Investigating Jubaniyah. A Late Chalcolithic site on the Upper Tigris River, Iraqi Kurdistan. Preliminary report

Abstract

Jubaniyah is a blufftop settlement of 4 hectares set on a terrace overlooking the River Tigris in northern Iraq (Iraqi Kurdistan) demonstrating a significant and almost exclusive occupation during the Late Chalcolithic period (ca. 4800-3000 BC). Besides an agricultural-pastoral orientation, the site presumably also functioned as a central hub in riverine communication and exchange with the hinterland during most of this long period. Set within the catchment area of the Mosul Dam reservoir, Jubaniyah is also one among more than 150 flooded sites which periodically resurface due to the reservoir’s annual or cyclical water fluctuation, thus intermittingly revealing the spolia of their past. This interim report presents the results of a multiscalar research program undertaken by the University of Tübingen jointly with the KAO of Duhok, and aims at demonstrating the continued importance of such sites, and the necessity to develop a program for their monitoring and preservation. Intensive survey, targeted soundings, a salvage operation, and artefact analysis are herein outlined, supplemented by a study of the site’s “emersion pattern” over the past 40 years, and a proposal for post-flood monitoring and future recording strategies.