Wasit Archaeological Survey
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Activities
The Wasit Archaeological survey works in the region of the Wasit governatorate in central Iraq since 2018. It is a project of landscape archaeology of the University of Venice Ca’ Foscari in collaboration with the University of Florence and the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage of Iraq (https://www.wasit-archaeological-survey.it).
The survey is the first scientific investigation on a large scale in the region. The expedition aims at the identification, periodization, and context analysis of the settlements within their historical and natural landscape. It is therefore an archaeological project involving also historical and epigraphic researches. The work has also the target of preventing illegal activities such as unauthorized excavations and illicit trafficking materials, unfortunately frequent in the area. A further development of the project will be the creation of a dedicated room within the Kut Archaeological Museum building to provide housing, visible storage, and access to ceramics coming from our project as well as from others active in the region.
Activities 2024
Our 4th survey season in the northern Wasit region took place from January 30 to February 19 2024. Researchers and students of the University of Florence and Venice Ca’ Foscari have worked together with a special focus on the site of Tell Yassir (WS031) and its region in order to assess the settlement layout, its history of occupation and its relation to the surrounding area. Fieldwork activities helped groundtruthing previously remote sensed data and produced large collections of materials, especially pottery, but also a variety of finds, including inscribed bricks, coins and tools, which have been processed and recorded at home in Nawmaniyeh.
Wasit Archaeological Survey 2024
Team 2024
- Mr. Faisal Ghazal, Mr. Hassanien Ali, Mr. Sa’adun Kareem Shatub, Mr. Aqil Ubayd Enab, (State Board of Antiquities and Heritage)
- Mustafa Hassan (drone specialist)
- Lucio Milano (director)
- Candida Felli (co-director)
- Mirko Furlanetto (topographer)
- Alice Salvador (archaeological draughtsman)
- Eleonora Quirico (remote sensing specialist)
- Elisa Pruno (Islamic pottery specialist)
- Sofia Bortolozzi, Sebastiano Claut, Laura Siciliano (archaeology MA students)
Last update
14.05.2024