Socio-Economic Complexity at the Late Chalcolithic Site of Tell Helawa, Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Survey and excavation at Gird/Tell Helawa, a ca. 10-ha site located in the Erbil Plain, revealed an extensive LC 2-3 period (late 5th to mid-4th millennium BC) settlement, with domestic structures and at least one large building destroyed by fire, located on the top of the main mound. Several sealings bearing stamp seal impressions were found in the building, showing the presence of administrative activity at the site. The evidence from Helawa allows investigating the socio-economic organisation of a small-scale Late Chalcolithic community in Northern Mesopotamia in comparison with new evidence from on-going excavations and surveys in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.