The Tell Zeyd site is located in the high Transtigrian plains of the province of Dohuk. Overlooking Wadi Gawasha, Tell Zeyd features a tell and a lower mound, evidence of a long history of occupation that started in the Late Chalcolithic and continued until the early decades of the 20th century.
The Zeyd Archaeological Project (ZAP) was launched by the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice in cooperation with the Dohuk Directorate of Antiquities and Heritage in 2022. This research aims at studying the economy and the society of the agricultural hinterland of the historical province of Mosul (today province of Dohuk, area of Semel) in the so-called ‘Islamic period,’ from the advent of Islam (7th c.) until the fall of the Ottoman Empire (early 20th c.). This area played a strategic role in the supply of agricultural products, primarily cereals, for the Iraqi region, and Tell Zeyd constitutes an excellent example of this activity. The remains of a watermill in the eastern part of the site confirms its function in the processing and distribution of cereals.
The archaeological evidence emerging through excavations at Tell Zeyd is shedding light on the village and the daily life of its inhabitants; study of the botanical remains shows which crops were being cultivated or used and analysis of the archaeozoological remains provides data on farming and diet practices. A unique workshop for the production of smoking pipes has been found through excavation: active between the 17th and the late 19th c., its products were distributed across the whole region.
General view of the site, from the North-West
Summary rapport
In 2024, two field seasons were carried out, aimed at continuation of the excavation at Tell Zeyd (autumn) and at study of the finds (spring and autumn).
The autumn season made it possible to complete the excavation of the Ottoman phases, reaching the Middle Islamic phases throughout Area 1. The depth of the archaeological deposit pertaining to the Ottoman phases is 2.2 metres in Area 1: such a large volume was totally unexpected, and provided a large, unique corpus of data for the 16th-early 20th c. period. Precise dating for the various phases will be available on completion of the ongoing C14 analysis.
The watermill in the eastern part of the site was also excavated in the autumn (Area 2); the evidence that came to light indicates that the mill may have been founded in the Early or Middle Islamic period (C14 analyses are currently in progress), and that it underwent a major restoration at the end of the 19th century. Once in working order, the mill appears to have been run by a Christian miller (oral history).
Study of the finds and the establishment of a pottery typology is shedding light on the material culture of the whole Ottoman period, which so far has been very poorly understood. Archaeo-botanic analysis of the 2024 samples is still in progress; results will make it possible to obtain data on the crops cultivated in the area in and prior to the Early Ottoman period.
Study of the faunal remains has provided evidence on husbandry practices and diet during the Ottoman period; this, combined with the information derived from the written texts, facilitates a better understanding of the economy and the society that once inhabited the village.
Detailed report
In 2024, two seasons of fieldwork were carried out, one in the spring (April 18-May 13), the other in the autumn (August 31- October 30). Excavation started on September 7 and ended on October 17 (6 weeks).
The spring season focused on study of the finds that came to light in the 2023 excavations; it also included some survey activities to complete the mapping of the sites and to acquire comparative material. The autumn season saw the continuation of the excavation and of the study of the finds. For the first time, a geophysics survey was carried out. Anthropological and historical research was also conducted, especially with regard to local communities, the better to understand traditional agricultural, production and consumption practices.
In 2024, the Italian team included 17 members: archaeologists (Cristina Tonghini, director; Jacopo Boschini, field director; Stefano Palalidis and Sara Franceschin, field supervisors), archaeology students (Giulia Brandoni, Lucrezia Gobbo, Francesco Pozzato, Lucia Zebochin), a ceramic specialist (Mette Thuesen), an architect (Enrico Reali), specialists in geophysics (University of Padua: Rita Deiana, Mirko Pavoni, Matteo Censini), archaeozoologists (Sapienza University of Rome: Claudia Minniti, Younes Naime), a PhD student in history (Sebastiano Siviero), and an anthropologist (Francesco Vacchiano). Liwa al-Hashimi joined the team as a draughtsman in the spring (as well as in the) and autumn seasons.
Two members of the Directorate of Antiquities of Dohuk – Tahsin Ahmad and Walat Ayub – worked jointly with the Italian team on excavation of the site:. The excavation was carried out with the help of 12 workers from the neighbouring villages: Sliman Habib, Saud Antar, Hawar Ahmad, Muhammad Ahmad, Zakariya Mohammad, Ayyub Mohammad, Omar Jama', Serbist Nazar, Husin Antar, Farman Hido, Abdallah Mohammad and Jiwar Ahmad; Sharhan Antar served as site guard for the duration of the field operations.
