The Paikuli Project started in 2006, after the 2nd Gulf war, under the direction of the applicant. At the time, the Project was run by IsIAO on behalf of Task Force Iraq (MAECI) and it came to be hosted by Sapienza, at the Department of Scienze dell'Antichità in 2011. Since the very beginnings, all the activities implemented in the Kurdish region of Iraq included both a scientific core - the study of archaeology and epigraphy of the region - and a capacity building component, aiming at improving the best practices of the institutions involved in cultural heritage management. The activities of the present proposal focus on the site of Paikuli, a ceremonial area centring on a tower built by the Sasanian king Narseh (293-302 CE) that carries a long and historically important bilingual inscription celebrating the king's victory in the dynastic war against Wahram III. The first season of excavation, carried out in 2006, was accompanied and followed by several documentation campaigns, both on-site and at the Museum of Sulaimaniyah, according to security conditions of the area. In 2012, in order to create an archaeological map of the area, the project started an intensive survey of the entire valley where the Paikuli complex lays. Simultaneously, an intensive documentation of the site has been carried out to a significant extent to investigate the site in a broader diachronic and spatial context, through archaeological surveys and stratigraphic excavations. For the 2019 Spring Campaign, we plan to continue the topographic documentation and open stratigraphic trenches in the area of the main structure (Area A), in an area with secondary structures (Area B) and in the cemetery and possibly settlement area (Area C). Connected with the archaeological map, we also plan to study the historical landscape and human impact on it. All new discoveries will be made available to the scientific community and the wider public through open source scientific and popular dissemination.
New archaeological investigations intend to shed light on the relation between the site, the royal complex and its territory through topographic documentation and extensive archaeological excavation in all the different functional areas of the site (activities a,b,c). All the project activities aim to have a remarkable impact on a more in-depth understanding of many unsolved questions.
The stratigraphic excavation of the site will deliver a wealth of new information for more exhaustive interpretations (activities a, b). Possible ancient graveyards and other structures have been identified in the surrounding of the royal complex; this presence, once confirmed by the foreseen activities, will provide meaningful data for the study of the diachronic development of the site and its territory, allowing the team to better understand the relationship between the royal complex and inhabited areas.
No doubt, the royal complex itself must be more articulated than what previously thought. The display of the site constituents and their relation to the main building is now questioned by our latest researches and demands further extensive excavations. As a matter of fact, new structures inside the site have been identified, suggesting an alternative idea on the Paikuli 'tower', not an isolated monument, rather the pivotal part of a ceremonial complex that may be compared to other Iranian and Middle Eastern royal spaces. In a broader perspective, the project will also exert a noteworthy impact on the academic debate that, in the last decade, saw an increasing interest towards cross-cultural interactions characterizing royal sites in the area stretching from the eastern Mediterranean world to Central Asia and Indian subcontinent (Canepa 2015; Gnoli and Muccioli 2014; Sinisi 2017).
Moreover, recent documentation campaigns on structural and decorative pieces of the monumental complex and the four high-relief busts representing the king (Fig.3) highlighted inconsistencies in Herzfeld's reconstruction. Likewise, the careful use of 3D rendering allowed the team to recognize the importance of the fifth all-round bust of Narseh (against Herzfeld 1924: 6). Such evidence led to a reconsideration of Narseh's figurative program, as recently suggested by an article by Colliva and Terribili (2017) that stressed the importance of this rare specimen of Sasanian sculpture in the all-round in relation to the royal visual language.
Today, the all-comprehensive study of the decorated pieces - stepped battlements, whose pattern comeback to the Mesopotamian times, moulded blocks and three-quarter columns with huge, bell-shaped bases, etc. - adorning both the walls and their summit cornice (Fig.4), are revealing a new image of the complex (activity d, e). Meanwhile, the working technique used by Sasanian stonemasons suggests the presence of royal ateliers that should allow comparisons with similar sites in the Iranian heartlands.
In spite of the substantial losses suffered by the Paikuli monument, the inscribed blocks still preserve a striking linguistic and cultural legacy. The already known contents of the inscription and the information deriving from the foreseen discovery of new portions of the text will complement different aspects of archaeological work (activity e, f). Our previous campaigns allowed us to identify 22 blocks and fragments of the bilingual inscription that had never been documented in any previous philological editions. These blocks not only provided remarkable linguistic and historical data, among which figures the previously unknown name of the Narseh's complex (Cereti & Terribili 2014) but also offered significant evidence for the comprehension of the architectural structure (Terribili 2016).
It should be stressed that the main innovative aspect of the program lays in its interdisciplinarity; the Project involves experts from different fields such as archaeology, topography, hard sciences, history and epigraphy to reach a new understanding on a monumental complex that counts among the most important witnesses to the early history of the Sasanian Empire. This approach is demanded by the above-mentioned multifaceted nature of this transitional area that was until now only known through the Narseh's inscription and its historical information. This still scarcely-studied territory represents indeed a remarkable case-study for understanding the human impact and settlement patterns in Sasanian rural areas and border zones (activities c, i).
Eventually, the involvement of local communities through fieldwork, dissemination and public archaeology actions, carried out in tight collaboration with local institutions, will foster a deeper awareness of the site importance among the community and support its safeguarding and enhancement (activity l).