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Girdi Qala and Logardan

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Archaeological site in Iraq
Girdi Qala and Logardan
Girdi Qala and Logardan is located in IraqGirdi Qala and LogardanShown within Iraq
LocationSulaymānīyah Governorate, Iraq
Coordinates35°30′59″N 44°53′1″E / 35.51639°N 44.88361°E / 35.51639; 44.88361
Typesettlement
History
Founded5th millennium BC
PeriodsHallaf, Ubaid, Uruk, Early Dynastic, Akkadian, Hellenistic, Sassanian, Islamic
Site notes
Excavation dates2015-2019, 2024
ArchaeologistsRégis Vallet
ConditionRuined
OwnershipPublic
Public accessYes


Girdi Qala and Logardan a few hundred meters to the north are adjacent ancient Near East archaeological sites in Sulaymānīyah Governorate in northeast Iraq in the Kurdistan region, parts of a complex that was occupied off and on for at least six millennia. The site lies on the west bank of the Tavuq Cay river, a tributary of the Tigris river. The nearest notable archaeological sites are Jarmo to the north and Tell Kunara to the east. It is thought that Logardan was a political and religious center while Girdi Qala contained residential (North Mound) and craft/industrial (Main Mound) areas. Girdi Qala was occupied from the Late Chacolitic I period until the Islamic period and Logardan from the Halaf period until the Islamic age. The primary occupation was during the Uruk period. The site is important for establishing the form and timing of the Uruk Expansion in a new region. Other Uruk sites in the area include Kani Shaie and Gurga Chiya.

Archaeology

Beveled rim bowls from Logardan, Sulaymaniyah Governorate, northern Iraq. Uruk period, 4000-3100 BC. Sulaymaniyah Museum

Excavation at the site began in 2015, after brief surveys in 2014 and early 2015, by a French Archaeological Mission in the Qara Dagh team under the direction of Régis Vallet with the opening of three trenches at each site, later growing to nine trenches in total. Work has included drone-based topographic mapping and a geophysical survey which gave indications of a defensive wall. Work continued in five seasons until 2019 when it went into hiatus due to Covid and security issues before resuming for a sixth season in 2024.

  • Girdi Qala Main Mound - A 15 meter high Main Mound (80 meters by 70 meters with an area of 0.45 hectares at the top a 140 meters by 120 meters with an area of about 1.32 hectares at the bottom) with a lower town bringing to area to about 3.25 hectares. Three trenches were opened. Trench A (abandoned after the first season) on the north edge of the summit, Trench B on the south edge of the summit, and Trench C at the bottom of the southeast slope. A stratigraphic trench at Girdi Qala found ten levels, marked by pottery kilns and associated structures. Finds included beveled rim bowls.
  • Girdi Qala North Mound - Lying 150 meters to the northwest of the Main Mound. About 200 meters by 150 meters with an area of about 2 hectares. It is heavily damaged by agricultural deep plowing. One 30 meter by 5 meter trench was opened, Trench D running across the mound. A residential are occupied only in the Middle Uruk period, in ten occupational levels, and built on virgin soil. Some of the levels featured extensive hydraulic systems. Finds include Uruk period beveled rim bowls, spindle whorls, a stamp seal, flowerpots, and various residential objects.
  • Logardan (Lat. 35°31’42.17”N/S – Long. 44°52’34.78”E/W) - North of the Girdi Qala Main Mound. It is about 225 meters by 165 meters at the summit with an overall area of about 3.7 hectares and lies on top of a 27 meter high natural hill. There are pits, some large, from recent era looting. Five trenches were opened. Trench A and Trench B on the bottom of the southwest slope and Trench C on the bottom of the southeast slope are all small, on the order of 5 meters by 10 meters. Trench D lies on the northwest edge of the mound and Trench E on the southeast edge of the mound are much larger. Work on Trench D was completed in the 2018 season. Occupation on Logardan dated back to the Hallaf period in the 6th millennium BC. A massive stone ramp dated to the first half of the 4th millennium BC was found on the southwest slope as well as a monumental acropolis on the summit. Later, in the Middle Uruk period it was repurposed for large scale food preparation and distribution with large numbers of beveled rim bowls being found. After a period of abandonment an Early Dynastic III small citadel was constructed followed in the late 3rd millennium Akkadian period by a monumental stronghold built on the summit. After destruction by fire the area was used for pottery production for several centuries with 147 kilns being found in four occupational levels. After another period of abandonment a monumental Hellenistic building was built. The final occupation was in the form of a Parthian cemetery. Small finds there included a Uruk period clay cone (used to decorate major buildings in that period) at the summit, multicolored tesserae, an Akkadian cylinder seal, a stamp seal, two Parthian/Sassanian coins, and playing dice.

History

Beveled rim bowl from Logardan, Sulaymaniyah Governorate, northern Iraq. Uruk period, 4000-3100 BC. Sulaymaniyah Museum

The site was occupied beginning in the 5th millennium BC Halaf period, to a greater extent in the 4th millennium BC Ubaid period and Uruk period. Settlement activity at various levels continued through the 3rd millennium BC Early Dynastic and Akkadian periods before dropping to lower levels with periods of abandonment until the Hellenistic and Sassanian periods when it again saw significant occupation. It again saw use in the Islamic period before being fully abandoned in the 17th century BC.

