Great Zab
Encyclopedia
The Great Zab is an approximately 400 kilometres (248.5 mi) long river flowing through Turkey
and Iraq
. It rises in Turkey near Lake Van
and joins the Tigris
in Iraq south of Mosul
. The drainage basin
of the Great Zab covers approximately 40300 square kilometres (15,559.9 sq mi), and during its course, the rivers collects the water from a large number of tributaries. The river and its tributaries are primarily fed by rainfall and snowmelt – as a result of which discharge
fluctuates highly throughout the year. At least six dams have been planned on the Great Zab and its tributaries, but construction of only one, the Bekhme Dam
, has commenced but was halted after the Gulf War
.
The Zagros Mountains
have been occupied since at least the Lower Palaeolithic
, and Neanderthal
occupation of the Great Zab basin has been testified at the archaeological site
of Shanidar Cave. Historical records for the region are available from the end of the third millennium BCE onward. In the Neo-Assyrian period, the Great Zab provided water for irrigation
for the lands around the capital city of Nimrud
. The Battle of the Zab
– which ended the Umayyad Caliphate – took place near a tributary of the Great Zab, and the valleys of the river provided shelter for refugees from the Mongol
conquest of Iraq. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Great Zab basin saw frequent uprisings of local Kurdish
tribes striving for autonomy.
and joins the Tigris on its left bank in Iraq. In Turkey, the Great Zab traverses the provinces of Van
and Hakkâri
, whereas in Iraq it flows through Duhok Governorate and Erbil Governorate. Together with the Tigris, the Great Zab forms the boundary between Erbil Governorate and Ninawa Governorate
. In its upper reaches, the Great Zab flows through steep, rocky gorges. The stretch between Amadiya and the Bekhme Gorge – where the Bekhme Dam
remains unfinished – has been called the Sapna Valley. Numerous mountain streams and wadis join the Great Zab on its right and left banks. The Great Zab receives most of its waters from the left-bank tributaries; the Rubar-i-Shin, Rukuchuk, Rubar-i-Ruwandiz, Rubat Mawaran and Bastura Chai.
The length of the Great Zab has been variously estimated at 392 kilometres (243.6 mi) and 473 kilometres (293.9 mi). Approximately 300 kilometres (186.4 mi) of the river's course are located within Iraq. The average discharge of the Great Zab is 808 cubic metres (28,534.3 cu ft) per second, but peak discharges of up to 1320 cubic metres (46,615.4 cu ft) per second have been recorded. The average annual discharge is 13.2 cubic kilometres (3.2 cu mi). Because of its torrential nature, Medieval Arab geographers have described the Great Zab – together with the Little Zab
– as "demoniacally possessed".
fold
s rising to elevations of over 3000 metres (9,842.5 ft) amsl. The valleys – including that of the Great Zab – and the south-western foothill
zone are filled with gravel
, conglomerate
, and sandstone
; the result of water erosion. The Amadiya valley within the Great Zab drainage basin is the third-largest valley in the Iraqi Zagros, after the Shahrazor and the Ranya Plain.
The Great Zab rises in the highlands of the Zagros Mountains, where a climate with cold winter and annual precipitation in excess of 1000 millimetre prevails. From there, the river flows into the foothill zone of the Zagros, where rainfall drops to less than 300 millimetre per year at the confluence with the Tigris. Average summer temperature in the foothill zone are generally higher in the foothill zone than in the mountains. The high Zagros is characterized by three different ecozones: the area above the treeline at 1800 metres (5,905.5 ft) where shrubs and herbs dominate, the area between 1800 and 610 m (5,905.5 and 2,001.3 ) that was in the past dominated by open oak forest (Quercus aegilops
), and the wetter and sometimes marshy river valleys. Other trees besides oak that can be found in the forested zone including juniper at higher elevations; ash, hawthorn, maple and walnut at intermediate elevations; and pistachio and olive trees in lower, drier areas. In the foothill zone, many areas are now cultivated, but there remain small patches of natural vegetation dominated by herbs of the genus Phlomis
.
