THE RECONSTRUCTION OF HISTORY AND ENVIRONMENT OF THE MESOPOTAMIAN PLAIN DURING THE MIDDLE AND LATE HOLOCENE

In the framework of an interdisciplinary project, the interaction between the middle and late Holocene palaeoenvironment on the one hand, and the development of the social, political, and economic institutions of the populations in Mesopotamia on the other hand is investigated. In order to study such a complex picture of one of the oldest civilization of the world, a synthetic treatment is necessary from a varied and extensive array of data coming from different disciplines, i.e. geo-sciences, archaeology, philology and history.

This poster presents the results of the investigation of the natural and anthropogenic landscape of the archaeological site Sipar-Amnanum (Tell ed-Der) and its surroundings, located between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates at about 30 km South of Bagdad (Iraq). On the basis of remote sensing, supported by field surveys, palaeochannels and related irrigation systems were reconstructed and integrated with the archaeological chronostratigraphy. Lithologically based facies analyses of about 250 hand-operated gouge augers resulted in the identification of natural and anthropogenic units, together with the setting up of the further development of the fluvial environment during human occupation. A geological and geomorphological map of the ‘archaeological sterile’ subsoil of the study area has been created in a GIS.

Financial support for this research was provided by the Interuniversity Attraction Poles Programme - Belgian State -Federal Office for Scientific, Technical and Cultural Affairs.