Daily transportation from Dohuk to the site was ensured by Ali Saleh and Hamodi Dhahi. Hamodi Dhahi also arrangd travel for the members of the team within Kurdistan and assisted with general logistics. Salim Hashem and Salam Hashem worked on washing the finds. Husayn Ramadan and his team contributed to the project with the installation of 2 further benchmarks at the site. Meals for the team were ensured daily by Jalil Ibrahim.
EXCAVATIONS
Excavation continued in Area 1, already explored in seasons 2022 and 2023, to investigate the earlier deposits; a new area, Area 2, was opened to study the watermill identified in the east of the tell.
In Area 1, a number of phases (Phases 1-14, Fig. 1) came to light with the 2022 and 2023 excavations; these phases were interpreted in relation to 4 main Periods, revealing a sequence of occupation that can be summarised as follows:
- Period A: contemporary agricultural activities.
- Period B: end 19th-early 20th centuries. The evidence is partly disturbed by contemporary activities, but it can be associated with domestic contexts related to a settled community.
- Period C: late 18th-19th centuries. The evidence pertains to the production activities of the village, and consists in the remains of a bakery that was producing bread for the market and of a workshop for the production of smoking pipes.
- Period D: 17th-18th centuries. The evidence mainly relates to the activities of a nomadic population that regularly stationed at the site; a number of phases pertaining to this period can, however, be related to the activities of a settled population, including some production activities.
Dating evidence for these Periods is based on contextual data, such as pottery and smoking pipes; although the Zeyd research project is carrying out a re-assessment of the chronology of smoking pipes, some benchmarks of this production can be used as reliable dating elements. At the same time, although the pottery for the Ottoman period is virtually unknown – and indeed, one of the aims of the project is to establish a typology of reference – some glazed wares, probably imports, can also provide basic chronological data.
The deepening of the excavation of Area 1 led to the identification of further phases (15-22, Fig. 1) and made it possible to improve understanding of phases such as Phases 13 and 14, that had already been intercepted in the past.
Phases 15-17 show similarities with those ascribed to Period D, and may thus be ascribed to the nomadic frequentation of the site; as was the case with the other phases of this period, some of the features that came to light may instead be related to the activities of a settled population.
An Early Ottoman period of occupation can be related to Phases 18-21 (Period E, Figs 2-4); evidence for production activities was brought to light, including one associated with metalwork and another with the processing of bitumen (Figs 2-4). This discovery is extremely important for the history of the material culture in the area, and it constitutes a unique occurrence identified on an archaeological basis; moreover, such production was unexpected in a rural context. A systematic sampling of metal slag - envisaged in the near future - will hopefully provide information about this metalwork production; analysis of the bitumen residues may equally offer evidence about the transformation of natural oil, from its source to its usage in this period; study of the structures associated with these Phases will offer data on building techniques and materials for a period that is poorly documented from an archaeological point of view.
Below these Phases, a massive deposit of abandonment is gradually emerging. A preliminary assessment of the pottery finds seems to point to the Middle Islamic period. Continuation of the excavation in the near future will therefore make it possible to shed new light on the pre-Ottoman occupation of the site.
The excavation in Area 2 aimed at collecting evidence on the milling installation identified at the edge of the village, overlooking the wadi. The identification of the remains of a watermill is one of the elements that led to the selection of this site as an ideal observatory on the ruralscape of the Islamic period. Indeed, in the region, this constitutes one of the rare cases of a watermill clearly associated to a specific settlement site; in fact, the remains of watermills are generally found in isolation along the wadis, far from settlements.
The aim of this excavation was to expose the entire structure in order to acquire elements that can contribute to the composition of its building history and use.
The position of the watermill, downhill from the tell, caused massive colluvial deposits to cover its remains, a process that may have characterised the depositional sequence in the various periods of abandonment. Therefore, although finds were abundant, in most cases they can be interpreted as residual material washed down from the tell; consequently, they cannot be employed to date the watermill, as they reflect the main and much earlier occupation of the tell itself.
The excavation made it possible to identify two main Periods, the earliest related to the foundation and early use of the watermill, the second pertaining to a more recent refurbishment and re-use of this installation.