-controlled run-of-the-river Bağışlı Hydroelectric Power Plant. Five others have been planned in the Great Zab basin by both Turkey and Iraq. Turkey's State Hydraulic Works plans to construct the Çukurca and Doğanlı Dams near Çukurca
and the Hakkâri Dam near the city of Hakkâri
. The Hakkâri Dam with a 245 MW
power station is in final design and the Çukurca and Doğanlı Dams will support 245 MW and 462 MW power stations, respectively.
Iraq has commenced construction of the Bekhme Dam and planned two others – the Khazir-Gomel and Mandawa Dams. Plans to build a dam in the Great Zab at the Bekhme Gorge for flood control and irrigation were first proposed in 1937. A feasibility study determined that the site was not suited for dam construction and the plan was abandoned. In 1976, another study proposed three different locations on the Great Zab, including the site suggested in the earlier study. This site was eventually chosen in 1989, when work on the dam commenced. Construction of the Bekhme Dam was interrupted by the outbreak of the Gulf War in 1990 and the dam remains unfinished. After the war, the site of the dam was looted. The plans of the Bekhme Dam called for a 230 metres (754.6 ft) high rockfill dam and an underground hydroelectric
power station housing six turbine
s with a total capacity of 1,560 MW. The reservoir
that would have been created by the Bekhme Dam would have a storage capacity of 17 cubic kilometres (4.1 cu mi) and would have flooded numerous villages, the archaeological site of Zawi Chemi Shanidar and the access road to Shanidar Cave (although not the cave itself).
stone tool assemblages are known from Barda Balka, a cave-site south of the Little Zab; and from the Iranian Zagros. A Mousterian
stone tool assemblage – produced by either Neanderthals or anatomically modern humans
– was recently excavated in Arbil
. Neanderthals also occupied the site of Shanidar. This cave-site, located in the Sapna Valley, has yielded a settlement sequence stretching from the Middle Palaeolithic up to the Epipalaeolithic
period. The site is particularly well-known for its Neanderthal burials. The Epipalaeolithic occupation of Shanidar, contemporary with the use of the Kebaran
stone tool assemblage, is the oldest evidence for anatomically modern human occupation of the Great Zab basin. The following Protoneolithic, or Natufian
, occupation is contemporary with the oldest occupation of the nearby open-air site Zawi Chemi Shanidar. M'lefaat on the Khazir River (a tributary to the Great Zab) was a small village of hunter-gatherer
s dating to the 10th millennium BCE that was contemporary with the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A
in the Levant
. An archaeological survey of the Citadel of Arbil
, in the plain south of the lower course of the Great Zab, has shown that this site was continuously occupied at least from the 6th millennium BCE upward.
The earliest historical reference to the region dates to the Ur III dynasty
, when king Shulgi
mentioned the city of Urbilum – the ancient name of modern-day Arbil. The great Assyria
n capitals of Assur
, Nineveh
, Nimrud and Dur-Sharrukin
were all located in the foothill zone where the Great Zab flows into the Tigris, and the Great Zab basin became increasingly integrated into the Middle Assyrian and Neo-Assyrian empires. Nimrud, the capital of the empire until 706 BCE, was located only 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) away from the confluence of the Great Zab with the Tigris. The Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II constructed a canal called Patti-Hegalli that tapped water from the Great Zab to irrigate the land around Nimrud, and this canal was restored by his successors Tiglath-Pileser III
and Esarhaddon
. This canal ran along the right bank of the Great Zab and cut through a rock bluff by means of a tunnel and is still visible today. After the fall of the Neo-Assyrian empire, the Medes
gained control of the area, followed by the Achaemenids
in 550 BCE. The Battle of Gaugamela
in 331 BCE – one of the decisive battles leading to the fall of the Achaemenid empire at the hands of Alexander the Great – supposedly took place north of the Great Zab in the vicinity of Mosul. After Alexander’s death in 323 BCE, control of the area shifted to the Seleucids
.
