🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Tell Abada (Hamrin)
Hassuna–Samarra (6000–5500 BCE) · Hassuna–Samarra
Hassuna–Samarra (6000–5500 BCE) Hassuna–Samarra tell at Diyala Governorate, Hamrin – three-level incised-hassuna village (dims 2.8 ha, 3 m Hassuna–Samarra).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Tell Songor A (Hamrin)
Ubaid (5000–4000 BCE) · Ubaid
Ubaid (5000–4000 BCE) Ubaid tell at Diyala Governorate, Hamrin Basin – hamrin rescue ubaid houses with hassuna sherds (dims 0.9 ha Ubaid village).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Tell Madhhur (Hamrin)
Late Chalcolithic Uruk (3800–3100 BCE) · Uruk
Late Chalcolithic Uruk (3800–3100 BCE) Uruk tell at Diyala Governorate, Hamrin – type-site for uruk tripartite house (dims Mound 2 ha, tripartite house 20×8 m).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Jemdet Nasr
Late Uruk to Early Dynastic I transitional (Jemdet Nasr period, c.3100–2900 BCE) · Late Uruk → Jemdet Nasr (proto-literate) → Early Dynastic I
Proto-cuneiform type-site of the 3100 BCE 'lost century' between Uruk and Dynastic Sumer.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Hydraulic works
Khorsabad–Sennacherib Canal — Khinis–Nineveh Aqueduct Canal System
Neo-Assyrian Sargonid (720 – 681 BCE) · Neo-Assyrian imperial under Sennacherib
Khorsabad 5 km arched head of Sennacherib's 55 km 690 BCE Khinis–Nineveh canal system.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Khafajah
Late Uruk to Old Babylonian (c.3400–1700 BCE; peak Early Dynastic) · Uruk → Jemdet Nasr → Early Dynastic (Akkadian/Sumerian Diyala) → Akkadian → Old Babylonian/Eshnunna
Diyala Sequence key town with 10-phase Sin Temple and Samsuiluna earthquake horizon.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Hatra
Parthian to Sassanian (c.200 BCE–241 CE) · Parthian-Arab (Hatrene Aramaic) / Hellenistic influence
Fortified Parthian-Arab desert city (2nd c BCE–241 CE) with circular walls 6.4 km circuit resisting Trajan (117) and Septimius Severus (198).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Khorsabad (Dur-Sharrukin)
Neo-Assyrian (713–705 BCE construction and occupation only) · Assyrian
Short-lived Assyrian capital built 713–707 BCE by Sargon II as brand-new square city 1.628 km side with seven gates, 24 km walls, and palace on citadel.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Tell Rashid (Hamrin)
Ubaid (5000–4300 BCE) · Ubaid
Ubaid (5000–4300 BCE) Ubaid tell at Diyala Governorate, Hamrin – ubaid village with grain storages (dims 1.1 ha).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Hydraulic works
Nineveh Khinis (Bavian) Aqueduct Head — Sennacherib Mountain Aqueduct Source
Neo-Assyrian 690 BCE · Neo-Assyrian Sennacherib
Mountain head reliefs and 17-spring capture merging to 55 km Nineveh canal.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Ziggurat of Eridu (Tell Abu Shahrain)
Ubaid to Ur III (5400–2112 BCE; ziggurat Ur III 2112–2000 BCE) · Sumerian (Eridu, Ubaid → Uruk → Ur III)
Tell at supposed first Sumerian city Eridu, sacred to water god Enki/Ea (Abzu). Eighteen superimposed mudbrick temples (Ubaid 5400–3800 BCE) culminating in Ur III ziggurat (~250 × 300 m enclosure, 3…
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Ziggurat of Kish (Tell Ingharra & Uhaimir)
Jemdet Nasr to Old Babylonian / Neo-Babylonian, c.3100–580 BCE · Sumerian → Akkadian → Babylonian
Twin tells of Kish — Ingharra (Temple Mound) and Uhaimir (Palace Mound) with ziggurats. Tell Uhaimir ziggurat (Ekišiba, Temple of Zababa) 30 × 40 m base, 13 m extant mudbrick massif with plano-convex…
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Uruk (Warka)
