MAIKI - Italian Archaeological Mission in Iraqi Kurdistan

Research > Archaeological Fieldwork > International excavations > MAIKI - Italian Archaeological Mission in Iraqi Kurdistan

Director: Carlo Giovanni Cereti

External links:
Mission website
Facebook page of the mission

The Mission aims to study the historical, linguistic, political, and cultural development of the Kurdish region and the western Zagros in historical periods, with particular focus on the era spanning from the Achaemenids to the Sasanians and the early Islamic centuries. MAIKI has chosen to concentrate its fieldwork on three archaeological sites of major historical interest: the Citadel of Erbil, the Sasanian site of Paikuli, and the site of Yasin Tepe, together with their surrounding territorial contexts. All MAIKI activities are carried out in close collaboration with the relevant local authorities and involve Bachelor’s, Master’s, and postgraduate students from Sapienza University of Rome,

Collaborators (click to expand)

• Prof. Giulio Maresca (Field Director)
• Prof.ssa Maria Vittoria Fontana
• Prof. Alessandro Maria Jaia
• Dr Angela Bizzarro
• Dr Jacopo Bruno
• Dr Luca Colliva
• Dr Andrea Luigi Corsi
• Dr Melissa Depierro
• Dr Federica Duva
• Dr Laura Ebanista
• Dr Barbara Faticoni
• Dr Angelica Gaspari
• Dr Mark Gradoni
• Dr Mara Fabiola Iacovera
• Dr Camilla Insom
• Dr Serenella Mancini
• Dr Carlo Marchetti
• Dr Ghiath Rammo
• Dr Alessandro Tilia
• Dr Sven Stefano Tilia
• Dr Massimiliano Vassalli
• Giulia Alteno
• Benedetta Carosati
• Natalia Cecchini
• Chiara Di Salvo
• Matthew Donnelly
• Giulia Gentile
• Angela Muti
• Francesco Gabriele Vasile
• Eleanor White

Bibliography

Main recent publications:

-Terribili, G., Insom, C. (2021). In the Shade of a Tree. Holy Figures and Prodigious Trees in Late-Antique and Medieval NW Iran and Adjacent areas, in C. Barbati and V. Berti (eds.), Iranianate and Syriac Christianity (5th?11th Centuries) in Late Antiquity and the Early Islamic Period (Veröffentlichungen zur Iranistik), Wien, pp. 333-366.

-Cereti, C. G., Faticoni, B., Marchetti, C., Terribili, G., Vassalli, M. (2020). Il monumento di Narseh da Paikuli a Sulaimaniyah. Nuove attività archeologiche e allestimento espositivo del materiale presso lo Slemani Museum. Scienze dell'Antichità 26.1: 3-11.

-Terribili, G. (2020). Late Antique Adiabene under Sasanian Rule, in F. Alpi, Z. Bradosty, J. Giraud, J. MacGinnis, R. Mattila, Arbela Antiqua (Bibliothèque archéologique et historique 218), Beyrouth: 213-227.

-Cereti C. G., Colliva L., Terribili G., Vassalli, M. (2019), The Monument of Paikuli: the Activities of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Iraqi Kurdistan, Past and Present, in Z. Bradosky (ed.), Archeology and Heritage of Kurdistan, Erbil: 725-734.

-Cereti C. G., Colliva L., Terribili G. (2019). Il monumento di Paikuli (Kurdistan - Iraq). Ricerche e nuove attività sul campo. Scienze dell'Antichità 25/1: 3-10.

- Cereti, C. G. - Terribili, G. (2022). Epigraphic Findings at Paikuli (2018-2019). A Preliminary Study, Vicino Oriente 26, pp. 53-75.

- Cereti, C. G. (2022). Tradizione e continuità nell'Impero Sasanide: Il monumento di Paikuli, in Egitto e Vicino Oriente Antico tra Passato e Futuro, Napoli 13-14 giugno 2019, Napoli, pp. 443-454.

- Marchetti, C. (2022). The background of the research: the 2019 MAIKI expedition, in I. Bucci, C. Marchetti, M.

Moriggi, Antiquities from Hatra in the Slemani Museum (Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Iraq), in Zeitschrift für Orient-

Archäologie 14 (2021), pp. 66-98.

- Cereti, Maresca, Terribili, 2023. DiSA Sapienza per il patrimonio culturale e il paesaggio storico degli Zagros, Scienze dell'Antichità 29.3: 31-42.

- G. Terribili, 2023. The Sacred Mountain in the Arsacid-Sasanian Landscape of Western Zagros. Spaces, Narrative

Patterns, and Numinous Manifestations, Senmurw 2: 135-189.

- Rammo, Gh. (2024). Luoghi di memoria. Comunità yezida e spazio sacro, Bologna:Calamaro edizioni, 2024.

- Rammo, Gh. (2024). The Yezidi Shrine: Architecture, Myths, and Rituals, in Senmurw 3, 2024, pp. 127-171.

- Cereti, C. G., Callieri, P., Messina, V., eds.(2025) Eranshahr: Man, Landscape, and Society in Arsacid and Sasanian Iran (Atlante del Vicino Oriente antico, Opere collettanee 4). Roma: Sapienza Università Editrice

- Maresca, G. & Bruno, J. (2025) MAIKI Research at Yasin Tepe in Iraqi Kurdistan: A Preliminary Report on the 2023 Excavations at a Possible Sasanian and Islamic Crossroads in the Shahrazur Plain. (Cereti, C. G., Callieri, P., Messina, V., eds.) Eranshahr: Man, Landscape, and Society in Arsacid and Sasanian Iran (Atlante del Vicino Oriente antico, Opere collettanee 4). Roma: Sapienza Università Editrice.

- Cereti, C. G. and Faticoni, B. (2025) The Paikuli Monument in Its Territory. (Cereti, C. G., Callieri, P., Messina, V., eds.) Eranshahr: Man, Landscape, and Society in Arsacid and Sasanian Iran (Atlante del Vicino Oriente antico, Opere collettanee 4). Roma: Sapienza Università Editrice.

- Insom, C. and Vassalli, M. (2025) On Roads and Ruins: Across the Zagros and the Shahrazur in the Accounts of Western Travellers in the Early 19th Century. (Cereti, C. G., Callieri, P., Messina, V., eds.) Eranshahr: Man, Landscape, and Society in Arsacid and Sasanian Iran (Atlante del Vicino Oriente antico, Opere collettanee 4). Roma: Sapienza Università Editrice.

- Marchetti, C. (2025) Highways and Byways through Central Zagros, Shahrazur, and Dinavar in Late Sasanian and Early Islamic Times. (Cereti, C. G., Callieri, P., Messina, V., eds.) Eranshahr: Man, Landscape, and Society in Arsacid and Sasanian Iran (Atlante del Vicino Oriente antico, Opere collettanee 4). Roma: Sapienza Università Editrice.

- Salih, B and Terribili, G. (2025) Four Clay Sealings from the Slemani Museum (KRG Iraq): The Province of Ērān-āsān-kar-Kawād and Kawād I’s Interest in Western Zagros. (Cereti, C. G., Callieri, P., Messina, V., eds.) Eranshahr: Man, Landscape, and Society in Arsacid and Sasanian Iran (Atlante del Vicino Oriente antico, Opere collettanee 4). Roma: Sapienza Università Editrice.

Further details about this research:

• Research type: International excavation
• Location of the excavation: Kurdistan Region of Iraq
• Research topic: Archaeological research on Late Antiquity
• Fundings: Sapienza University of Rome; MAECI - Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale

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