In 750 CE, the last Umayyad caliph Marwan II
was defeated by the Abbasid As-Saffah
in the Battle of the Zab on the banks of the Khazir River, a tributary to the Great Zab. When the Mongols swept over Iraq in the 13th century and sacked Arbil, many survivors sought a refuge in the inaccessible valleys of the Great Zab. The Sapna Valley was home to both Christian
and Muslim
communities, as evidenced by Christian artefacts
found at Zawi Chemi Shanidar. During the 19th century, the area was controlled by local Kurdish leaders. During World War I
, heavy fighting took place in the area, and Rowanduz
was pillaged by Russia
n soldiers in 1916. Following World War I, episodes of heavy fighting took place between the Barzani tribe
– striving for the establishment of an independent Kurdish polity – and several other Kurdish tribes, and between the Barzanis and the Iraqi Government. The last of these uprisings started in 1974 and led to heavy bombardments of towns and villages in the Great Zab basin.
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. It rises in Turkey near Lake Van
Lake Van
Lake Van is the largest lake in Turkey, located in the far east of the country in Van district. It is a saline and soda lake, receiving water from numerous small streams that descend from the surrounding mountains. Lake Van is one of the world's largest endorheic lakes . The original outlet from...
and joins the Tigris
Tigris
The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
in Iraq south of Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
. The drainage basin
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
of the Great Zab covers approximately 40300 square kilometres (15,559.9 sq mi), and during its course, the rivers collects the water from a large number of tributaries. The river and its tributaries are primarily fed by rainfall and snowmelt – as a result of which discharge
Discharge (hydrology)
In hydrology, discharge is the volume rate of water flow, including any suspended solids , dissolved chemical species and/or biologic material , which is transported through a given cross-sectional area...
fluctuates highly throughout the year. At least six dams have been planned on the Great Zab and its tributaries, but construction of only one, the Bekhme Dam
Bekhme Dam
The Bekhme Dam is an unfinished multi-purpose rock-fill dam on the Great Zab northeast of Arbil, Iraq. The main purpose of the dam is to produce 1500 MW of hydro-electricity in addition to managing floods. If completed, the high Bekhme Dam will be the largest in Iraq...
, has commenced but was halted after the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
.
The Zagros Mountains
Zagros Mountains
The Zagros Mountains are the largest mountain range in Iran and Iraq. With a total length of 1,500 km , from northwestern Iran, and roughly correlating with Iran's western border, the Zagros range spans the whole length of the western and southwestern Iranian plateau and ends at the Strait of...
have been occupied since at least the Lower Palaeolithic
Lower Paleolithic
The Lower Paleolithic is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 2.5 million years ago when the first evidence of craft and use of stone tools by hominids appears in the current archaeological record, until around 300,000 years ago, spanning the...
, and Neanderthal
Neanderthal
The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
occupation of the Great Zab basin has been testified at the archaeological site
Archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved , and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record.Beyond this, the definition and geographical extent of a 'site' can vary widely,...
of Shanidar Cave. Historical records for the region are available from the end of the third millennium BCE onward. In the Neo-Assyrian period, the Great Zab provided water for irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
for the lands around the capital city of Nimrud
Nimrud
Nimrud is an ancient Assyrian city located south of Nineveh on the river Tigris in modern Ninawa Governorate Iraq. In ancient times the city was called Kalḫu. The Arabs called the city Nimrud after the Biblical Nimrod, a legendary hunting hero .The city covered an area of around . Ruins of the city...
. The Battle of the Zab
Battle of the Zab
The Battle of the Zab took place on the banks of the Great Zab river in what is now Iraq on January 25, 750. It spelled the end of the Umayyad Caliphate and the rise of the Abbasids, a dynasty that would last until the 13th century.-Background:A serious rebellion had broken out in 747 against...
– which ended the Umayyad Caliphate – took place near a tributary of the Great Zab, and the valleys of the river provided shelter for refugees from the Mongol
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
conquest of Iraq. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Great Zab basin saw frequent uprisings of local Kurdish
Kurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
tribes striving for autonomy.
