Archaeologists from the University of Tübingen and LMU Munich have excavated the ruins of an ancient pottery workshop in an early Iron Age Dinka settlement complex on the Peshdar Plain, Sulaymaniyah Province, 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 the time.
The 3,000-year-old Gird-i-Bazar pottery workshop in a Dinka settlement in the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq. From this angle, the walls of the buildings and the furnaces are clearly visible. Image credit: Andrea Squitieri.
The Dinka settlement complex, including Gird-i-Bazar, Qalat-i-Dinka and the surrounding area, was excavated as part of the Peshdar Plain project initiated by LMU Munich archaeologists in 2015.
The project focused on the Iron Age in the upper Lower Zab, a region of the western Zagros that remains poorly understood.
Excavations have revealed a previously unknown Iron Age site. Among the finds were a rich assemblage of ceramics and, importantly, a pottery workshop in the lower town of Gird-i-Bazar.
This workshop included two updraft kilns and production tools dating from approximately 1200–800 BC.
“Because the workshop was so well preserved, we were able to combine different techniques and thus get a complete picture of how potters in this region actually worked during the Iron Age,” said Dr Silvia Amicone, an archaeologist at the University of Tübingen.
Archaeologists examined materials including unprocessed clay, finished pottery and kiln linings, as well as kiln filling and remains of fuel used in firing.
By analyzing the mineralogy and microstructure of clay and ceramic samples, and determining the presence of certain minerals, they determined the raw materials and production techniques used to produce the ceramics.
Analysis suggests that although the shapes and finishes of vessels from the site were somewhat different, likely depending on their intended function, these variations were embedded in a modular and 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 supported by widespread evidence of pottery production in the settlement complex, including a greater number of possible kilns identified through geophysical analysis.
This suggests that pottery production was an integral part of the urban layout and that Gird-i Bazar was part of a network of workshops working according to common procedures.
“Our results indicate that ceramics were 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 variability observed in microstructural and mineralogical features is best explained by the fact that our samples reflect different firing events conducted within a common technological framework.”
“It appears that all types of vessels were fired using the same methods, reflecting a consistent pyrotechnological tradition.”
“The study of pottery production in a Dinka settlement provides a unique insight into the organization and innovative potential of early urban societies,” said Professor (Doshisha) Carla Pollmann, President of the University of Tübingen.
“These results show how technological knowledge and social structures laid the foundation for cultural development more than 2,500 years ago.”
“Research of this kind reminds us that progress has always been a collective achievement—then as now.”
A paper The findings described were published December 23 in the journal Journal of Archaeological Science.
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Silvia Amicone etc.. Putting the puzzle pieces together: Integrating ceramic and kiln analysis to reconstruct pyrotechnology in a Dinka settlement complex (Iraqi Kurdistan). Journal of Archaeological Sciencepublished online December 23, 2025; doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2025.106425
