The Rowanduz Archaeological Program - Results from the 2015 field season

Summary

This talk presents the results from the third seasons of archaeological investigations conducted by the Rowanduz Archaeological Program (RAP) in Erbil Province in northeastern Iraqi Kurdistan. During the Late Bronze and early Iron Age, the project area, the modern Soran District, served as an important buffer zone between the Assyrian and Urartian Empires, and scholarly consensus locates the Hurro-Urartian buffer state of Ardini/Musasir in this rugged mountainous region, best known for its sacking during Sargon II’s Eighth Campaign in 714 BCE. In the fall of 2015, RAP conducted archaeological investigations in the areas of modern Sidekan along the Iraq-Iran border in the Zagros Mountains. This season focused on excavations at the threatened cemetery of Ghabrestan-i Topzawa in the Zagros Mountains near modern Sidekan, where an Achaemenid Period tomb was investigated, and the site of Gund-i Topzawa, an early Iron Age settlement situated near the original location of the famous Topzawa Stele. A complementary cultural heritage management program, focused on improved communication with local stakeholders, was also implemented during the 2015 season. The results of this heritage project and long-term management plans for the Topzawa sites will be discussed within the context of the excavation results.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• A New Archaeological Frontier: Urban Settlements and Landscapes in Kurdistan, Northern Iraq

Keywords

Spatial Coverage