Shafaq News- Duhok

Archaeologists in Duhok, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, have uncovered five ancient settlement layers at Tell Gombass, a site affected by fluctuating water levels at Mosul Dam, the province's Antiquities Directorate announced on Saturday.

Bekas Brifkani, director of Duhok's Antiquities Directorate, told Shafaq News that the layers date from the late fourth to the early third millennium BC, marking the transition from the Late Chalcolithic period to the Early Bronze Age.

The excavations revealed mudbrick buildings, storage facilities, an oven, clay sealings and the remains of a seal, along with an Early Bronze Age burial area.

Located on a raised terrace overlooking a valley west of the modern village of Gombass, the site is part of the ReLand archaeological project, a joint initiative between Italy's University of Palermo and the Duhok Antiquities Directorate to document and protect archaeological remains in the Mosul Dam reservoir.

Between 2023 and 2025, the project surveyed 86 archaeological sites. An exceptional drop in water levels in 2025 exposed around 500 hectares of land, allowing researchers to document 40 sites, including 11 discovered for the first time.

Brifkani noted that fluctuating water levels create opportunities to uncover additional archaeological remains but also expose them to erosion, damage and the loss of valuable historical information.

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