The Iron Age Dinka Settlement Complex near Qaladze (Peshdar Plain): archaeological Exploration, 2015-2018

The paper presents the research strategy and the results of the excavations and other fieldwork undertaken from 2015-2018 by the Peshdar Plain Project near the town of Qaladze on the banks of the Lower Zab River in the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq. The focus of the work of the international and interdisciplinary team brought together by Karen Radner (University of Munich) lies on the so-called Dinka Settlement Complex which encompassed in the Iron Age a territory of about 60 hectares, including the sites of Qalat-i Dinka and Gird-i Bazar. The combination of the evidence from textual records, including from the Dinka Settlement Complex itself, and the currently available radiocarbon date ranges suggest that the settlement was founded before the Assyrians took over the Peshdar Plain in the 9th century BC and continued its life under the Empire