The second season of the Russian-Iraqi expedition at Tell Dehaila-1 (2021)

During the second season of the Iraqi-Russian Multidisciplinary Project at Tell Dehaila-1 in Southern Iraq (Fig. 1: 1), two soundings were excavated down to the virgin soil, No. 1 on the edge of the latest Eridu River floodplain (Fig. 1: 2; 3: 1) and No. 2 in the central part of the city (Fig. 1: 2; 2). The earliest occupation layer in Sounding 1 reposes on a sterile man-made ballast brought from the river to protect the habitable surface from seasonal flooding (Fig. 3: 1). In Sounding 2, a monumental system of mudbrick structures was uncovered, including a wall 4 m wide, preserved to a height of 2 m including a 1 m high foundation (Fig. 2). The foundation of this wall was built upon a crevasse splay, a strong argument in favour of this area being the place of the initial building activity at the site. The character of the uncovered structures suggests they were part of the inner walls of the sacred area (temenos) dating to the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. New surface and stratified finds of objects datable to the 1st millennium BCE speak for a later presence at Tell Dehaila as well; however, the late occupation phase within the sounding on the temenos is represented only by a seminomadic camp.