The Early History of the Western Palmyra Desert region. The Change in the Settlement patterns and the Adaptation of subsistence Strategies to encroaching Aridity: a first Assessment of the Desert-Kite and Tumulus cultural Horizons

À la suite de la reconnaissance menée par la mission syro-italienne dans l’oasis de Palmyre et les zones désertiques situées au sud et à l’ouest, les données paléo-environnementales indiquent une discontinuité entre une période humide Tardi-glaciaire/Holocène ancien et une période suivante sèche. Cette dernière, dont on suppose qu’elle a débuté au cours du Néolithique précéramique final-Néolithique céramique ancien, voit la nucléation progressive de l’oasis de Palmyre et un changement dans les modes d’occupation et l’exploitation des ressources naturelles de la région. L’article étudie cette adaptation, dans l’occupation et l’exploitation des territoires, contemporaine de l’apparition d’un paysage de desert-kites et de cairns.Palaeoenvironmental proxies from geoarchaeological survey work conducted by a Syrian-Italian mission in the Palmyra oasis and the desert areas to the south and west of it indicate a discontinuity between a wet Lateglacial/Early Holocene and a later dry period. The latter, which is presumed to have started during the final PPNB-early Pottery Neolithic, resulted in the progressive nucleation of the Palmyra oasis and in a major change in settlement patterns and the exploitation of natural resources on a regional scale. The paper explores this major adaptive shift in settlement patterns and economic strategies in the region, which is paralleled by the emergence of a distinctive archaeological landscape characterized by desert-kites and cairns.في أعقاب اعمال المسح التي قامت بها البعثة السورية- الايطالية في واحة تدمر والمناطق الصحراوية الواقعة الى الجنوب والغرب، تشير بيانات البيئة القديمة الى انقطاع بين العصر المتأخر الجليدي الرطب - عصر الهولوسين المبكر و فترة جفاف في وقت لاحق. هذه الأخيرة، التي يفترض أنها قد بدأت في خلال العصر الحجري الحديث نهاية فترة ما قبل الخزف - العصر الحجري الخزفي القديم، رى ظهور نواة تدريجية لواحة تدمر و والتغيير في أنماط الإستيطان و إستغلال الموارد الطبيعية على المستوى الإقليمي. يتناول المقال هذا التكيف ، في أنماط الإستيطان و الإستراتيجيات الإقتصادية في المنطقة، و التي هي معاصرة لظهور منظر طبيعي يحوي مخططات أو فسيفساء جلمودية و تراكمات حجرية

The prehistory and protohistory of the northwestern region of Iraqi Kurdistan. Preliminary results from the first survey campaigns

This paper presents a preliminary assessment of the prehistoric and protohistoric periods investigated by the Udine University in collaboration with the Sapienza University of Rome and the Duhok Directorate of Antiquities in the region of Northern Kurdistan (Iraq). The investigated area features different geographical units, such as mountains, piedmont areas, intermontane basins and valleys, and the alluvial plains of the Tigris River and its tributaries, each of which has different types of vegetation, soils and natural resources. Despite this very rich and variegated landscape, the region has been thus far little explored: except for an initial phase of groundbreaking research in the mid-twentieth century, archaeological projects have been limited to spatially circumscribed surveys and rescue excavations. Attention has been given to the historical periods, while the most ancient phases of human occupation of the area have been little investigated. In this paper, we aim to fill this gap with a preliminary summary of seven years of archaeological survey (2012-2018) that allows us to outline the principal chrono-cultural aspects and settlement strategies that characterised this region from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Ninevite 5 period.Cet article présente une synthèse des recherches sur les périodes préhistorique et protohistorique effectuées par l’université d’Udine en collaboration avec l’université Sapienza de Rome et la direction des antiquités de Duhok dans la région du Kurdistan septentrional (Iraq). La zone étudiée comprend différentes unités géographiques, telles que des montagnes, des zones de piémont, des bassins, des vallées intercalées entre les reliefs montagneux et les plaines alluviales du Tigre et de ses affluents – chacune présentant différents types de végétation, de sols et de ressources naturelles. En dépit de ce paysage très riche et varié, la région a jusqu’à présent été peu explorée : à l’exception d’une phase initiale de recherche au milieu du xxe siècle, seuls des prospections assez limitées et des fouilles de sauvetage ont été effectuées. De plus, ces recherches ont concerné surtout les périodes historiques, alors que les phases les plus anciennes de l’occupation humaine de la région ont été peu explorées. Dans cet article, nous comblons cette lacune en présentant le bilan synthétique des connaissances issues des programmes de prospections géo-archéologiques effectuées entre 2012-2018 qui nous ont permis de retracer les principaux aspects chronoculturels et les stratégies de peuplement ayant caractérisé cette région du Paléolithique inférieur à la période Ninevite 5

The prehistory of the Land of Nineveh

In September 2015, a joint team from the universities of Udine, Rome (‘La Sapienza’) and Milan initiated a field project focused on the prehistory of the provinces of Nineveh (Mosul) and Dohuk, in the northernmost part of Iraqi Kurdistan. The purpose of this study is to outline the main chrono-cultural aspects of the region’s prehistory, from the Lower Palaeolithic to the early Chalcolithic, and to relate them to environmental changes that have occurred since the Middle Pleistocene. This research is part of the broader ‘Land of Nineveh Archaeological Project’, led by Udine University, that has been running since 2012 with the aim of understanding the formation and evolution of the cultural and natural landscape of this region from the Palaeolithic to the Islamic perio

The prehistory of the Land of Nineveh

In September 2015, a joint team from the universities of Udine, Rome (\u2018La Sapienza\u2019) and Milan initiated a field project focused on the prehistory of the provinces of Nineveh (Mosul) and Dohuk, in the northernmost part of Iraqi Kurdistan. The purpose of this study is to outline the main chrono-cultural aspects of the region\u2019s prehistory, from the Lower Palaeolithic to the early Chalcolithic, and to relate them to environmental changes that have occurred since the Middle Pleistocene. This research is part of the broader \u2018Land of Nineveh Archaeological Project\u2019, led by Udine University, that has been running since 2012 with the aim of understanding the formation and evolution of the cultural and natural landscape of this region from the Palaeolithic to the Islamic perio