Qalatga Darband is an ancient city located in

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also incl ...

, overlooking Lake Dukan in

Sulaymaniyah Governorate Sulaymaniyah Governorate ( ku, پارێزگای سلێمانی, Parêzgeha Silêmaniyê, ar, محافظة السليمانية) or Sulaymaniyah Province is a mountainous Governorates of Iraq, governorate in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Its large ...

. It has been dated to the Late

Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...

or to the transition of Hellinistic-Parthian period. The site was first discovered using satellite imagery declassified in the 1990s that had been taken as part of the

Corona program The CORONA program was a series of American strategic reconnaissance satellites produced and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Directorate of Science & Technology with substantial assistance from the U.S. Air Force. The COR ...

in the 1960s. It was one of the sites to be surveyed in the region in 2013 by a French mission directed by Jessica Giraud. In 2016, the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

chose the site to excavate and train the Iraqi archaeologists on archaeology and sites protection, a program supported by the British government.

Gallery

File:Excavations. Parthian building at Qalatga Darband, Darband-i Rania, Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan.jpg, Parthian building at Qalatga Darband, September 26, 2019 File:A Parthian building at Qalatga Darband, Darband-i Rania, Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan.jpg, Parthian building at Qalatga Darband, September 26, 2019 File:Excavations, Parthian building at Qalatga Darband, Darband-i Rania, Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan.jpg, Parthian building at Qalatga Darband, September 26, 2019 File:Excavations unearthing a Parthian building at Qalatga Darband, Darband-i Rania, Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan.jpg, Excavations unearthing a Parthian building at Qalatga Darband, September 26, 2019

References

Ancient cities of the Middle East Cities in Iraq Archaeological sites in Iraq {{Iraqi Kurdistan-geo-stub