The Zagros Expansion: Unearthing Uruk-Era Urbanism at Kani Shaie

In the autumn of 2025, amidst the amber-hued valleys of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, a team of archaeologists from the University of Coimbra and the University of Cambridge stood before a revelation that would rewrite the history of the Zagros Mountains. For decades, the narrative of the "Uruk Expansion"—the world’s first colonial network—had been dominated by the massive southern Mesopotamian settlements that sprawled outward in search of copper, timber, and stone. The mountains were often seen merely as a barrier or a resource zone to be exploited. But at the small, unassuming site of Kani Shaie, the spade has overturned this view.

The discovery of a monumental administrative complex, replete with the iconic clay wall cones of Uruk architecture and the glimmer of gold, suggests that Kani Shaie was not just a backwater outpost. It was a thriving node in a sophisticated trans-Zagros network—a place where the first urban revolution of humanity didn't just arrive; it was absorbed, adapted, and made local.

I. The First Metropolis and its Shadow

To understand the significance of Kani Shaie, we must first look south to the alluvial plains of southern Iraq, circa 3500 BCE. Here, at the city of Uruk (modern Warka), human society was undergoing a fundamental transformation. For the first time in history, people were gathering in cities of tens of thousands. They were inventing bureaucracy, mass-producing pottery, and developing the cylinder seal to track goods. This was the birth of the state.

But the southern alluvium, for all its agricultural richness, was resource-poor. It lacked the metal for tools, the stone for temples, and the timber for roofs. To satisfy the voracious appetite of the new urban beast, the Uruk culture expanded. They sent out merchants, colonists, and perhaps soldiers, establishing a vast network of enclaves that stretched from the Euphrates in Syria to the Zagros Mountains in Iran.

For years, the model of this expansion was simple: Center and Periphery. The powerful center (Uruk) dominated the weaker periphery. Sites like Godin Tepe in western Iran, with its famous "Oval Compound"—a fortified enclave where Uruk merchants seemingly lived apart from the local villagers—reinforced this colonial view.

However, the Zagros Mountains are rugged, complex, and ancient. The people living there were not blank slates waiting for civilization. They were highlanders with their own traditions, controlling the treacherous passes that connected the Mesopotamian lowlands to the Iranian Plateau. Kani Shaie, located in the Bazian Valley on the road between modern Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah, sat squarely on one of these vital arteries.

II. Kani Shaie: The Green Oasis

The site of Kani Shaie is deceptive. Covering just over two hectares and rising fifteen meters above the plain, it does not scream "imperial capital." But in archaeology, size is not always the measure of significance. The site’s location is strategic genius. The Bazian Valley is a fertile, well-watered basin—a "green oasis" protected by the formidable Bazian mountain range to the east and the Qara Dagh to the south.

Excavations led by Steve Renette, André Tomé, and Maria da Conceição Lopes have revealed that Kani Shaie was occupied almost continuously from 5000 to 2500 BCE. But it is the Late Chalcolithic period (LC 3-5), roughly contemporary with the Uruk expansion, where the site truly comes alive.

Unlike the arid south, where agriculture depended entirely on irrigation, the Bazian Valley allowed for rain-fed farming. The people of Kani Shaie were wealthy in grain. The 2024 and 2025 seasons uncovered massive circular granaries and food distribution complexes, suggesting that the site functioned as a central depot for the valley. This agricultural surplus was likely the currency they used to enter the Uruk trade network.

III. The 2025 Discovery: A Monumental Surprise

The headline finding of the recent 2025 campaign was a building that shouldn't have been there—or at least, not in this form. On the upper mound, the team uncovered a Monumental Building dating to the Late Uruk period (c. 3300–3100 BCE).

The architecture spoke the language of the south. The walls were thick, designed to impress. Most tellingly, the debris was scattered with clay wall cones. These cones, dipped in black, red, or white paint and pushed into wet plaster to create mosaic patterns, are the hallmark of Uruk monumental architecture. They are found on the great temples of Eanna in Uruk itself. To find them here, in a small Zagros center, implies a direct and high-level connection to the southern ideology of power.

Inside this complex, the finds were equally stunning.

