The lower town of Arbil - History of occupation and environment

• Applicant: Dr. Margarete van Ess
• Subject Area: Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Term: from 2015 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 270863485

The urban history of Arbil, present-day capital of the Federal Region of Kurdistan / Iraq, can be traced by written sources from the 22nd century BC until today. Earliest vestiges of human settlement can be dated as early as the 5th / 4th millennium BC, if not earlier. Whereas the citadel of Arbil - appointed World Heritage in 2014 and widely known, may have been occupied from the same time onwards, almost nothing is known about the occupation of the lower town of Arbil, its city wall and infrastructural remains of the settlement, which may have started during the Neo-Assyrian period (9th to 7th century BC). Although widely covered by modern housing or partly destroyed, soundings resulted in the identification of remains of the morphology of the occupied area as well as of extended settlement areas. The project focusses on the ancient lower town area of Arbil. It is aimed at systematically investigating its nature and extension by surveying open areas and modern construction areas. A DEM (3D) will be generated by the combined use of stereo satellite imagery and geodetic ground data. A further goal of the project consists of estimating the potential for reconstructing the geomorphology of ancient Arbil as well as on laying the foundations for an archaeological history of occupation of Arbil by systematically recording, analysing and mapping visible archaeological remains in the lower town area.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants