At a Glance:

• Excavations are ongoing at a historic site in Duhok.

• A joint team has uncovered new artifacts.

• The finds shed light on early settlement life.

Archaeologists working in Duhok have uncovered new evidence of how ancient communities lived and organized themselves at the historic Gumbas site, as a joint Kurdish-Italian excavation continues.

Key Statements and Focus Area:

• Joint Excavation Effort: The project is a collaboration between the Duhok Directorate of Antiquities and Heritage and Italy's University of Palermo, carried out under the supervision of the Kurdistan Region's General Directorate of Antiquities and Heritage.

• Focus of the Article: The article centers on discoveries at the Gumbas archaeological site, including evidence of storage and administrative activity among its ancient inhabitants.

Excavation and survey work at Gumbas has revealed five distinct occupation layers, along with the remains of mud-brick structures, storage areas, and traditional clay ovens known as tanoors. The team also found remnants of administrative activity, including specialized seals, pointing to an organized community that stored goods and managed them through a system of record-keeping.

The artifacts add to the picture of how people lived and organized daily life at the site thousands of years ago, and the work is expected to continue as researchers analyze the findings.

Gumbas is one of the most prominent historical sites in the Kurdistan Region and lies within the boundaries of Duhok city. Its remains span the Chalcolithic (Copper Age) to the Early Bronze Age, with human settlement dating from the late 4th millennium BCE to the early 3rd millennium BCE.

FYI

The Chalcolithic period marks the transition between the late Stone Age and the Bronze Age, when communities began working copper and developing more complex social structures. Administrative seals, typically pressed into clay to mark ownership or secure goods, are widely seen by archaeologists as early evidence of organized economies and record-keeping across Mesopotamia and surrounding regions.

The Kurdistan Region has seen growing international archaeological cooperation in recent years, with foreign university teams working alongside local antiquities directorates to excavate and document sites across the area.

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