Dailaija Relief

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This curious relief is found near the modern village of Dailaija, about 25 km east-southeast of Sulaymaniyah/Slemani in Iraqi Kurdistan. The village is set into the slopes of the Qara Dagh, one of the western ranges of the Zagros Mountains. Streams flowing from Dailaija and the village of Sola, to its north, converge about 3.5 km to the west into the larger stream of the Basara. Right beyond this point of confluence, the river crosses through a high hill and flows through a gorge called the Darband-i Basara. The image has been carved on the rough northern face of this pass (see the panorama). 

Due to its highly worn state, small size, and relatively remote location, the relief remains little known outside of Iraq and even outside of the Sulaymaniyah/Slemani region’s archaeological community. The current condition of the work renders interpretation of its subject matter and chronology challenging, but it can be dated with some certainty to the centuries around the turn of the 2nd millennium BC.
 

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Matthew Peebles (2020)