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Dr. Rocco Palermo, From Complex Societies to Territorial Empires. Three Seasons of Investigations at Gird-I Matrab (Iraqi Kurdistan)
Rocco Palermo, Assistant Professor of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, Bryn Mawr College
This paper discusses the results of three seasons of excavations carried out at the site of Gird-I Matrab, in the plain of Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Gird-I Matrab Archaeological Project (GMAP) addresses questions related to the response and adjustments of rural communities and their economies to moments of social, political, and cultural transformation in the history of Mesopotamia. Stratigraphic excavations in three different areas have yielded important insights into the development of the first settlement at Matrab during the long Late Chalcolithic period (5th – 4th millennium BCE) as well as its spatial reconfiguration in the wake of the Assyrian collapse, in the Hellenistic and early Parthian periods (late 1st millennium BCE). Through the analysis of its material culture (architectures, pottery, etc.) and its surrounding landscape I will tentatively retrace the evolution and dynamics of a small, rural site of Mesopotamia and its relation to local and global cultural trends and traditions.
Penn Museum, L1