The Ziyaret Tepe Archaeological Project is a joint undertaking between the University of Akron, Sweet Briar College, the University of Munich, Cambridge University and the University of Helsinki. Scholars and students from over a dozen countries participate each summer in the excavations at Ziyaret Tepe.

The ancient mound at Ziyaret Tepe comprises two distinct areas: the high mound, or citadel, and the lower town, or suburbs. The high mound rises 22 meters above the surrounding modern agricultural fields and is approximately 3 hectares in extent. The lower town was surrounded by a fortification wall and covers an area of 29 hectares.

Our work has explored both the high mound and the lower town and has expanded off-site looking at the regional environment and the impact of the ancient Assyrian city of Tushhan on the upper Tigris River valley.

While Ziyaret Tepe did not achieve urban status until the Assyrian period, smaller settlements on the same location take the history of the site back to at least the early part of the Early Bronze Age, c. 3000 BC. Excavations on the high mound in Operation E show a long occupation stretching over some two and half millennium BC. Ziyaret Tepe has been largely abandoned since the end of the 6th century BC.

Previous Season

Work at Ziyaret Tepe started with a modest survey season in 1997. During that season we created a topographic map of the ancient site and made a systematic surface collection of artifacts in order to better understand the history of the site.

In 1998 and 1999, we started an ambitious subsurface geophysical survey program with the long-term goal of mapping the entire ancient settlement with a variety of instruments. These first two seasons (and three subsequent season in 2002, 2003, and 2004) were spent collecting magnetic gradiometry data and generating maps of shallow subsurface magnetic anomalies.

Excavation at Ziyaret Tepe started in 2000 and we completed our fifth excavation season in 2004. The excavations include sites on the high mound and in the surrounding lower town. We have excavated in thirteen different operations (labelled Operations A through M).

We anticipate excavation lasting at least another ten years in order to fully document the ancient city buried at Ziyaret Tepe.

Future Goals

Our first, five season excavation campaign (2000-2004) has ended with a 2005 study season. We are currently working on a final publication for the first five digging seasons and preparing to return to the field in 2006 to excavate and continue our magnetic gradiometric work at the site. We anticipate that this second digging campaign will last through the summer of 2010.

Since the first season, our overall project goals have remained consistent. These are: (1) to document the entire Assyrian city in order to better understand how the city worked in antiquity and the principles of city planning employed at Tushhan; (2) to document the archaeological sequence of occupation in the upper Tigris River valley; (3) to explore the relationship between the Assyrian and indigenous Anatolian populations; (4) to study the impact of urbanization on Late Bronze Age and Iron Age ecology.

While we have made considerable progress in our studies, there are still many questions left unanswered. These goals will remain the primary research objectives of the Ziyaret Tepe Archaeological Project for the foreseeable future.

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