Course
The Great Zab rises in Turkey in the mountainous region east of Lake Van at an elevation of approximately 3000 metres (9,842.5 ft) amslAbove mean sea level
The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...
and joins the Tigris on its left bank in Iraq. In Turkey, the Great Zab traverses the provinces of Van
Van Province
Van Province is a province in eastern Turkey, between Lake Van and the Iranian border. It is 19,069 km2 in area and had a population of 1,035,418 at the end of 2010....
and Hakkâri
Hakkari Province
Hakkâri Province is a province in the south east corner of Turkey. The administrative centre is located in the city of Hakkâri . The province covers an area of 7,121 km² and has a population of 251,302 . The province had a population of 236,581 in 2000.The province was created in 1936 out of...
, whereas in Iraq it flows through Duhok Governorate and Erbil Governorate. Together with the Tigris, the Great Zab forms the boundary between Erbil Governorate and Ninawa Governorate
Ninawa Governorate
Ninawa is a governorate in northern Iraq, and the Arabic name for the biblical city of Nineveh in Assyria. It has an area of and an estimated population of 2,453,000 people in 2003. Its chief city and provincial capital is Mosul, which lies across the Tigris river from the ruins of ancient...
. In its upper reaches, the Great Zab flows through steep, rocky gorges. The stretch between Amadiya and the Bekhme Gorge – where the Bekhme Dam
Bekhme Dam
The Bekhme Dam is an unfinished multi-purpose rock-fill dam on the Great Zab northeast of Arbil, Iraq. The main purpose of the dam is to produce 1500 MW of hydro-electricity in addition to managing floods. If completed, the high Bekhme Dam will be the largest in Iraq...
remains unfinished – has been called the Sapna Valley. Numerous mountain streams and wadis join the Great Zab on its right and left banks. The Great Zab receives most of its waters from the left-bank tributaries; the Rubar-i-Shin, Rukuchuk, Rubar-i-Ruwandiz, Rubat Mawaran and Bastura Chai.
The length of the Great Zab has been variously estimated at 392 kilometres (243.6 mi) and 473 kilometres (293.9 mi). Approximately 300 kilometres (186.4 mi) of the river's course are located within Iraq. The average discharge of the Great Zab is 808 cubic metres (28,534.3 cu ft) per second, but peak discharges of up to 1320 cubic metres (46,615.4 cu ft) per second have been recorded. The average annual discharge is 13.2 cubic kilometres (3.2 cu mi). Because of its torrential nature, Medieval Arab geographers have described the Great Zab – together with the Little Zab
Little Zab
The Little Zab , , ) originates in Iran and joins the Tigris in Iraq. The river is approximately long and drains an area of c. . The river is fed by rainfall and snowmelt, resulting in a peak discharge in spring and low water in summer and early fall...
– as "demoniacally possessed".
Watershed
Estimates of the drainage basin of the Great Zab vary widely – from a low 25810 square kilometres (9,965.3 sq mi) to a high figure of 40300 square kilometres (15,559.9 sq mi). Approximately 62 percent of the basin is located in Iraq; the remainder is in Turkey. To the south, the Great Zab basin borders on that of the Little Zab while on the east it adjoins the Tigris basin. The Zagros consists of parallel limestoneLimestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
fold
Fold (geology)
The term fold is used in geology when one or a stack of originally flat and planar surfaces, such as sedimentary strata, are bent or curved as a result of permanent deformation. Synsedimentary folds are those due to slumping of sedimentary material before it is lithified. Folds in rocks vary in...
s rising to elevations of over 3000 metres (9,842.5 ft) amsl. The valleys – including that of the Great Zab – and the south-western foothill
Foothills
Foothills are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills to the adjacent topographically high mountains.-Examples:...
zone are filled with gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
, conglomerate
Conglomerate (geology)
A conglomerate is a rock consisting of individual clasts within a finer-grained matrix that have become cemented together. Conglomerates are sedimentary rocks consisting of rounded fragments and are thus differentiated from breccias, which consist of angular clasts...