It is not yet possible to establish a date for the foundation of the mill; the building typology is similar to types identified elsewhere in the Dohuk province and preliminarily associated with the Early and Middle Islamic periods; samples of mortar from the earliest part of the structure are at present being analysed in the University of Padua laboratory and will hopefully provide C14 absolute dating. Of this early period, only the drop-tower survives, together with portions of the channel that serves to evacuate the water from it; the cutting of the bedrock for this channel, and the preparation of the floor related to it on both banks, cut into the bedrock, may have been carried out in this period. No other elements pertaining to the mill of this period have survived. After a presumably long period of abandonment, the drop-tower was put into use once again. The accumulation of soil that then surrounded the structure was not removed, but the mill was re-built cutting into this deposit to create a partially underground space. The western, southern and northern boundary walls of this space were built against the soil deposit, and only the eastern wall was free-standing. At this time the drop-tower must still have been in relatively good enough condition to be re-used, while major restoration work was required on the masonry of the sides of the channel and its eastern exit.
Some finds pertaining to this last phase came to light, including smoking pipes of the late 19th-early 20th century. Oral interviews conducted by S. Siviero seem to confirm this dating, and make it possible to associate the milling activities to a Christian community.
Fig. 1. Area 1: Matrix
Fig. 2. Orthomosaic of Area 1 at Tell Zeyd illustrating Period E and a sounding trench opened in the south-eastern sector illustrating Period F (17/10/2024)
Fig. 3. Large clay oven or furnace (T19), Period E.
Fig. 4. Structure S2, related to production activities
Fig. 5: Orthomosaic of the Western section of Area 2, with the drop-tower of the Early Islamic/Middle Islamic period (SU 2012).
Fig. 6. Pebble floor (SU 2004) pertaining to the period of re-use of the mill.
THE FINDS
All finds from the 2024 excavation have been processed, registered and photographed.
In-depth studies have been conducted on the pottery, so poorly understood in the area because of the lack of archaeological research on the Islamic period. As mentioned earlier, the establishment of a reference typology for the Islamic period is one of the objectives of the Tell Zeyd Project.
Other specialistic studies concerned clay pipes and glass bangles.
Fig. 7. Damascus ware, 16th century (from Period E).
THE STUDY OF THE FAUNAL REMAINS
During the 2024 season, two specialists from the Sapienza University of Rome (C. Minniti and Y. Naime) studied the faunal remains from the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Results illustrate a rich assemblage of domestic and wild animals and provide evidence on husbandry practices and diet for the Ottoman period as excavated so far. This study can be regarded as a major achievement, since the Ottoman period is extremely under-represented in the archaeological record and often overlooked by field research, despite the importance of improving our understanding of the long Islamic period and completing our knowledge of it.
As shown in the Table and Graphic below, the basis of the animal economy in the three main periods studied so far (B-D) was the husbandry of sheep and goats, and above all, humped and hornless cattle. Sheep, goats and cattle were mainly kept for meat production and secondarily for milk, wool and draught purposes. The importance of chicken in the diet is also attested by the presence of a quantity of remains; eggs as well as poultry meat were certainly consumed, as documented by the discovery of eggshell fragments and the identification of hen bones. The hunting of gazelle and the exploitation of the wadi close to the settlement also provided alternative food, but to a lesser extent. The presence of a few fox remains probably derives from the exploitation of the fur or from measures to protect the poultry.
ARCHAEOBOTANY
Samples to be processed through flotation were collected from relevant Stratigraphic Units; flotation produced 72 samples that were exported to Italy. These are currently being analysed in the laboratory of the Ca’ Foscari University in Venice and will hopefully provide an exhaustive picture of plants grown, processed and consumed in the village.
A selection of seeds is currently being analysed to determine absolute chronology with C14 methods.
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY
A team from the University of Padua carried out a geophysical survey to acquire new data in the subsurface of the archaeological site up to a depth of about 1.5 m below the current ground level. Given the geological and archaeological contexts, it was decided to map the area of interest using two different non-invasive measurement techniques. In one case, electromagnetic measurements in the frequency domain (FDEM) highlight the presence of contrasts related to the electrical conductivity of materials (e.g. metals); in the other, magnetic field gradient measurements, aim at the search for structures associated with the use of fire (e.g. furnaces), generally characterized by a pronounced magnetic behaviour. Data will form the basis for future planning of targeted excavation activities, especially for identifying other production features that involve the use of fire.
HISTORICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH
To recompose the most recent history of the site, interviews were conducted by the historian of the team together with the representative of the Iraqi Antiquities and Museums, and the project’s anthropologist.
Better understanding of cultivation, production and consumption methods is also pursued by documenting traditional practices through anthropological investigations; this includes recording at ethnographic museums in the area. This documentation will improve our understanding of the economy and the society of Tell Zeyd in the past.
Fig. 8. Al-Qosh Ethnographic Museum: lighting a smoking pipe with traditional tools.
