Ricerc@Sapienza

The first ten years of excavations and studies (2011-2020) revealed the site of Abu Tbeirah as basically an Early Dynastic settlement whose life ended during the Ur III period (2900-2000 BC) / beginning of the 2nd mill. BC (Old Babylonian).
After the period of pandemics (2019), where basically studies of the samples brought to Italy for anlyses have been carried out, the activities of the 11th campaign (2020) foresee the pursuance of the excavation of Building E (Area 6, NE of the site) and of the 3rd millennium harbor (Area 5, NW), the first port excavated in contemporary Mesopotamian sites for the period involved. The analysis of the material culture will be carried on in order to define, together with 14C analysis of shortlived stratified archaeo-botanical remains, the chronology of the settlement. aDNA (in cooperation with the School of Genetics of the Harvard University) and isotope analysis will be carried on as well on both human and animal bones, together with archaeometric studies on pottery, lithic industries and other findings such as bitumen. We also foresee, on the basis of the funding, the realization of further soundings inside and outside the tell in order to reconstruct the paleo-environment and paleo-climate, the geomorphology and the geological setting of AbT area. The 11th excavation campaign will be subdivided in 2 different periods (winter 2021 and spring 2022, for a total of ca. 3 months - see Concession of excavation section) and will involve at least 12 archaeologists and specialists from Sapienza and other Institutions. Researches and analyses will be carried out during all the 12 month of the 2021/2022 academic year.