A Hot and Dusty Field Season at Gird-I Matrab
Marta Doglio, 2023 P.E. MacAllister Fieldwork Scholarship Recipient
In 2023 I was awarded a P.E. MacAllister Scholarship that allowed me to join the Gird-I Matrab Archaeological Project (GMAP). I would like to thank the ASOR selection committee and the donors who provided this scholarship, and the director of the Gird-I Matrab project, Prof. Rocco Palermo (Bryn Mawr College), who gave me the opportunity to be part of team.
Gird-I Matrab (“the dusty mound” in Kurdish) is a multi-mound archaeological site located in the plain of Erbil, in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan. This year excavations were carried out between July and August. Iraq welcomed us with its very hot, windy and dusty weather!
At Matrab, I worked as trench supervisor of Area B, a step-trench located on the main mound (Mound 1), as well as a pottery specialist. One of the goals of the 2023 season was indeed to explore the long-lasting occupation at the site, and particularly through the excavation of Mound 1.
After the initial surface scraping, our excavation immediately showed that Mound 1 featured a massive presence of Chalcolithic structures. We found numerous pits of various sizes but also clear evidence of mudbrick domestic architectures. In the best-preserved domestic unit, I excavated a fireplace, which was located in one of its corners. Two mudbricks, placed vertically in the hearth, might have served as supports for pots and jars while on the fire. The filling of the fireplace consisted of burnt, ashy soil, in which a cluster of burnt cretulae was retrieved.
Fig.2. Marta Doglio while digging the fireplace inside one of the rooms dated to the LC 2-3 (©Federico Dalla Battista).
The excavation in Area B confirmed that the Late Chalcolithic occupation of Gird-I Matrab spanned on a very long time. Based on the preliminary pottery analyses, Area B shows a coherent and homogeneous chronology, almost completely dating to the Chalcolithic Period, specifically Late Chalcolithic 1-2 (LC 1-2, ca. 4500–3900/3850 BCE) and Late Chalcolithic 3-5 (LC 3-5, ca. 3900/3850–3100 BCE).
Fig.3. Pottery analyses carried out during the afternoon (©Federico Dalla Battista).
During this field season at Gird-I Matrab we did not just work hard, fun was also an integral part of the campaign. During our weekends on Thursday and Friday, we took the opportunity to visit some archeological sites and cities around Erbil and in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
First, we visited the city of Slemani with its wonderful archaeological museum. The week after that, we travelled to Duhok where we had the opportunity to visit two of the most important archaeological sites in the region. We first visited the Assyrian period aqueduct of Jerwan built by king Sennacherib in the 7th century BCE. Then, we had a tour of the archaeological complex of Faida, where we admired the reliefs that portray a procession of statues of seven of the main Assyrian deities, standing on podia in the shape of animals, and in the presence of the king.
Fig.4. Marta Doglio at Jerwan (©Federico Dalla Battista)
My first excavation season at Gird-I Matrab was a wonderful experience, full of surprising discoveries. I had the opportunity to work with an amazing international team and to discover more about Kurdish culture. I visited places and I met people that contributed to my personal and academic growth. I really look forward to being back in Gird-I Matrab next year!
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