QADIS. The 2016 Iraqi-Italian survey season in the south-eastern region of Qadisiyah

This paper illustrates the preliminary results from two campaigns of the QADIS survey project, jointly conducted by the University of Bologna (Italy) and the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) in the south-eastern Qadisiyah province in 2016. The main aim of the project is that of producing a new understanding of a multi-layered historical landscape through cutting-edge documentation techniques including combined use of different spatial datasets, new aerial photogrammetric surveys, ground reconnaissance and small-scale excavations. This integrated methodology allowed us to identify more than 40 sites not recognized before, to document in detail the urban layouts of some major urban centers of the region, and to better understand the hydraulic landscape of the region by documenting more than 700 channels and several possible agricultural fields