, and sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
; the result of water erosion. The Amadiya valley within the Great Zab drainage basin is the third-largest valley in the Iraqi Zagros, after the Shahrazor and the Ranya Plain.
The Great Zab rises in the highlands of the Zagros Mountains, where a climate with cold winter and annual precipitation in excess of 1000 millimetre prevails. From there, the river flows into the foothill zone of the Zagros, where rainfall drops to less than 300 millimetre per year at the confluence with the Tigris. Average summer temperature in the foothill zone are generally higher in the foothill zone than in the mountains. The high Zagros is characterized by three different ecozones: the area above the treeline at 1800 metres (5,905.5 ft) where shrubs and herbs dominate, the area between 1800 and 610 m (5,905.5 and 2,001.3 ) that was in the past dominated by open oak forest (Quercus aegilops
Quercus macrolepis
Quercus macrolepis, the Valonia oak, is a tree in the family Fagaceae.It is found in the Southern Mediterranean, in the Balkans including the Greek Islands, in Morocco, and in Asia Minor.-Description:...
), and the wetter and sometimes marshy river valleys. Other trees besides oak that can be found in the forested zone including juniper at higher elevations; ash, hawthorn, maple and walnut at intermediate elevations; and pistachio and olive trees in lower, drier areas. In the foothill zone, many areas are now cultivated, but there remain small patches of natural vegetation dominated by herbs of the genus Phlomis
Phlomis
Phlomis is a genus of about 100 species of herbaceous plants, subshrubs and shrubs in the family Lamiaceae, native from the Mediterranean region east across central Asia to China. Common names include Jerusalem Sage and Lampwick Plant....
.
River modifications
To date, one large dam has been partially constructed on the Great Zab – Iraq's the Bekhme Dam – and Turkey's 24 MW weirWeir
A weir is a small overflow dam used to alter the flow characteristics of a river or stream. In most cases weirs take the form of a barrier across the river that causes water to pool behind the structure , but allows water to flow over the top...
-controlled run-of-the-river Bağışlı Hydroelectric Power Plant. Five others have been planned in the Great Zab basin by both Turkey and Iraq. Turkey's State Hydraulic Works plans to construct the Çukurca and Doğanlı Dams near Çukurca
Çukurca
Çukurca is a district of Hakkari Province of Turkey. The mayor is Mehmet Kanar . The population is 5283 as of 2010....
and the Hakkâri Dam near the city of Hakkâri
Hakkari
Hakkâri , is a city and the capital of the Hakkâri Province of Turkey. The name Hakkâri is derived from the Syriac word, Akkare, meaning farmers...
. The Hakkâri Dam with a 245 MW
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
power station is in final design and the Çukurca and Doğanlı Dams will support 245 MW and 462 MW power stations, respectively.
Iraq has commenced construction of the Bekhme Dam and planned two others – the Khazir-Gomel and Mandawa Dams. Plans to build a dam in the Great Zab at the Bekhme Gorge for flood control and irrigation were first proposed in 1937. A feasibility study determined that the site was not suited for dam construction and the plan was abandoned. In 1976, another study proposed three different locations on the Great Zab, including the site suggested in the earlier study. This site was eventually chosen in 1989, when work on the dam commenced. Construction of the Bekhme Dam was interrupted by the outbreak of the Gulf War in 1990 and the dam remains unfinished. After the war, the site of the dam was looted. The plans of the Bekhme Dam called for a 230 metres (754.6 ft) high rockfill dam and an underground hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
power station housing six turbine
Turbine
A turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work.The simplest turbines have one moving part, a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades, or the blades react to the flow, so that they move and...
s with a total capacity of 1,560 MW. The reservoir
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
that would have been created by the Bekhme Dam would have a storage capacity of 17 cubic kilometres (4.1 cu mi) and would have flooded numerous villages, the archaeological site of Zawi Chemi Shanidar and the access road to Shanidar Cave (although not the cave itself).
