Building relationships.

The last two days have been pretty hectic with important preparations. The morning after I arrived, we went to check in with the government officials who oversee all the foreign archaeological projects in Kurdistan. These visits are, at one level, a formality and a chance to catch up with our colleagues at the Directorates. Importantly, this is also a time when a lot of arrangements are made and details worked out for the upcoming fieldwork.

The Director-General of Antiquities and Heritage for Kurdistan, Kak Kaify Mustafa Ali, has been very supportive of the Sebittu Project and has guided my permit request through the many approval stages. Here is a photo from our meeting at the General Directorate. There are over sixty archaeological expeditions across Kurdistan in operation this year so the General Directorate is a busy place.

Me, Kak Kaify, and Jason at the General-Directorate.

There is a separate Directorate of Antiquities and Heritage in Erbil which oversees the day-to-day operations of projects in the Erbil region. The Director in Erbil is Kak Nader Babakr who worked with me on a rescue excavation that we conducted at the site of Qalachogan last year. He will be very involved in our work at the Sebittu sites.

Kak Nader and Dr. Petra Creamer of Emory University setting up a drone flight over the site of Qalachogan in August 2022.

The staff at the Erbil Directorate provides support in many way. Most immediately, yesterday they provided us with documentation of our permission to work in the region. Two of the staff came out with us to deliver our credentials to the local police and the internal security forces (Asayish) in the area of the Erbil Plain where we are working. Since we are working on private lands, it is vital that local farmers and landowners know who we are and what we are doing, and that we have support from local authorities, especially the local governor (mudir nahiye) and the mayor (mukhtar) of the villages near where we will work. Forging and maintaining good local relations is key to a successful project.

After meeting with the local authorities, the team piled into our vehicles and went out to two of the sites where we will be working this season to see what the conditions were on the ground. I’ll put up more photos and details soon so you can see exactly where we will be this season.