University of Coimbra team discovers monumental building shedding new light on the origins of civilisation
The latest discoveries from the Kani Shaie Archaeological Project offer fresh insights into the early history of Mesopotamia and the Zagros Mountains and help clarify the sequence of human occupation over millennia
Researchers from the Kani Shaie Archaeological Project have uncovered a monumental building at the Kani Shaie site in Iraqi Kurdistan. The project is led by the Centre for Studies in Archaeology, Arts and Heritage Sciences (CEAACP) of the University of Coimbra (UC), in partnership with the University of Cambridge and the Slemani Antiquities and Heritage Directorate.
The discovery sheds new light on the early history of Mesopotamia and the Zagros Mountains, helping to clarify the sequence of human occupation over millennia, particularly during the 4th and 3rd millennia BC.
During the 2025 excavation campaign, “the team uncovered an official monumental building on the upper part of the Kani Shaie mound, which may have served as a cultic space. The building dates to the Uruk period (c. 3300–3100 BC), named after the city of Uruk — recognised as the world’s first metropolis — which had clear contacts with southern Mesopotamia and the mountainous regions to the east,” explain CEAACP archaeologists André Tomé, Maria da Conceição Lopes and Steve Renette.
“If the monumental nature of this building is confirmed – which we are now investigating in detail – the discovery could transform our understanding of Uruk’s relationship with surrounding regions, showing that sites such as Kani Shaie were not marginal, but rather key actors in shaping cultural and political networks,” the researchers add.
The international archaeological team also recovered “a fragment of a gold pendant, reflecting social displays of wealth and access to precious metals within an apparently peripheral community; and a cylinder seal from the Uruk period, an artefact associated with administrative practices, control and legitimisation of power.”
They have also identified wall cones — decorative elements typical of monumental architecture and widely attested in Uruk — which reinforce the interpretation of the building as a public or ceremonial structure.
“Kani Shaie is regarded as the most important archaeological site east of the Tigris River for understanding the sequence of human occupation from the Early Bronze Age through to the 3rd millennium BC, continuing to reveal new insights into the earliest social and political developments in the Fertile Crescent — known as the Cradle of Civilisation,” the archaeologists emphasise.
These and previous excavations at Kani Shaie confirm the site’s long-term occupation. For example, in the flatter area of the site, excavations reached levels dating to the Hellenistic–Parthian period (247 BC–AD 224) and the Neo-Assyrian period (c. 911–609 BC).
The Kani Shaie Archaeological Project has been ongoing since 2013 and is led by André Tomé, Maria da Conceição Lopes and Steve Renette, with Michael Lewis, CEAACP–UC researcher, as assistant director
The project team also includes other researchers from CEAACP (University of Coimbra), the University of Algarve and the University of Cambridge, as well as technicians from the Slemani Antiquities and Heritage Directorate and experts from various nationalities.
This excavation campaign was mainly funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the University of Cambridge, with the collaboration of the Slemani Antiquities and Heritage Directorate.