History
Evidence for human occupation of the Zagros reaches back into the Lower Palaeolithic, as evidenced by the discovery of many cave-sites dating to that period in the Iranian part of the mountain range. Middle PalaeolithicMiddle Paleolithic
The Middle Paleolithic is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleolithic in African archeology. The Middle Paleolithic and the Middle Stone Age...
stone tool assemblages are known from Barda Balka, a cave-site south of the Little Zab; and from the Iranian Zagros. A Mousterian
Mousterian
Mousterian is a name given by archaeologists to a style of predominantly flint tools associated primarily with Homo neanderthalensis and dating to the Middle Paleolithic, the middle part of the Old Stone Age.-Naming:...
stone tool assemblage – produced by either Neanderthals or anatomically modern humans
Anatomically modern humans
The term anatomically modern humans in paleoanthropology refers to early individuals of Homo sapiens with an appearance consistent with the range of phenotypes in modern humans....
– was recently excavated in Arbil
Arbil
Arbil / Hewlêr is the fourth largest city in Iraq after Baghdad, Basra and Mosul...
. Neanderthals also occupied the site of Shanidar. This cave-site, located in the Sapna Valley, has yielded a settlement sequence stretching from the Middle Palaeolithic up to the Epipalaeolithic
Epipaleolithic
The Epipaleolithic Age was a period in the development of human technology marked by more advanced stone blades and other tools than the earlier Paleolithic age, although still before the development of agriculture in the Neolithic age...
period. The site is particularly well-known for its Neanderthal burials. The Epipalaeolithic occupation of Shanidar, contemporary with the use of the Kebaran
Kebaran
The Kebaran or Kebarian culture was an archaeological culture in the eastern Mediterranean area , named after its type site, Kebara Cave south of Haifa...
stone tool assemblage, is the oldest evidence for anatomically modern human occupation of the Great Zab basin. The following Protoneolithic, or Natufian
Natufian culture
The Natufian culture was a Mesolithic culture that existed from 12,500 to 9,500 BC in the Levant, a region in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was unusual in that it was sedentary, or semi-sedentary, before the introduction of agriculture...
, occupation is contemporary with the oldest occupation of the nearby open-air site Zawi Chemi Shanidar. M'lefaat on the Khazir River (a tributary to the Great Zab) was a small village of hunter-gatherer
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
s dating to the 10th millennium BCE that was contemporary with the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A denotes the first stage in early Levantine Neolithic culture, dating around 9500 to 8500 BC. Archaeological remains are located in the Levantine and upper Mesopotamian region of the Fertile Crescent...
in the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
. An archaeological survey of the Citadel of Arbil
Citadel of Arbil
The Citadel of Arbil is a tell or occupied mound, and the historical city centre of Arbil in Iraq. It has been claimed that the site is the oldest continuously inhabited town in the world....
, in the plain south of the lower course of the Great Zab, has shown that this site was continuously occupied at least from the 6th millennium BCE upward.
The earliest historical reference to the region dates to the Ur III dynasty
Third Dynasty of Ur
The Third Dynasty of Ur, also known as the Neo-Sumerian Empire or the Ur III Empire refers simultaneously to a 21st to 20th century BC Sumerian ruling dynasty based in the city of Ur and a short-lived territorial-political state that some historians regard as a nascent empire...
, when king Shulgi
Shulgi
Shulgi of Urim was the second king of the "Sumerian Renaissance". He reigned for 48 years, dated to 2029 BCE–1982 BCE...
mentioned the city of Urbilum – the ancient name of modern-day Arbil. The great Assyria
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
n capitals of Assur
Assur
Assur , was one of the capitals of ancient Assyria. The remains of the city are situated on the western bank of river Tigris, north of the confluence with the tributary Little Zab river, in modern day Iraq, more precisely in the Al-Shirqat District .Assur is also...
