Tell Bazmusian is an

archaeological 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 an ...

on the right bank of 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 ...

in the

Ranya Ranya ( ckb, ڕانیە, Ranye, ar, رانية) is a town in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and is part of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate. Geography and climate Ranya City is located in the north east of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Ranya is loca ...

Plain (

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 ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

). The site was excavated between 1956 and 1958 by Iraqi archaeologists as part of a salvage operation to document cultural remains that would be flooded by

Lake Dukan Lake Dukan (or Lake Dokan) ''(Arabic:بحيرة دوكان)'' is a lake in Kurdistan Region Iraq. It is located close to the city of Ranya, and is a reservoir on the Little Zab created by the construction of the Dukan Dam. The Dukan Dam was built ...

, the reservoir created by the

Dukan Dam The Dukan Dam ( Sorani Kurdish: بەنداوی دووکان Arabic: سد دوكان) is a multi-purpose concrete arch dam in As Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It impounds the Little Zab, thereby creating Lake Dukan. The Duka ...

which was being built at that time. Apart from Tell Bazmusian, four other sites were excavated during this operation: ed-Dem, Kamarian, Qarashina and

Tell Shemshara Tell may refer to: *Tell (archaeology), a type of archaeological site *Tell (name), a name used as a given name and a surname *Tell (poker), a subconscious behavior that can betray information to an observant opponent Arts, entertainment, and m ...

. Bazmusian is a tell, or settlement mound, with a circumference of and a height of . Together with Tell Shemshara, it is one of the largest archaeological sites in the Ranya Plain. When the excavations started, the southeast flank of the mound was occupied by a village that was only established at the beginning of the 20th century. The site is now submerged under Lake Dukan. The excavations have revealed 16 occupation layers, ranging from the

Samarra culture The Samarra culture is a Late Neolithic archaeological culture of northern Mesopotamia, roughly dated to between 5500 and 4800 BCE. It partially overlaps with Hassuna and early Ubaid. Samarran material culture was first recognized during excava ...

(sixth millennium BCE) up to the ninth century CE. The finds of level I consisted of a fragmented pebble foundations, ninth-century CE pottery and

mudbrick A mudbrick or mud-brick is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of loam, mud, sand and water mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE, though since 4000 BCE, bricks have also bee ...

s. Level II also contained Islamic material. Level III, to be dated to the late second millennium BCE, contained a single-room temple with thick mudbrick walls. Pottery dated to the mid- to late-second millennium BCE. In a pit outside of this temple, several

clay tablet In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets (Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a stylu ...

fragments were found. Although they were too damaged to be read, based on stylistic details they could be dated to the Middle Assyrian period. An earlier version of this temple was uncovered in level IV. In level V, plastered mudbrick walls were found. Levels VI–XVI contained material dating to the third millennium BCE, the

Uruk period The Uruk period (ca. 4000 to 3100 BC; also known as Protoliterate period) existed from the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, after the Ubaid period and before the Jemdet Nasr period. Named after ...

and of the

Samarra Samarra ( ar, سَامَرَّاء, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The city of Samarra was founded by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim for his Turkish professional army ...

and

Halaf culture The Halaf culture is a prehistoric period which lasted between about 6100 BC and 5100 BC. The period is a continuous development out of the earlier Pottery Neolithic and is located primarily in the fertile valley of the Khabur River (Nahr al-K ...

s but this has not yet been published.

References

{{Portal, Asia Bazmusian Bazmusian Bazmusian Bazmusian Samarra culture Halaf culture