Barda Balka is an

archeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and ...

near the

Little Zab The Little Zab or Lower Zab (, ''al-Zāb al-Asfal''; or '; , ''Zâb-e Kuchak''; , ''Zāba Taḥtāya'') is a river that originates in Iran and joins the Tigris just south of Al Zab in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. It is approximately long and dr ...

and

Chamchamal Chamchamal ( ku, چه‌مچه‌ماڵ, Çemçemal, ar, جمجمال) is a town located in Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. Controlled by Kurdistan, it is the town which is nearest located to the disputed territories of Norther ...

in the north of modern-day Iraq.Braidwood, Robert., & Howe, Bruce., Prehistoric Investigations in Iraqi Kurdistan, The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Studies in Ancient Oriental CIvilization, No. 31, University of Chicago Press, 1960.
/ref> The site was discovered on a hilltop in 1949 by Sayid Fuad Safar and Naji al-Asil from the

Directorate General of Antiquities, Iraq Directorate may refer to: Contemporary *Directorates of the Scottish Government * Directorate-General, a type of specialised administrative body in the European Union * Directorate-General for External Security, the French external intelligence ag ...

. It was later excavated by

Bruce Howe Bruce Herbert Warren Howe was the 4th coadjutor bishop of Huron who later became its diocesan. He was born in 1947, educated at the University of King's College and ordained in Nova Scotia in 1974. After working in the Anglican Diocese of Toronto ...

and Herbert E. Wright in 1951. Stone tools were found amongst a particular layer of Pleistocene

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

s that dated to the late Acheulean period. The tools included

pebble tool The Oldowan (or Mode I) was a widespread stone tool archaeological industry (style) in prehistory. These early tools were simple, usually made with one or a few flakes chipped off with another stone. Oldowan tools were used during the Lower ...

biface A hand axe (or handaxe or Acheulean hand axe) is a Prehistory, prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used tool in human history, yet there is no academic consensus on what they were used for. It is made from stone, usually f ...

s and

lithic flake In archaeology, a lithic flake is a "portion of rock removed from an objective piece by percussion or pressure,"Andrefsky, W. (2005) ''Lithics: Macroscopic Approaches to Analysis''. 2d Ed. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press and may also be refe ...

s that were suggested to be amongst the oldest evidence of human occupation in Iraq. They were found comparable with tools known to have been made around eighty thousand years ago. Similar material was found in other locations around the Chemchemal valley. A Neolithic megalith is also located at the center of the site around which the tools were found.

Gallery

File:Barda Baka Paleolithic site, Sulaymaniyah Iraq. c. 100000-60000 BCE. A large megalith once stood here and was demolished deliberately.jpg, Barda Baka in March 2021 File:Barda Bakal Paleolithic site, Sulaymaniyah Iraqi Kurdistan, c. 100000-60000 BCE. A large megalith once stood here and was demolished deliberately.jpg, Barda Balka, the large megalith once stood here was demolished File:Fragment of the Paleolithic megalith of Barda Balka, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, c. 100000-60000 BCE. The megalith was deliberately demolished.jpg, A fragment from the megalith of Barda Balka, in situ File:A piece of stone from the archeological site of Barda Balka, modern-day Chamchamal, Iraqi Kurdistan. The Sulaymaniya Museum, Iraq..JPG, A fragment from the megalith of Barda Balka at the Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq File:Hand-axes from Barda Balka, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. Acheulean period, c. 250,000 years ago. Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraqi Kurdistan.jpg, Hand-axes from Barda Balka, Acheulean period, c. 250,000 years ago. Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq

References

External links

Chemchemal valley archaeological sites
{{Authority control Archaeological sites in Iraq Paleolithic Sulaymaniyah Governorate