, Nineveh
Nineveh
Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
, Nimrud and Dur-Sharrukin
Dur-Sharrukin
Dur-Sharrukin , present day Khorsabad, was the Assyrian capital in the time of Sargon II of Assyria. Khorsabad is a village in northern Iraq, 15 km northeast of Mosul, which is still today inhabited by Assyrians. The great city was entirely built in the decade preceding 706 BCE...
were all located in the foothill zone where the Great Zab flows into the Tigris, and the Great Zab basin became increasingly integrated into the Middle Assyrian and Neo-Assyrian empires. Nimrud, the capital of the empire until 706 BCE, was located only 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) away from the confluence of the Great Zab with the Tigris. The Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II constructed a canal called Patti-Hegalli that tapped water from the Great Zab to irrigate the land around Nimrud, and this canal was restored by his successors Tiglath-Pileser III
Tiglath-Pileser III
Tiglath-Pileser III was a prominent king of Assyria in the eighth century BC and is widely regarded as the founder of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Tiglath-Pileser III seized the Assyrian throne during a civil war and killed the royal family...
and Esarhaddon
Esarhaddon
Esarhaddon , was a king of Assyria who reigned 681 – 669 BC. He was the youngest son of Sennacherib and the Aramean queen Naqi'a , Sennacherib's second wife....
. This canal ran along the right bank of the Great Zab and cut through a rock bluff by means of a tunnel and is still visible today. After the fall of the Neo-Assyrian empire, the Medes
Medes
The MedesThe Medes...
gained control of the area, followed by the Achaemenids
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
in 550 BCE. The Battle of Gaugamela
Battle of Gaugamela
The Battle of Gaugamela took place in 331 BC between Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia. The battle, which is also called the Battle of Arbela, resulted in a massive victory for the ancient Macedonians and led to the fall of the Achaemenid Empire.-Location:Darius chose a flat, open plain...
in 331 BCE – one of the decisive battles leading to the fall of the Achaemenid empire at the hands of Alexander the Great – supposedly took place north of the Great Zab in the vicinity of Mosul. After Alexander’s death in 323 BCE, control of the area shifted to the Seleucids
Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...
.
In 750 CE, the last Umayyad caliph Marwan II
Marwan II
Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan or Marwan II was an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 744 until 750 when he was killed. He was the last Umayyad ruler to rule from Damascus.In A.H. 114 Caliph Hisham appointed Marwan governor of Armenia and Azerbaijan. In A.H...
was defeated by the Abbasid As-Saffah
As-Saffah
Abu al-`Abbās `Abdu'llāh ibn Muhammad as-Saffāh, or Abul `Abbas al-Saffah , was the first Abbasid caliph .As-Saffah was the head of one branch of the Banu Hashim, who traced their lineage to Hashim, a great-grandfather of...
in the Battle of the Zab on the banks of the Khazir River, a tributary to the Great Zab. When the Mongols swept over Iraq in the 13th century and sacked Arbil, many survivors sought a refuge in the inaccessible valleys of the Great Zab. The Sapna Valley was home to both Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
and Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
communities, as evidenced by Christian artefacts
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
found at Zawi Chemi Shanidar. During the 19th century, the area was controlled by local Kurdish leaders. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, heavy fighting took place in the area, and Rowanduz
Rowanduz
The town Rawandiz is a city of Iraq, which located in the sub-district of Soran, in the Arbil Governorate of Iraqi Kurdistan, close to the Iranian border.The population in 2003 was 95,089...
was pillaged by Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n soldiers in 1916. Following World War I, episodes of heavy fighting took place between the Barzani tribe
Barzani Kurds
The Barzani tribe is one of the most prominent Kurdish tribes in Kurdistan.The origin of the word Barzani is connected by scholars to the ancient Hurrian god Barzani. The sheikhs of Barzan are descendants of Imadia princes. Their grandfather, Massoud, moved to the village of Nafneka, near Barzan,...
– striving for the establishment of an independent Kurdish polity – and several other Kurdish tribes, and between the Barzanis and the Iraqi Government. The last of these uprisings started in 1974 and led to heavy bombardments of towns and villages in the Great Zab basin.