By sequencing 727 ancient individuals from the Southern Arc (Anatolia and its neighbors in Southeastern Europe and West Asia) over 10,000 years, we contextualize its Chalcolithic period and Bronze Age (about 5000 to 1000 BCE), when extensive gene flow entangled it with the Eurasian steppe. Two streams of migration transmitted Caucasus and Anatolian/Levantine ancestry northward, and the Yamnaya pastoralists, formed on the steppe, then spread southward into the Balkans and across the Caucasus into Armenia, where they left numerous patrilineal descendants. Anatolia was transformed by intra–West Asian gene flow, with negligible impact of the later Yamnaya migrations. This contrasts with all other regions where Indo-European languages were spoken, suggesting that the homeland of the Indo-Anatolian language family was in West Asia, with only secondary dispersals of non-Anatolian Indo-Europeans from the steppe.

Human communities made the transition from hunter-foraging to more sedentary agriculture and herding at multiple locations across Southwest Asia through the Early Neolithic period (ca. 10,000-7000 cal. BC). Societies explored strategies involving increasing management and development of plants, animals, materials, technologies, and ideologies specific to each region whilst sharing some common attributes. Current research in the Eastern Fertile Crescent is contributing new insights into the Early Neolithic transition and the critical role that this region played. The Central Zagros Archaeological Project (CZAP) is investigating this transition in Iraqi Kurdistan, including at the earliest Neolithic settlement so far excavated in the region. In this article, we focus on results from ongoing excavations at the Early Neolithic site of Bestansur on the Shahrizor Plain, Sulaimaniyah province, in order to address key themes in the Neolithic transition.Les communautés humaines ont fait la transition de chasseurs-foragers à une agriculture plus sédentaire et le maintien des stocks à plusieurs endroits à travers l'Asie du Sud-Ouest au cours de la période néolithique précoce (vers 10 000 à 7 000 Av. J.-C.). Les sociétés ont exploré des stratégies impliquant une gestion et développement intensifs des plantes, des animaux, des matériaux, des technologies et des idéologies propres à chaque région tout en partageant certains attributs communs. Les recherches actuelles dans le Croissant fertile oriental apportent de nouvelles perspectives sur la transition néolithique précoce et le rôle crucial que cette région a joué. Le Projet archéologique central de Zagros (CZAP) étudie cette transition au Kurdistan irakien, y compris le plus ancien site néolithique jusqu'à présent fouillé dans la région. Dans cet article, nous nous concentrons sur les résultats des fouilles en cours sur le site néolithique précoce de Bestansur sur la plaine de Shahrizor, province de Sulaimaniyah, afin d'aborder les thèmes clés de la transition néolithique.

We present the first ancient DNA data from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Mesopotamia (Southeastern Turkey and Northern Iraq), Cyprus, and the Northwestern Zagros, along with the first data from Neolithic Armenia. We show that these and neighboring populations were formed through admixture of pre-Neolithic sources related to Anatolian, Caucasus, and Levantine hunter-gatherers, forming a Neolithic continuum of ancestry mirroring the geography of West Asia. By analyzing Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic populations of Anatolia, we show that the former were derived from admixture between Mesopotamian-related and local Epipaleolithic-related sources, but the latter experienced additional Levantine-related gene flow, thus documenting at least two pulses of migration from the Fertile Crescent heartland to the early farmers of Anatolia.

The mountain fortress of Rabana-Merquly was a major regional centre of the Parthian period (first century BC) in the Zagros Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan. The iconography of two rock-reliefs that show an unnamed ruler suggests an association with the vassal kingdom of Adiabene. The exceptional preservation of the fortress's stone walls, undamaged by later agriculture in this highland location, provides an almost complete example of a large, fortified site with two main intramural settlements. Through its ability to control the surrounding landscape, Rabana-Merquly highlights the role of client states on the peripheries of the Parthian and Roman Empires and illuminates the practicalities of territorial control by state authorities in hinterland regions.

Literary and archaeological sources have preserved a rich history of Southern Europe and West Asia since the Bronze Age that can be complemented by genetics. Mycenaean period elites in Greece did not differ from the general population and included both people with some steppe ancestry and others, like the Griffin Warrior, without it. Similarly, people in the central area of the Urartian Kingdom around Lake Van lacked the steppe ancestry characteristic of the kingdom’s northern provinces. Anatolia exhibited extraordinary continuity down to the Roman and Byzantine periods, with its people serving as the demographic core of much of the Roman Empire, including the city of Rome itself. During medieval times, migrations associated with Slavic and Turkic speakers profoundly affected the region.

This paper presents the results of the work of the new field initiative launched by the British Museum at the Darband-i Rania pass in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The pass is located at the northeastern corner of Lake Dokan, where, though now subsumed into the lake, the Lower Zab flows from the Peshdar into the Rania Plain. It is a strategic location on a major route from Mesopotamia into Iran, and control of both the road and the river must always have been important. The aim of the work, which commenced in autumn of 2016, is to explore a cluster of sites that commanded the pass, with a particular focus on the first millennium b.c. Excavation is being carried out principally at two sites: Qalatga Darband, a large fortified site at the western end of the pass, and Usu Aska, a fort inside the pass itself. The occupations of these two sites are predominantly Parthian and Assyrian respectively. Smaller operations have also been carried out at Murad Rasu, a multi-period site situated on a headland across the waters on the southern shore of Lake Dokan. The results have included the discovery at Qalatga Darband of a monumental complex built of stone and roofed with terracotta roof tiles containing the smashed remains of Hellenistic statuary. Other features indicative of Hellenistic material culture are Mediterranean-type oil-presses and Corinthian column bases and capitals. At Usu Aska remains are being uncovered of an Assyrian fortification of massive proportions.

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