Neolithic to Sassanian (c.5000 BCE–632 CE; Uruk period city 4000–3100 BCE) · Sumerian / Babylonian / Persian
Type site for Uruk period and first true city (c.4000–3100 BCE), Uruk at peak 2900 BCE housed 50,000–80,000 inside 9.5 km city wall built by Gilgamesh (per Epic).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Anu Ziggurat and Eanna Precinct of Uruk
Uruk Period (c. 4000–3100 BCE) → Jemdet Nasr → Early Dynastic; Anu ziggurat Late Uruk · Sumerian (Uruk)
Twin sacred precincts of world's first city Uruk (4000–3100 BCE): Anu District with White Temple ziggurat (21 m high limestone platform, U period) and Stone Cone Temple mosaic; Eanna District with…
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Ziggurat of Ur
Ur III (Neo-Sumerian) 2112–2094 BCE core; Old Babylonian veneer · Sumerian (Ur III)
Best preserved neo-Sumerian ziggurat: three-stage mudbrick massif 62.5 × 43 m base, 30 m high (reconstructed), built by Ur-Nammu (2112–2095 BCE) and Shulgi for moon god Nanna (Sîn), with three…
🇮🇶 Iraq · Archaeological wonder
Ctesiphon (Taq Kasra)
Parthian to Early Islamic (c.120 BCE–800 CE; Sassanian vault 540 CE under Khosrow I) · Parthian / Sassanian (Persian) / Byzantine influence
Sassanian imperial capital complex (224–651 CE) on Tigris, Ctesiphon comprised Seleucia-Tisfun-Mahouza conurbation.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Larsa
Early Dynastic to Old Babylonian · Sumerian/Amorite Larsa dynasty
Sumerian city-state that dominated southern Mesopotamia under King Rim-Sin (1822–1763 BCE) controlling 10–15 cities before Hammurapi annexed it, making Babylon supreme.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Ziggurat of Assur (Qal'at Sherqat)
Old Akkadian to Middle Assyrian, c.2600–1200 BCE · Assyrian
Ziggurat of Assur at Qal'at Sherqat — holy city of Ashur, earliest Assyrian capital (c.2600–614 BCE, core Old Akkadian/Ur III, restored Shamshi-Adad I, Shalmaneser I).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Ur
Ubaid to Persian (c.3800 BCE–300 BCE; Early Dynastic/Ur III peak 2600–2000 BCE) · Sumerian / Akkadian / Babylonian / Persian
Sumerian city-state of the moon god Nanna (Sîn), Ur famous for Woolley's excavations 1922–34: Ziggurat of Ur-Nammu (2112 BCE) best-preserved ziggurat, Royal Cemetery with Standard of Ur, Pu-abi's…
🇮🇶 Iraq · Cave
Shanidar Cave
Middle Palaeolithic to Neolithic (c.80,000–9000 BP; Neanderthal Layer D c.70–50 ka) · Mousterian Neanderthal → Baradostian → Zarzian → Neolithic
Zagros Neanderthal cave (80 ka) with nine burials including 'flower burial' Shanidar 4.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Tell al-Rimah — High Temple Mound (Qatara)
Old Babylonian to Middle Assyrian, c.2000–1350 BCE · Old Babylonian / Assyrian (Qatara/Karana)
Tell al-Rimah (ancient Qatara/Karana) high temple mound with Old Babylonian temple and casemate ziggurat-mimic platform (c.2000–1600 BCE).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Isin
Isin-Larsa to Old Babylonian · Sumerian-Akkadian (Isin dynasty)
Capital of Isin dynasty (2017–1794 BCE) after fall of Ur III, whose kings (Ishbi-Erra, Lipit-Ishtar with famous law code predating Hammurapi by ~150 years) tried to restore Sumerian.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Bestansur
Early Neolithic (c.8000–7100 BCE; Bestansur horizon) · Pre-Pottery Neolithic B → Pottery Neolithic Shahrizor
Shahrizor PPNB town (8000–7100 BCE) with courtyard houses and plaster floors SE of Sulaymaniyah.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Bakr Awa
Chalcolithic to Islamic (c.5000 BCE–1500 CE; Bronze citadel LBA) · Chalcolithic → Bronze (Shahrizor) → Iron → Achaemenid → Islamic
Shahrizor 40 ha citadel (5000 BCE–1500 CE) with Bronze tablets of Idu dynasty near Halabja.