Sasanian-era rural communities. Case studies in the Shahrizor-plain (Iraqi-Kurdistan)

• Applicants: Dr. Alexander Tamm; Professor Dr. Dirk Wicke
• Subject Area: Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 496871763

The aim of the project is an archaeological study of the hitherto rarely studied material culture of rural communities of the Sasanian period within a narrowly defined geographical framework (3rd–7th century). The project focuses primarily on an archaeological investigation of two neighbouring sites of different character in the Shahrizor plain in the Kurdish autonomous region of Iraq. These are a simple village in Qalrakh and an early Christian monastery as well as a small fortification in Kazhaw. On basis of interdisciplinary cooperation with various specialists the results of the project are to be integrated into the overall picture of rural settlements in the region during the Sasanian period The project itself is divided into three levels: On the micro-level, the material culture of different types of rural settlements will be investigated on basis of archaeological excavations at the two sites od Kazhaw and Qalrakh. The small extent of the sites should be emphasised, since it will be possible to uncover a representative area of the respective site. This will aid to reconstruct the internal organisation and economy on basis of established, theoretical models for internal settlement analysis. The scientific analyses of pottery, bones and botanical remains form integral parts of the research, e.g. for the purpose of reconstructing the environment, dietary habits or the locality of pottery products.On the middle-range level, the results are integrated into the environment of the Shahrizor plain and directly adjacent valleys of the Zagros piedmont area. Of particular importance is the connection to the Shahrizor Survey Project. The stratified material from the excavations targeted in this project will allow a more detailed interpretation of the Sasanian settlement patterns in the Shahrizor Plain. In turn, this will allow for a more precise determination of the significance of Qalrakh and Kazhaw in the overall context of the local settlement network.On the supra-regional level, on the one hand, the connection to neighbouring regions – Northern Mesopotamia and Western Iran – will be established in order to determine to what extent the results of this project can also be transferred to rural sites located there. On the other hand, a comparison with the archaeological material of larger cities – e.g. Veh Ardashir/Ktesiphon, Merv, Qasr-i Abu Nasr – will take place in order to give an outlook to what extent material culture and daily life in rural communities differed from larger centres of the Sasanian empire. On the macro level also the integration of textual sources from the late antique and – to a lesser extent – subsequent early Islamic period plays an important role. The integration of textual sources takes place primarily in cooperation with the Leibniz Science Campus "Byzantium between Orient and Occident" (Mainz/Frankfurt) and Dietmar Winkler (Salzburg).

• DFG Programme: Research Grants