The Italian Archaeological Expedition in the Erbil Plain of the University of Milan investigates the sites of Helawa and
Aliawa, located in the south-western part of the Erbil Plain. In the past, the fertile plain featured a network of water
courses flowing into the Upper Zab and east-west communication routes connecting the Zagros with the Tigris valley.
The site of Helawa presents a continuous occupational sequence from the 7th to the 4th millennia BCE. The most ancient
levels belong to the Halaf period (5500-5300 BCE), and feature circular pressed clay structures, while rectangular domestic
buildings and areas dedicated to ceramic production first appear in the Ubaid period (5300-4500 BCE) (Fig. 3-4). In the
Late Chalcolithic period (4500-3700 BCE), the village expanded and became an important centre for obsidian processing,
with production facilities, large buildings and warehouses for centralising resources and food supplies.
Excavations unearthed a building, composed of a central rectangular room and two side wings, that was destroyed by
a fire. Of exceptional importance is the discovery of several cretulae (clay lumps) with stamped seal impressions which
were applied to containers, evidence of economic transactions related to the redistribution of products.
After a long abandonment, the site was re-occupied in the mid-2nd millennium BCE. To this phase belong a high-ranking
residence, located in the highest part, rich burials of adults and children with vases and ornaments made of silver and
semi-precious stones, living quarters, and manufacturing areas.
The site of Aliawa comprises a main high mound and a lower town spread over thirty hectares. Excavations uncovered
the remains of Early Bronze Age occupation (Ninevite Period 5, 3000-2800 BCE), with centralised storage facilities. An
area with more than fifty kilns for large-scale ceramic production, structured on multiple terraces at different heights
connected by brick platforms, dates back to the last centuries of the 3rd millennium BCE (Akkadian Period).
The settlement reached its maximum extent in the 2nd millennium BCE (Middle and Late Bronze). Manufacturing quarters
are also present in this period, as indicated by geophysical surveys and excavations in the lower town. A large canal
connecting the site to the great urban centre of Kurd Qaburstan was in use at this time.
At the end of the 1st millennium BCE, in the Seleucid period (4th-3rd century BCE), Aliawa was transformed into a fortified
military settlement, still in use in the Parthian period (2nd century BCE-3rd century CE). The oldest phases yielded a silver
tetradrachm of Alexander the Great.
Through integrated archaeological research comprising land survey, geomorphological studies and archaeological
excavations at the two sites, it has thus been possible to reconstruct the complex relationship between human
communities and the natural environment in an area that has always played a crucial role from the emergence of the first
settled villages in Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods (VI-IV millennium BCE), then in the Bronze Age (III-II millennium BCE)
up to the era of the great empires of the first millennium BCE, and beyond into the Islamic period.

