The Study and Survey of The First Millennium B.C. Settlements in The Little Zab Basin

Author

Assistant Professor, Department of Archaeology, University of Bu-Ali Sina

Abstract

The little Zab River originates in the mountains of northwest of Piranshahr city, north-west of Iran, and flows from the northwest to the southeast until it joins Iraq. This river goes through the Zagros Mountains and in the past, the Assyria Empire connected to peripheral areas such as Lake Urmia on its north and Iranian plateau on east. In the vicinity, there are a lot of ancient and historical sites. The study shows us that more sites of first millennium B.C. is located in the north of Basin. This region plays an important role Between Assyrian and Mennaean. This region on the west connects to the north of Mesopotamia via the Haji Omran defile. Thus, the survey is done due to the importance of Zab River in the formation of the Settlements, the awareness of settlement’s numbers, its location and how to connect with the main sites. In the result of Archaeological survey, 16 sites of ancient settlement have been distinguished that 12 of them is located in the north of basin and 4 sites are situated in the south part of Zab basin. The site of Rabat that is one of the most important Mannean sites lies where the ancient route is passed through and has come to Assyria and Babylonia on westward. The site can be dated to the 8th/7th centuries B.C. and its findings are closely related to that from the contemporaneous sites such as Qalaichi, Ziwiye or Hasanlu. Rabat Tepe is most likely belonged to the Mannean realm. Also, the numerous military campaigns and intrusions of both Assyrian and Urartians Empires in NW-Iran are indicatives of its vital roles that this region has played in power games between Great Empires. From the middle of the 9th until the end of the 8th century, the Urartian areas in Iran were not attacked any more by Assyria for almost 150 years. It was only during the reign of Sargon II of Assyria that the Urartian and Assyrian came into conflicts in Iran again. The reason is that the Urartu Empire interfered in the affairs of the kingdom of Mannea, which Assyria is considered it as a tributary. In 714 B.C., Sargon II, the king of Assyria, conducted a major military campaign across the Zagros Mountains into western Iran.  During the campaign of Sargon II in 714 B.C., the numerous cities and fortifications were mentioned in the region and probably, Tepe Rabat may be one of them. In the year of 714 B.C., the Sargon II’s Eighth Campaign into the region is led to an intensive defeat of Urartians which the Urartian dominant on the eastern, southern and western regions around the Urmia Lake came to an end and so, they only dominated the north of the Lake Urmia. For this reason, any Urartian epigraphy had not been found in this place after the year of 714 B.C. The first half of the 7th century is when the Mannaean Empire seized the power in this area and during it, its realm was expanded more than ever, and Urmia plain was dominated by Mannaean. However, at this time, this sphere is where the borders of Mannaean, Assrian and Urartuian are come together. In the 9th century BC, in the time of powerful local governments including Mannaean, Gīlzānū and Hūbūshkia, Gerde Soreh has probably been the last Urartian place in this area. Among the sites of the north, Shin Abad and Pasveh had the huge and massive wall that was more than ten hectares and could be consistent with Ancient Hūbūshkia, Gīlzānū and Musasir respectively. More recently, efforts have been made to locate Musasir close of northern Zab basin, Iraq. Also, the excavations of Shin Abad and Pasveh could be have very useful information on this topic.

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References

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