Kuriki Höyük Archaeological Project 2010. A Preliminary Report

The 2010 season aimed to further investigate the archaeological data discovered during the previous excavation season in the Area A, Mound 1. In particular, to meet this goal, the deep sounding of the Area A, initiated inside the corridor of the building, was extensively dug until the virgin soil, and a new area (Area B) was excavated on the Mound 2. In summary, consistent occupation at Kuriki is documented by two main settlement phases: the earlier one (Level IVa-b) dates back to the Late Chalcolithic; and, after a long period of abandonment, the second significant occupation dates to the Achaemenid-Hellenistic period (Level III). The later extended occupation occurred during the late 1st millennium BCE and the first centuries of Common Era (Levels II and I). However, according to the presence of sporadic sherds on the surface of both mounds, we have to suggest that existed some reduced settlements in the Obeid period (ca. second half of 5th mill. BCE) then around the middle Iron Age, and finally probably also during the Sasanian period (ca. 3rd cent. CE – first half of the 7th cent. CE). The localization of the layers dating to these chronological phases in the archaeological area has to be yet identified and for the moment we can only presume their probable existence.