Arnulf Hausleiter (ISAW/Deutsches Archäologisches Institut): The Urban Area of Ancient Arbil - Excavations and Survey 2009-2015

Date: 

Wednesday, February 3, 2016, 5:15pm to 6:15pm

Location: 

Semitic Museum, room 201

Little is known about the urban area of ancient Arbil, counted among the few cities in the world with a continuous occupation from prehistory to modern times. At least since the Bronze Age, Arbil is known as important religious and economic center at the crossroads between Southern and Northern Mesopotamia and Iran. Recent fieldwork west of the famous Citadel revealed settlement remains ranging from the later Neo-Assyrian period (8th–7th centuries BC) reaching beyond the end of the Assyrian Empire at 612 BC. In addition to the 2009-2012 excavations, the first phase of a surface survey in the lower town has been completed, aimed at reconstructing ancient topography and environment of the Assyrian town as well as settlement patterns and occupation history of the urban area of Arbil.