See also

References

  1. Vallet, Régis, et al., "New Evidence on Uruk Expansion in the Central Mesopotamian Zagros Piedmont", Paléorient, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 61–87, 2017
  2. Giraud, Jessica, et al., "Human Occupation along the Foothills of Northwestern Zagros during the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene in the Rania and Peshdar Plains: First Results of the French Archaeological Mission in the Governorate of Soulaimaniah (Iraqi Kurdistan)", Paléorient, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 85–120, 2019
  3. Renette, Steve, and Sirvan Mohammadi Ghasrian, "The Central and Northern Zagros during the Late Chalcolithic: An Updated Ceramic Chronology Based on Recent Fieldwork Results in Western Iran", Paléorient, vol. 46, no. 1/2, pp. 109–32, 2020
  4. Darras, Lionel, et al., "Geophysics in Iraqi Kurdistan: Discovering the Origins of Urbanism", AP2017: 12th International Conference of Archaeological Prospection: 12th-16th September 2017, University of Bradford, edited by Benjamin Jennings et al., Archaeopress, pp. 58–59, 2017
  5. Vallet, Régis, "Report on the First Season of Excavations at Girdi Qala and Logardan", Directorate of antiquities of Souleymanieh, 2015
  6. Vallet, Régis, "Report on the second season of excavations at Girdi Qala and Logardan", Directorate of Antiquities of Souleymanieh, General Directorate of Antiquities of Kurdistan Regional government, 2016
  7. Vallet, Régis, ed, "Report on the third season of excavations at Girdi Qala and Logardan", Directorate of Antiquities of Souleymanieh, General Directorate of Antiquities of Kurdistan Regional Government, 2017
  8. Vallet, Régis, "Report on the Fourth Season of Excavations at Girdi Qala and Logardan", Paris-Sulaymaniyah: Directorate of Antiquities of Sulaymaniyah, 2018
  9. ^ Vallet R. (ed.), "Report on the Fifth Season of Excavation in Girdi Qala and Logardan", Suleymaniah: Directorate of Antiquities of Suleymaniah, General Directorate of Antiquities of Kurdistan Regional Government, 2019
  10. Baldi, J. S., Vallet, R., "From a Military Fortress to a Monumental Complex. A First Tentative Functional Reconstruction of Architectural Spaces in Logardan", in: B. Couturaud (ed.), Early Bronze Age in Iraqi Kurdistan (Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 226). Presses de l’Ifpo, Beyrouth, pp. 155-176, 2024
  11. Vallet, Régis, et al., "The Emergence of Cultural Identities and Territorial Policies in the Longue Durée: A View from the Zagros Piedmont", Paléorient, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 163–90, 2019

Further reading

  • Baldi, J. S., Zingarello, M., "A Ceramic Tale of Three “Oikumenai” from the Qara Dagh Area (Iraqi Kurdistan)", in M. Lebeau (ed.), Identity, Diversity & Contact, From the Southern Balkans to Xinjiang, from the Upper Palaeolithic to Alexander (ICE 1 International Congress The East). Brepols, Turnhout, pp. 219-252, 2021
  • Baldi, Johnny Samuele, "Chalcolithic Ceramics from Logardan Trench D and Girdi Qala Northern Mound: Technical Features", 2016
  • Baldi, Johnny, "How the Uruk Potters Used the Wheel. New Data on Modalities and Conditions of Emergence of the Potter's Wheel in the Uruk World", Interdisciplinaria archaeologica Natural Sciences in Archaeology 12.2, 2021
  • Baldi, Johnny Samuele, and R. Vallet, "Chalcolithic Ceramics from Girdi Qala Northern Mound (Survey and Trench D): Typological Features", Report on the Second Season of Excavations at Girdi Qala and Logardan. Paris: CNRS, Directorate of Antiquities of Souleymanieh, pp. 113-120, 2016
  • Baldi, Johnny Samuele, "Bits of Uruk before and outside the Uruk colonial sphere. The Qara Dagh area and some early thoughts on a reassessment of the Uruk expansion", Late Chalcolithic Northern Mesopotamia in Context: Papers from a Workshop held at the 11th ICAANE in Munich, April 5th 2018, 2018
  • Colonna d'Istria, Laurent, et al., "Girdi Qala Main Mound, Stratigraphic Trench B", 2018
  • Colonna d'Istria, Laurent, and Alisée Devillers, "Rapport préliminaire de la seconde campagne de fouilles à Girdi Qala'(Kurdistan Irakien)", 2017
  • Colonna d'Istria, Laurent, "Girdi Qala Main Mound, Stratigraphic Trench B-2018", 2019
  • Douché, C., and M. Charles, "Investigating fuel for firing pottery at the end of the 3rd mill. BCE: The case of Logardan, northern Iraq", Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 52, 2023
  • Molist, Miquel, et al., "New Data on the 4th-3rd Millennia in Northern Mesopotamia: The Ancient Occupations at Gird Lashkir in Their Archaeological Contexts", Paléorient, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 191–206, 2019
  • Padovani, C., "The Hill on Fire. Strategies of Ceramic Production at Logardan during the Second Half of the 3rd Millennium BCE", in: B. Couturaud (ed.), Early Bronze Age in Iraqi Kurdistan (Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique 226). Presses de l’Ifpo, Beyrouth, pp. 313-328, 2024
  • Padovani, C., "Kiln Technology and Potters’ Agency in the Early Bronze Age: The Social Construct of Logardan Firing Areas, Western Qara Dagh", in: N. Marchetti, M. Campeggi, F. Cavaliere, C. D’Orazio, G. Giacosa, E. Mariani (éds.), Proceedings of the 12th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. 06-09 April 2021, Bologna. Vol. 1. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, pp. 475-490, 2023
  • Sconzo, Paola, "Pots and Places in the Late Chalcolithic Period. A View from the Eastern Ḫabur Region (Kurdistan Region, Iraq)", Paléorient, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 137–62, 2019
  • Vallet, Regis, "Early Uruk Expansion in Iraqi Kurdistan: New Data from Girdi Qala and Logardan", Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, 2018

External links

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