Proto-Urban Trajectories in Northern Mesopotamia. Gird-i Matrab in the Erbil Plain (Kurdistan Region of Iraq)

DOGLIO, Marta

This paper presents a preliminary contextualization of the Late Chalcolithic evidence emerged at the site of Gird-i Matrab and their meaning in relation to phenomena of early urbanism in Northern Mesopotamia. Gird-i Matrab is a multi-period site, with a long sequence of occupation, from the 5th millennium BCE to the Hellenistic and Parthian periods. Data collected during two years of investigation (2023 and 2024) allow us to address preliminary questions, and to explore the role of rural communities of Mesopotamia in specific moments of socio-political transformation. Particularly, the analysis of the stratigraphy, architectural remains, and pottery repertoire promises to shed new light on the dynamics underlying the emergence of social complexity and the development of proto-urban trajectories in the Erbil Plain during the 5th and 4th millennia BCE. Through the exploration of the unearthed evidence, this paper will thus discuss the path undertaken by the communities inhabiting Gird-i Matrab through the Late Chalcolithic phases and will suggest some comparisons with recent discoveries in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and with established data from the Syrian and Iraqi Jazira, aiming at localizing new phenomena and trans-regional trends.

Session 3. Urban and Landscape Studies: Finding Interpretative Approaches ^[info]