to 9th centuries, allows conclusions on the history of the ‘main building’. The processing and evaluation of the pottery give clues to the dating of the uncovered structures and point to the different distribution of pottery types in both excavation areas. Furthermore, the analysis provides evidence for the development of a typo-chronology of the pottery collected during the Hira Survey Project 2015–2018.

Dur Mandali village hill (land numbered 2/10488) is one of the archeological sites located in the city of Baqubah and parts of this site are inconsistent with the Mesopotamian residential investment project. Rescue excavation works are conducted for this inconsistent archeological part of the site for two seasons. The duration of the first season is (60) days and the second season is (30) days. The results of the excavation seasons were the detection of multiple residential building units of two layers, the first layer extended to include most of the open squares, while the second layer was found in separate places of the excavation area. We were not able to expand the detection of the remnants of this layer due to the emergence of groundwater at a depth ranging between (150-180) cm, which prevented the continuation of tracking its walls. Moreover, when lifting the rubble from the facilities of these building units, a group of graves of different shapes and sizes was discovered.
As for the archaeological finds that were found, they are diverse, represented by pottery jars of different shapes and sizes, a number of pottery dishes, lamps of different sizes and shapes, and various dolls, as well as a number of silver and copper coins and other miscellaneous finds.

The Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) has constituted an excavation mission for the archaeological site, which is located within the plot numbered (2/1), of district (41) Al-Raffiah and Abu Qasib, which has an area of 9900 square meters. The State Board of Antiquities and Heritage entered into an excavation contract with one of the investors. The excavations revealed that the site dated back to the Sasanian era, and this is what was proven by the coins, in addition to a group of jars with pointed bases, lids with a prominent medial protrusion, and fluidly clay floors. Moreover, other jars of various sizes and shapes, including glazed and unglazed, (44) archaeological pieces were found during the work of the excavation mission, all of them delivered to the Iraqi Museum.

The site is named after the pieces of bricks and their broken shards that scattered on its surface. This site was declared as archaeological site in 1988 in the Iraqi official Gazette (Al Waqai Al Iraqiya), issue (3656) in 1997. One of the reasons that led to the excavation at this site was that a beneficiary governmental entity submitted an official request aiming to provide a public service, so a contract was made between this entity and the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage according to the administrative order No.306, on 16/5/2014 AD, which included several items, including, the work must be completed within a time estimated 75 days of actual work. The excavation season yielded preliminary results, the most important thing was the identification of the historical roles, the oldest dates back to the Sassanid era (226 AD- 637 AD), while the latest one, it is likely dates back to the Abbasid era (132-656/750-1258), based on some of the findings, that were unearthed during excavations among the rubble and recent landfill. The site contains unfinished walls, and the expedition did not reach their ends, due to the limited area specified in the contract, which is represented by a longitudinal area of (500 X 6m2), in addition, the site had been exposed to earlier encroachments.

The first signs of archaeological surveying appeared by early archaeologists through searching for antiquities until the advent of the twentieth century, as there was no clear concept of archaeological surveying in discovering archaeological sites. However, in the first quarter of the twentieth century, those interested in the world of archaeology recorded, described, and documented archaeological sites accurately and in an organized record. Moreover, the concept of archaeological surveying and its importance for uncovering antiquities developed quickly, which is accompanied by the adoption of modern methods and the use of advanced scientific equipment. This is what was done in the survey of the border strip east of Maysan Governorate in 2021 AD (the subject of our research, which we will review the most important results about).

The research deals with some samples of glazed tiles that were found in the southern part of the Northern Palace (the palace of King Ashurnasir Pal II) during the sixth and seventh seasons (1990-1992 AD), and in separate finds from this part, a group of tiles bearing various forms of decorations and drawings with different themes were found.

