“When we sent our committees, we found out that [the security checkpoint] is close to the site or even on it,” Amanj Amin, head of the inspection department at the Sulaimani Antiquities Directorate, told Rudaw on Saturday.
The directorate’s teams have been working at the site near the town of Said Sadeq since 2003, according to Amin, and have informed local authorities of the issue.
“It is an archaeological site,” he said. “Our committees have sent their reports to Said Sadeq’s mayoralty.”
The mayor of Said Sadeq said other local authorities are also aware of the issue.
“We have informed Sharazur Asayesh Directorate through an official letter. The Public Prosecutor was also kept informed,” Diyari Rafeeq told Rudaw. “Today, we asked staff to stop the [construction] work. We hope to make a decision after Eid [al-Adha].”
The security forces, known in Kurdistan as Asayesh, belong either to the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). They have set up multiple checkpoints between towns and provinces through the Kurdistan Region.
The checkpoint is being built on Greza Hill, an area claimed by both Sharizur and Said Sadeq authorities.
Rudaw reporter Saman Basharati found vase fragments just a few metres away from the construction site.
Nawzad Mahmoud, a construction laborer working at the site, said he and his colleagues were not aware that the site was archaeologically important.
“No one has come to us [to inform us]. We have not seen anything [from the site] and as you can see there is nothing,” he told Rudaw.
The discovery and examination of wall and vase fragments “prove it is an archaeological site,” Amin said.
Amin blamed the executing staff of the project for not informing them in advance so that they could explain that the site is archaeological, but he does not think they ignored the area’s significance on purpose.
“However, what has been done is not intentional,” said Amin.
This is not the first time directorate has faced such difficulties, “with new [mostly construction] projects beginning on a daily basis,” according to Amin.
Amin expects the final decision to be issued after Eid.
The registration of archaeological provinces in Sulaimani province is a work in progress, with 770 of an estimated 1,000 archaeological sites now officially registered.
Eighteen foreign teams are currently working on tracing other archaeological sites in the province, according to the antiquities directorate.
