Rediscovering the Heartland of Cities

Abstract

The 2016–2018 QADIS survey project is a joint Iraqi-Italian initiative aimed at achieving a new understanding of the processes that led to the formation and development of urban centers in central-southern Iraq from the fourth millennium BCE to modernity. The project applied an integrated methodology including a combined set of techniques, from remote sensing to aerial mapping, from archaeological surface collection to test soundings, from geoarchaeological investigation to the study of epigraphic materials. As a result, a more detailed reconstruction of the urban layout of several ancient Mesopotamian centers, as well as a comprehensive understanding of the cultural landscape of the region through time, is now possible.