"Hill" Is Actually a "Tell" in Erbil

From the Kurdish Globe (in English)
Saturday, 07 May 2011, 07:49 GMT
7,000-year-old village discovered in Erbil
The Kurdish Globe
By Qassim Khidhir--Erbil

Remains of extinct birds found at excavation site

Erbil city has more than 1,000 potential archeological sites. The hills were once villages that were abandoned, destroyed or the inhabitants wiped out by disease. According to Erbil Directorate of Archeology, of the 1,000 archeological sites in Erbil, only one percent has been excavated.

How the site was discovered
At the end of 2010, archaeologist Nadir Babakir carefully looked at a hill in the Hasarok quarter, a new area on the eastern outskirts of Erbil. After some initial research, Babakir was convinced the hill was a historical site. "Immediately, I informed the Directorate of Archeology and the Ministry of Tourism and municipality about it," he said. "I was very worried because the government had already given the land to the people to build houses on it."

Later, the Directorate of Archeology sent a team to the site and, after some research, the team confirmed it as an archeological site. After that, the Ministry of Municipality told the landowners to stop building houses on and around the land. The ministry compensated the 60 landlords.

The government names the site Nadir, after Babakir. Under Kurdistan law, the government names archaeological sites after the person who discovers them, as a way to honor those who inform the authorities.

The age of the site
The Directorate of Archeology signed an agreement with the University of Athens to excavate the site. A team of archeologists from Athens University has excavated for a month. In a press conference, the head of the Greek team, Dr. Kosta disclosed that the initial research has put the age of the site at around 7,000 years old and it is from the Mesopotamian era.

Dr. Kosta said more than 1,000 archeological artifacts have been found at the site, including sacks, vases and animal paintings, as well as the remains of people, animals and birds. The excavation site is around 10,000 square meters. "The remains of some of the birds discovered are species that no longer exist," he said. The team will return in October to continue the excavation. Work on the site will continue for five years.

Kurdistan eyes archeological tourism
Kurdistan has at least 1,307 known archaeological sites. Among the most famous is the Erbil Citadel, the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the world, which has been settled since 6,000 B.C.

Another is the Shanidar Cave, where nine Neanderthal skeletons were found, dating back 60,000 to 80,000 years. The cave is in Bradost Mountain, in Erbil province. It was excavated between 1957 and 1961 by Ralph Solecki and his team from America 's Columbia University and yielded the first adult Neanderthal skeletons in Iraq. One skeleton and casts of the others are at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Erbil and Suleimaniya both have museums with collections of antiquities, statues and remains from the Region, while Duhok Traditional Museum displays Kurdistan's folklore and heritage.

Tut Statue Found in Kurdistan Is Fake

Here is my prior post on the subject. Article at kurdishaspect.com March 14, 2009 Kurdistan’s Tut Ank Amun faked Kurdsat Kurdistan archeologists union on Thursday announced that the statute of Tut Ank Amun recently found in the city of Duhok was faked. Last month, sources from Kurdistan’s Duhok city declared that a statute of Tut Ank Amun, the well known pharaoh of Egypt, was found and raised speculations about possible historical relations between the ancient Egyptians and the authorities in Kurdistan thousands of years ago. Historians said that finding the statute could be only interpreted as a sign of two possibilities, either the possibility of having diplomatic relations between the Egyptians and Kurds or that of Kurdistan’s invasion by the Pharaohs. However, time and investigations proved the interpretations incorrect. Speaking in a press conference, Dilshad Aziz, expert in the science of archeology and head of the union said the statute was faked, as the investigations came to the conclusions that the substance from which the statute made does not match with those found in Egypt. He said that kind of statute was currently made in Egypt and Kurdistan either, adding that the owner of the neo -Tut Ank Amun could have hidden it for purposes of misleading people of doing something else. ********************************************************************** I wonder if this is the last we'll hear of this story... What if the statue is genuine but was carved out of local materials elsewhere and imported into Kurdistan?