The research deals with a group of pottery shards that were found in the city of
Nimrud in the palace of King Assyria Nasir Pal II. Due to their importance they have been
considered as a complete season (Second Season), numbering 21 shards glazed in several colors. Worldly scenes that conclude the military aspect were executed on the pottery shards. Concerning the design of the scene, the distribution of the artistic elements, and the positions of the characters on the jar were scattered in a way that served the curvature of the jar. Unfortunately, parts of the jar were broken and missing. Therefore, it was not possible to know whether these scenes followed the narrative system or not. The scenes executed on the jar also contained a group of various artistic elements, such as knights and their horses, as well as the chariot, and religious symbols.

Medicine is one of the most prominent products of civilization in Mesopotamia, and it has gained an important position because of its direct impact on people’s lives, and it was associated with the gods. This research deals with diseases affecting the nervous system, their symptoms and treatment in the light of cuneiform texts.

The research deals with the element of clay as a material used very widely in construction in ancient Iraq, starting from the formation of houses and buildings with clay (The raft), to the use of mud and bricks, which were widely used in ancient Iraqi architecture in various eras, as well as identifying the most important advantages and disadvantages of that material. which has become one of the most prominent features of Iraqi civilization.

The gods played an important role in the conflicts in the Mesopotamian society ,as the epics ,legends and artistic depictions reflected that important role, as we see the struggle among the gods, whether it was a bloody conflict as in the myth of creation, or an intellectual conflict as in the legend of Enki and Ninma, as for the struggle of the gods with humans, which is not as commonly known as the concept of conflict, but rather it is the divine wrath descending on a city or individuals as a result of their bad deeds.

In 2023, State Board of Antiquities and Heritage conducted an emergency excavation project in Tell Aswad which belongs to the Kufa district within Alnajaf Alashraff governorate in 2023. In the field work, the Iraqi excavators found a variety of very important objects, including glasses of different sizes and shapes which covered high percentage among other objects. Basing on these results, our article deals with describing these glass objects and their use in the daily life by people who occupied this settlement which considers a part of ancient Kufa in the Mid-Abbasid period. The archaeological evidence can support this aspect, as well as we give identification to the ancient Kufa and its chronology with detail information of the site and its history. Other details including photos, plates of the objects and contour map have been placed of the excavated area added to this article.

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The archaeological findings from the Neo-Assyrian period (911-612 BC), during the reign of King Sennacherib (681-704 BC), have distinguished with several achievements in the political, military, and cultural fields, making it a model for civilization in Mesopotamia. The Assyrian kings provided all the necessary resources to build their great civilization. These developments and achievements had a significant impact on the inhabitants of the region and neighboring countries as well. These accomplishments have a great influence on defining their long history, which begins from prehistoric times until the fall of their capital Nineveh in 612 BC at the hands of the Babylonian and Median alliance. As for the stone artifact under study, King Sennacherib mentions in his inscriptions after mentioning his titles that he specifically ordered its production for watering horses and adorned it with precious stones. He also surrounded the walls of Nineveh with cubic rock blocks made of limestone, as well as using other stones brought from distant places outside Mesopotamia that required multiple people to carry or sometimes even using machinery.

The present study aims to explore the three primary international treaties on the protection of cultural property: the 1954 Hague convention for the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict, the 1970 UNESCO convention on the means of prohibiting and preventing the illegal import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property and the 1995 UNIDROIT convention on stolen or illicitly exported cultural property. After the U.S occupation in 2003, Iraq undergone difficult times and has been subjected to uncontrolled looting and illegal trade of antiquities, despite the existence of international conventions and Iraqi laws on this matter. This study concluded that while enforcement methods and legal frameworks exist, more work needs to be done to strengthen international law enforcement cooperation. In particular, there is a need to increase the exchange of information and experiences so that competent authorities can function more effectively.

The research deals with the architectural findings shown through the archaeological excavations on the hill number (2) in the numbered area (1/42784) district (3/Nahrawan), which is one of the hills of that area. The excavations done on the main point showed (6) building units that include a number of rooms, their remaining walls were built from adobe and mud. The building units are separated by perpendicular alleyways, in addition to showing a number of bakeries. As for the points (A, B, C), the remains of the walls of other building units which were also built from adobe and mud were shown.