A New Northern Ubaid/Late Chalcolithic Site in the Erbil Plain

The Italian Archaeological Expedition in the Erbil Plain (MAIPE) carried out a first season of fieldwork in 2013, focusing on a small part of the south-western Erbil Plain, namely the area of Helawa/Aliawa, located c. 28 km south-west of Erbil, which includes two main mounds, Helawa (south) and Aliawa (north). Surface material collected during the the first visit in January 2013 allowed identification of the main occupation phases at both sites, showing that Helawa was an important site during Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods, with a later occupation dating to the 2nd millennium BC, and that Aliawa (Fig. 2) was a huge fortified settlement mainly dating to the Islamic period, with previous occupation spanning from the Neo-Assyrian to the Sasanian period. The article presents the results of the first season in relation with the new data from archeological researches carried out in the Erbil Plain