Archaeological Survey of the area of al-Hira/Iraq

• Applicant: Dr. Margarete van Ess
• Subject Area: Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies ; Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies
• Term: from 2017 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 393211831

The late-antique and early Islamic city of al-Hira, located in todays Iraq, about 160 km south of Baghdad, was the capital of the Lakhmid rulers and one of the leading urban centers of the Near East. Benefiting from its strategic location at the intersection of several major trade routes, the city was integrated into a network of political and economic relations with the Sasanian and Byzantine empires. The rise of al-Hira to an urban center of supra-regional importance and the seat of a metropolitan in the 5th and 6th centuries is historically well-studied. The same applies to the history of the city during the following three centuries, when the rival city of al-Kufa, founded in its immediate neighbourhood in 639, assumed many functions of al-Hira. Finally, the city fell into decay and was abandoned in the 10th century. Arab collective memory, however, preserved the remembrance of the city which lived on as a symbol of the glorious ancient Arabian past. This nimbus, which surrounds the place, is still alive in Iraq. The archaeological exploration of al-Hira, the remains of which spread over an area of some 25 square km, is still in the beginning, even though a number of archaeological investigations were conducted since the 1930s. Based on an archaeological surface survey, the evaluation of satellite imagery and the mapping of structures still visible on the surface, the present project aims at the reconstruction of the history and urban structure of the settlement and the creation of a detailed archaeological inventory map. The mapping, documentation and analysis of surface features and finds will serve the preparation of further archaeological excavation in the near future. Furthermore, it will support the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage to define archaeological protection zones in this area which is severely threatened by the growth of the living cities Kufa, Najaf and Abu Sukheir.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Privatdozentin Dr. Martina Müller-Wiener