Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Recent findings from the Kani Shaie Archaeological Project have yielded valuable insights into the early history of Mesopotamia and the Zagros Mountains, shedding light on patterns of human occupation spanning thousands of years.
The project, directed by the Centre for Studies in Archaeology, Arts and Heritage Sciences (CEAACP) at the University of Coimbra in collaboration with the University of Cambridge and Suleimanja’s Cultural Heritage authorities, has uncovered a monumental building at the Kani Shaie site in Iraqi Kurdistan. This significant discovery provides new insights into human settlement during the 4th and 3rd millennia BC, enhancing our understanding of how these regions developed over time.
View of the Kani Shaie excavations. Credit: Kani Shaie Archaeological Project
In the 2025 excavation campaign, “an official building of monumental character was identified on the upper part of the artificial hill of Kani Shaie, possibly a cult space, dating from the so-called Uruk period (c. 3300–3100 BC)—a period named after the city of Uruk, recognized as the world’s first great metropolis, due to clear evidence of direct contacts between Southern Mesopotamia, where this important city was located, and the mountainous regions to the east,” explain the archaeologists from CEAACP, André Tomé, Maria da Conceição Lopes, and Steve Renette.
“If the monumental nature of the building is confirmed, which we are now investigating in detail, this discovery could profoundly alter our understanding of the relationship between Uruk and the surrounding regions, revealing that sites like Kani Shaie were not marginal, but central actors in the processes of cultural and political diffusion,” the researchers added.
Decorated cup, ca. 3100 BC. Credit: Kani Shaie Archaeological Project
The international archaeology team also managed to find two highly significant artifacts: a fragment of a gold pendant, which demonstrates practices of ostentation and access to precious metals in an apparently peripheral community; and a cylinder seal from the Uruk period, an artifact associated with administrative practices, control, and the legitimization of power, the researchers reveal.
“In addition to these materials, wall cones were also identified—decorative elements typical of monumental architecture and widely documented in Uruk—which reinforces the interpretation of the building as a public or ceremonial structure,” add André Tomé, Maria da Conceição Lopes, and Steve Renette.
Cylinder seal from the Uruk period. Credit: Kani Shaie Archaeological Project
Kani Shaie is considered “the most important archaeological site east of the Tigris River for understanding the sequence of human occupation between the 4th and 3rd millennia BC, continuing to reveal unprecedented data on the early social and political developments of the Fertile Crescent, known as the Cradle of Civilization,” emphasize André Tomé, Maria da Conceição Lopes, and Steve Renette.
View of the Kani Shaie site. Credit: Kani Shaie Archaeological Project
These and previous excavations at Kani Shaie confirm the site’s long occupation over the centuries: for example, in the flatter area of the site, excavations took place at levels from the Hellenistic-Parthian (247 BC–224 AD) and Neo-Assyrian (c. 911–609 BC) periods.
View of the late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age levels. Credit: Kani Shaie Archaeological Project
The Kani Shaie Archaeological Project has been ongoing since 2013, led by André Tomé, Maria da Conceição Lopes, and Steve Renette, with Michael Lewis, a researcher at CEAACP-UC, serving as assistant director.
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The project team includes other researchers from CEAACP at the University of Coimbra, the University of Algarve, and the University of Cambridge, as well as technicians from the Iraqi Kurdistan heritage authorities and experts of various nationalities. This excavation campaign was primarily funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the University of Cambridge, and benefited from collaboration with the heritage authorities of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Source: Universidade D Coimbra
Written by Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com Staff Writer
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