3,000-Year-Old Pottery Workshop Unearthed in Iraqi Kurdistan

Archaeologists from the University of Tübingen and LMU Munich have unearthed the ruins of an ancient pottery workshop in the Early Iron Age Dinka settlement complex on the Peshdar Plain in Sulaymaniyah Province in the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq. The discovery sheds light on craft specialization, technological traditions and urban life, revealing an unexpected level of socio-economic complexity in the region at that time.

The 3,000-year-old Gird-i Bazar pottery workshop in the Dinka settlement complex in the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq. From this perspective, the walls of the buildings are clearly visible, as well as the ovens. Image credit: Andrea Squitieri.

The Dinka settlement complex, which includes Gird-i Bazar, Qalat-i Dinka and its surroundings, was excavated as part of the Peshdar Plain Project, launched by LMU Munich archaeologists in 2015.

The project focused on the Iron Age in the upper reaches of the Lower Zab, a region of western Zagros that remains poorly known.

The excavations revealed a previously unknown Iron Age site. Among the finds were a rich pottery assemblage and, significantly, a pottery production workshop in the lower town of Gird-i Bazar.

This workshop included two updraft kilns and production tools, dated to around 1200–800 BCE.

“Thanks to the excellent preservation of the workshop, we were able to combine different techniques and thus obtain a comprehensive picture of how potters actually worked in this region in the Iron Age,” said Dr. Silvia Amicone, an archaeologist at the University of Tübingen.

Archaeologists examined materials including raw clay, finished pottery and kiln linings, as well as the kiln fill and remains of the fuel used during firing.

By analyzing the mineralogy and microstructure of clay and pottery samples and establishing the presence of specific minerals, they identified the raw materials and manufacturing techniques used to produce the pottery.

Analyzes show that although settlement vessels were shaped and finished in slightly different ways, likely based on their intended function, these variations were integrated into a modular, well-organized production system that likely served not only the Dinka settlement complex but also the surrounding region, in which the Gird-i Bazar workshop likely played a central role.

This interpretation is reinforced by the extensive evidence of pottery production throughout the settlement complex, including other possible kilns identified using geophysical analyses.

This suggests that pottery making was an integral part of urban planning and that Gird-i Bazar was part of a network of workshops operating according to common procedures.

“Our results show that pottery was typically fired at relatively low temperatures (below 900 degrees Celsius) under oxidizing conditions, with relatively slow heating rates and short residence times, in simple updraft kilns,” the researchers said.

“The observed variability in microstructural and mineralogical characteristics is best explained by the fact that our samples reflect different firing events conducted within a common technological framework.”

“All ship types appear to have been fired using similar methods, reflecting a consistent pyrotechnology tradition.”

“The study of pottery production in the Dinka settlement complex offers a unique insight into the organization and innovative force of early urban societies,” said Professor (Dōshisha) Karla Pollmann, President of the University of Tübingen.

“These findings reveal how technological knowledge and community structures laid the foundation for cultural development more than 2,500 years ago. »

“Research like this reminds us that progress has always been a collective achievement – ​​then as now. »

An article describing the results was published December 23 in the Journal of Archaeological Sciences.

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Silvia Amicone and others. Assembling the pieces of the puzzle: integrating pottery and kiln analysis to reconstruct pyrotechnology in the Dinka settlement complex (Iraqi Kurdistan). Journal of Archaeological Sciencespublished online December 23, 2025; doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2025.106425