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 the behalf of Task Force Iraq (MAECI), later, in 2011, it came to be hosted by Sapienza, at the Department of Scienze dell'Antichità ; in 2018 it won its first grant in the framework of the program "Grandi scavi d'ateneo". Since the very beginning, all the activities implemented in the Kurdish region of Iraq included both a scientific core - the study of the archaeology
and epigraphy of the region - and a capacity building component, aiming at fostering best practices in the institutions dealing with cultural heritage, including management, promotion, conservation, etc.
Activities included in the present proposal focus on the site of Paikuli, a ceremonial area centering 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.
In the 2018 spring campaign the topographic documentation of the site and its environs was started and carried out to a significant extent in order to prepare the ground for a more in depth understanding of the site, through detailed on the ground archaeological surveys and stratigraphic excavations. In the 2018 winter campaign the main focus was on the documentation of the blocks laying about on the Paikuli hill, on topographic survey and on beginning to clean selected areas to prepare the site for the later excavation. The ongoing 2019 spring campaign has seen the start of stratigraphic excavation.
The archaeological investigations planned to take place in 2019/20 intend to shed light on the structure of Narseh's monument through extensive archaeological excavation in a number of different areas surrounding the tower itself (A). This kind of investigation has never been carried out before, except to a limited extent by our team. As suggested by the limited trenches already excavated, the stratigraphic excavation of the site will provide a wealth of new information of the context leading to a better understanding of the monument's layout. This approach will be integrated by a detailed study of the building materials and related construction techniques (D). Likewise, petrographic analysis (E) can reveal the mineralogical and chemical composition of the limestone from which the blocks are carved, trying to understand if there is a selection of stone types employed for the different architectural elements and to monitor the weathering of surfaces. The overall static situation of Narseh monument will be thence analyzed, with the aim of verifying its original static conditions and trying to understand the reasons of its collapse and prevent further damage.
The study of the inscription (C), further revealing the layout of blocks, will allow for a better understanding of the structure itself. Topographic activities to be carried out in the parallel with the study of the sources (B; F), aim at studying the relation between wider site, royal complex and territory. All concurring activities are meant to have a remarkable impact on a more in-depth understanding of many yet unsolved questions.
Architectonic materials have been catalogued to a good extent nonetheless the precise plan of the monument and the role played by the different constituent parts cannot be fully understood at present stage. However, a more detailed study of the many identified blocks, their features (holes, sockets, wedges, joints, etc.) and differing shapes and functions will likely lead to an innovative understanding, suggesting an alternative idea on the Paikuli 'tower', not an isolated monument, but the pivotal part of a ceremonial complex comparable to other Iranian and Middle Eastern royal spaces. In a broader perspective, the project exerts 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 Mediterranean world to Central Asia and Indian subcontinent (Canepa 2015; Gnoli and Muccioli 2014; Sinisi 2017). Recent documentation campaigns on structural and decorative pieces as well as the four high-relief busts representing the king, highlighted inconsistencies in Herzfeld's reconstruction. Careful use of 3D rendering allowed the team to recognize the importance of the fifth 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. This line of research will be continued, taking into account the entire surviving iconographic materials on this sovereign.
Today, the all-comprehensive study of the decorated pieces - stepped battlements, moulded blocks, three-quarter columns with huge, bell-shaped bases, etc. - adorning both the walls and their summit cornice deliver a new idea of the complex. The working technique used by Sasanian stonemasons may suggest the presence of royal ateliers that should allow comparisons with similar sites in the Iranian heartlands.
In spite of the substantial losses suffered, inscribed blocks still preserve a striking linguistic and cultural legacy. Previous campaigns allowed us to identify 39 blocks and fragments of the bilingual inscription that had earlier never been documented. 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). This year's campaigns also revealed new blocks that are currently being studied (Cereti, Colliva, Terribili 2019).
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.
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.