Tutankhamen Statue Found in Kurdistan

From monstersandcritics.com Middle East News Found in Iraq: King "Tut" Feb 12, 2009, 16:48 GMT Dohuk, Iraq - A Kurdish archaeological expedition announced on Thursday that it had found a small statue of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen in northern Iraq, a Kurdish news agency reported. Hassan Ahmed, the director of the local antiquities authority, told the Kurdish news agency Akanews that archaeologists had found a 12-centimeter statue of the ancient Egyptian king in the valley of Dahuk, 470 kilometres north of Baghdad, near a site that locals have long called Pharaoh's Castle. He said archaeologists from the Dahuk Antiquities Authority believe the statue dates from the mid-14th Century BC. Ahmed said the statue of Tutankhamen showed 'the face of the ancient civilization of Kurdistan and cast light on the ancient relations between pharaonic Egypt and the state of Mitanni.' The kingdom of Mittani occupied roughly the same territory spanning Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Iran in the 14th Century BC that many Kurds now hope will one day form an independent Kurdistan. 'Historical information indicates familial and political ties between Mittani and Egypt,' Ahmed said. 'The discovery of this statue shows us that the name of Pharaoh's Castle, was not invented out of vacuum, but rather arose out of historical fact,' Ahmed told Akanews. 'This calls for strengthening archaeological research ties between the territory of Kurdistan and the Arab Republic of Egypt.' (c) Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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The Mittani were the original "horse-whisperers." They spoke a language that was neither Indo-European nor Semitic - it was Hurrian, and an exquisitely detailed horse-training manual originally dictated in that language by the great horse trainer Kikkuli, was translated into Hittite and Akkadian in the 14th century BCE. According to Robert Drews ("The Coming of the Greeks", 90), "[t]he fact of translation into other languages shows how great a value was put upon the expertise of a famous [horse] trainer". This was during the great age of chariot warfare and the Mittani horse-whisperers were in great demand in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and the Levant. In the Hittite language, these horse-training men (a literal translation) were called LU.ashshushshani. The reconstructed proto-Indo-European root word for horse is ekwo, perhaps originally derived from oku. Words descended include equestrian, equine, equitant, from Latin equus, horse; second derivative line of words is hippus, hippocampus, hippocene, hippodrome, hipogriff, hippotamus, from Greek hippos, horse. In Sanskrit (India) this became something like ashwa; in Pahlavi (Persia) asp; in Farsi (Iran) asb. In the Hittite phrase LU.ashshushshani, the PIE root word for horse - ash- is evident. The specially bred long-legged horses that were the most highly coveted to pull these light-weight war chariots were imported from the land that is today Armenia, the same place that, according to Drews, the eight-spoked chariot wheel first appeared in about 1800 BCE. By about 1650 BCE the swift, light-weight war chariot ridden on two strong but aerodynamic eight-spoked wheels enabled the Hkysos to conquer most of Egypt. Personally, I have always thought that the ancient PIE root word for horse - ekwo - and the word Hyksos have a linguistic connection. Some day I hope to have the time to learn more about linguistics, a fascinating field, and etymology. I think learning more about these subjects could yield valuable clues about the true meanings of the names of the ancestors of the chess pieces we use today.

3000 Year Old Kurdish King Burial?

I'll see if I can find the photo mentioned in the article - it wasn't published in the article! Kurdish National Congress of North America An Embalmed Corpse of a King was discovered in Kurdistan-Iran (California, November 27, 2008). On November 19, 2008, six corpses were discovered in Kurdistan-Iran. Archeologists believe the corpses were buried some 3000 years ago. The corpses belonged to a king and five of his bodyguards, who were buried around him. [Are these bodies male or female?] According to a myth, they were buried around him to protect their king even in death. As the picture shows, the king was buried with jewelry and his crown. A fish plaque with ancient writings placed on his chest requires a scientific study by unbiased archeologists to come up with an authentic and undistorted translation of the historic message. The king’s picture shows a strong resemblance to the ones of the ancient pictures of the Medes emperors. Also, the geographical area where the corpses were discovered is situated at the heart of what was the Median Empire. Further, the burial timing ties the history to the era of the ancient Medes and their powerful and advanced empire. Ironically, the Iranian officials have tried to trivialize this historic discovery and publically proclaimed that there was no king’s corpse, but rather a 3000-year old skeleton. This flagrant denial reminds us of Iran’s continuous policies to deflect and obliterate the history of the Kurds, who by many reliable historical sources are the direct descendants of the Medes. Therefore in order not to distort this ancient history, no Iranian-government appointed archeologist should be the sole source of the translation of the writings. After the Median Empire became the Medo-Persian Empire in 550 BCE, the Medes’ culture, way of governance, and language were adapted by the Persian rulers and the Medes remained in honor and positions in the empire. However, under King Darius things gradually changed and Persian rule increased. Ever since then, the Persian rulers, ancient and modern alike, have tried to misrepresent Kurdish history and portray the Kurdish culture as Iranian culture and the Kurdish language as a branch of the Persian language. This recent Iranian effort to suppress the truth about the Kurdish history and civilization is clear evidence that the Persian rulers want to continue their ill-intended maneuver to maintain their ownership of Kurdish history and heritage. Sadly enough, when the Persians inherited the great Median Empire and Medes’ legacy, their rulers have been relentless in their efforts to keep the Kurdish descendants of the Medes oppressed. They even have been cooperating with other nations such as Iraq, Syria, and Turkey to subject the Kurds to the policies of assimilation and disappearance. In the new century, when the world is more interdependent and more aware of our common humanity, Iran and other nations that subsumed and now control parts of Media/Kurdistan need to realize that a nation of more than 40 millions cannot and will not disappear off of the face of the earth. A day will come where the Kurds, who are the legitimate descendants of the Medes, will claim their rightful place in the civilized world and will continue to contribute to its enrichment. Inquiries: 403-200-6310 Contact: Brusk Reshvan

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Added at 9:18 p.m.: I have found what I believe is the photo referred to in the above article. Here it is - from an article at Payvand's Iran News: 11/20/08 3,000-Year-Old Burial Ground Discovered in Kurdistan Province of Iran Source: Iranian Cultural Heritage News Agency A prehistoric burial ground has been discovered near the Iranian city of Sanandaj, which dates back to 3,000 years. Sanandaj is located in the western Kurdistan Province of Iran. According to a report by the FARS News Agency, the 3,000 year-old cemetery was found during a road construction project, that is located 500 meters from the previously found ancient mound of Zagros. Kurdistans provincial cultural heritage office confirmed that so far five squat burials have been found in the cemetery along with spears, bronze bracelets and earthenware. Excavations, which started four days ago at the site, will continue for another week, reports from Press TV indicate. Irans Kurdistan Province contains 218 natural, cultural, historical and religious sites including numerous historical villages. Ancient bridges, the Safavid Asef Divan monument and the Khosrowabad structure are among Kurdistans many tourist attractions.