Kunara, petite ville des piedmonts du Zagros à l'âge du Bronze. Rapport préliminaire sur la première campagne, 2012 (Kurdistan irakien)

International audienceWith its relatively small size, between 7 to 10 hectares, Kunara is organized as a city from the Bronze age period. It is located on the Upper Tanjaro and displays a continuous occupation from at least the end of the third millennium till the beginning of the second. It is argued that this area could have been part of the Land of Lullubum. Before excavation, a geophysical survey was undertaken which revealed a monumental building more than 60 m long and 30 m wide. Three areas were opened, one on the upper town, area A, a stratigraphical trench and two on the lower town, areas B and C. Remains of three main levels were excavated. Among the amazing discoveries, we must stress the presence of two monumental buildings and of sophisticated building techniques. A first analysis of the pottery points to a quite homogeneous assemblage including a number of parallels with sites from the Diyala and from south Mesopotamia. As for the small finds, apart from stone tools, flints, grinders, buffers, we also found several bronze pins and needles, a carnelian bead and a cylinder seal. From a chronological point of view, these data find some parallels with other sites from the Akkadian, Ur III or Isin Larsa periods