From the banks of Upper Tigris River to the Zagros Highlands. The Tübingen Eastern Ḫabur Archaeological Survey. Trial season 2013

After decades of strife and unrest, during which Northern Iraq remained closed to the outside world, a new era of international scientific enterprise has begun in this region thanks to the recent democratic and civil upturn and its subsequent economic resurgence. In the last few years, together with the restoration and refurbishment of historical monuments, there has also been a spread of new archaeological undertakings in the form of surveys and excavations, the quality and quantity of which is fully shown in the present volume. A Tübingen University research project was initiated in the northernmost part of Iraqi-Kurdistan, in the province of Dohuk. The research area is located at the foothills of the Zagros Mountains. The project is referred to as the ‘Eastern Ḫabur Archaeological Survey (EHAS)’. The main goal of the present contribution is to discuss the background of the new project and to present briefly the results of the first survey season conducted in the summer of 2013.