Iraq
Kunara – 2023

Mission archéologique française du Peramagron

The excavation campaigns
(by years)


Direction

Aline Tenu (CNRS – UMR 7041 ArScAn)

How Eveha Participates

Archaeozoological studies

Topography GIS

Archaeological investigations

The ninth excavation campaign at Kunara took place from September 19 to October 26, 2023. Excavation continued on the four areas opened during the eighth campaign (2022): Area A, in the upper town, and Areas B, C and E in the lower town. With the exception of Area C, all have yielded remains belonging to Kunara’s main period of occupation, Period V (ca. 2200-2100 aec).

Area A (Christine Kepinski)
The monumental building (1105) was further excavated to the north. New portions of walls US 12 and US 66 were uncovered, while rooms 1130 and 1133 are now known over their entire surface.

Area B (Aline Tenu)
Two sectors were opened. The first enabled further exploration of room L. 755 in building B. 715. Voluntary filling, less regular than in neighbouring room L. 742, was accompanied by significant faunal deposits. In the second sector (B5), the north-western extensions (772 and 774) of walls 702-130 and 703-134 were uncovered, revealing that B. 712 measured at least 37 m from east to west.

Area C (Barbara Chiti)
To the north-west of the site, excavation of Iron Age building B. 883 continued, but its northern, western and southern limits are not yet known. To the north, stone structures (1021, 1029), a floor (893) and a frequentation level (1020) belonging to Period IV (c. 2000 aec) have been discovered. The boundaries of room L. 858 in building B. 862 (period V) are now known. The room yielded a wealth of material, including kitchen vases, macro-lithic tools and seals.

Area E (Florine Marchand)
Three rooms in building B. 659 were excavated. On the floors of rooms L. 930 and L. 942, blocks of fine clay, probably tablet clay, were uncovered in a thick layer of shards, along with barrels (L. 942) and badly eroded seals (L. 930). Room L. 944, which was only excavated over a small area, was empty.

Ceramic study (Juliette Floquet and Imane Achouche)
Forty US, mostly from period V, were studied. Analysis of soil 940 from room L. 930 (Area E) revealed a minimum number of individuals of 90. The study also demonstrated the high degree of homogeneity of certain shapes and decorations, and the singularity of the corpus from Area A, which is characterized by fine ceramics.

Archaeobotanical study (Carolyne Douché)
Forty-six samples from all four sites were studied. The taxa were common to all four areas, but the type of remains differed. Analysis revealed the presence of cereals (starch wheat, two-row dressed barley and oats), flax and grape seeds. Pulses such as lentils and chickpeas, rarely found in archaeological contexts, rounded out the diet.

Archaeozoological study (Michaël Seigle)
A total of 2,150 remains, mostly from Period V, from the four sites excavated in 2022 and 2023 were studied. Domestic fauna predominates, and the slaughter profiles of goats show that they were raised for milk and wool production. Wild fauna is highly diverse. In addition to fish vertebrae discovered in the heavy flotation fraction, the remains of gazelle, fox, beaver, a complete weasel skeleton, birds (including a complete greylag goose mandible) and invertebrates, notably water mussels, were unearthed. On area B, building B. 715 yielded 43 mouflon ankles, 2 égagre goat ankles, 9 portions of deer antlers and a still-connected lion hind leg were unearthed in or just north of B. 715.

Topography and GIS creation (Arnaud Watel)
In addition to topographic surveys, Arnaud Watel built a GIS for all the areas and campaigns carried out in the field since 2012. Data integration has begun with the most recent, from areas still under excavation.