The Gold Pendant: A fragment of a gold pendant was recovered, a rare find for this period. Gold does not occur naturally in the alluvium or the immediate limestone hills; it had to come from far to the east, perhaps Afghanistan or central Iran. Its presence at Kani Shaie confirms the site's role as a conduit for high-value luxury goods.
Cylinder Seals: The team found cylinder seals carved with Uruk motifs—scenes of labor, administration, and animals. These were not just jewelry; they were administrative tools used to sign clay documents and lock doors.
The Tablet: Perhaps most significant was the earlier discovery of a clay tablet bearing a seal impression and a numerical sign. This is "proto-writing." It shows that the people of Kani Shaie were not just trading; they were accounting. They were using the specific administrative technology of the Uruk state to manage their warehouse economy.

IV. Glocalization: The Zagros Mosaic

If Kani Shaie was just a colony, we would expect to find purely Uruk pottery and architecture, imported wholesale. But the reality is far more interesting. The concept emerging from the Bazian Valley is "Glocalization"—a blend of global Uruk trends with strong local traditions.

This is best illustrated by the pottery. At the nearby site of Girdi Qala, excavators found a kiln complex producing pottery that was 100% southern Uruk in style. It was as if a potter from Uruk had walked north and set up shop.

But at Kani Shaie, just a short distance away, the story is different. The 2025 analysis shows that while they used Uruk-style "Beveled Rim Bowls" (the disposable styrofoam cup of the 4th millennium), the majority of their pottery was made using local northern techniques. They used chaff temper (vegetable matter) rather than the mineral temper preferred in the south.

This suggests that Kani Shaie was not a colony of foreigners. It was a local power center that chose to adopt Uruk styles. They ate from Uruk bowls, sealed their grain with Uruk seals, and decorated their temples with Uruk cones, but they remained fundamentally Zagros highlanders. They were savvy intermediaries, not passive subjects.

V. The Trade of the Ages

What was moving through Kani Shaie? The "Monumental Building" likely served as a secure warehouse and a cultic center for the trade route.

Copper: Essential for the new tools and weapons of the Bronze Age, copper flowed from the Iranian plateau.
Bitumen: Used for waterproofing boats and adhesive, sourced from the foothills.
Timber: The Zagros were once heavily forested with oak and cedar, vital for the roof beams of treeless Sumer.
Prestige Goods: The gold pendant and carnelian beads hint at the "long road"—the early silk road that brought lapis lazuli from Afghanistan.

The journey was not easy. Ethnographic parallels with the Bakhtiari nomads, who migrate across the Zagros even today, remind us of the brutality of this landscape. Passes are blocked by snow for months. Rivers are treacherous. A site like Kani Shaie would have been a safe harbor—a place to rest, restock, and negotiate safe passage with the local highland chiefs before descending into the Mesopotamian oven.

VI. A Tale of Two Sites: Godin vs. Kani Shaie

The comparison with Godin Tepe is instructive.

Godin Tepe (The Enclave): Here, the Uruk presence was physically walled off. The "Oval Compound" was a fortress within a town, suggesting tension or a need for separation between the foreign merchants and the locals.
Kani Shaie (The Hub): Here, there is no evidence of a separate "foreign quarter." The administrative tools and Uruk architecture are found in the central public buildings. This implies integration. The local elites of the Bazian Valley likely saw the Uruk culture as a prestige marker. By adopting southern ways, they signaled their sophistication and their connection to the wider world.

VII. The Collapse and Rebirth

Around 3100 BCE, the Uruk network collapsed. The reasons are debated—overextension, climate change, or resistance from the highlands. Kani Shaie was not spared. The excavations reveal a massive destruction layer; the Uruk-period buildings were burned.

But the site did not die. Interestingly, the post-Uruk levels (Early Bronze Age) show a leveling of the site and a complete change in culture. The "Ninevite 5" and "Scarlet Ware" painted pottery traditions appear. The administration becomes less bureaucratic, more local. The "global" economy shattered, and the Zagros reverted to a mosaic of regional cultures.

VIII. Conclusion: The Center Was Everywhere

The excavations at Kani Shaie, capped by the spectacular 2025 season, have taught us that the "Zagros Expansion" was not a simple story of Mesopotamian conquest. It was a complex dance of negotiation, emulation, and trade.

The people of Kani Shaie were not merely "unearthing" Uruk urbanism; they were building it themselves. They took the tools of the south—the seal, the bowl, the cone—and used them to manage their own rich valley. They remind us that civilization is rarely just "exported" from a center; it is always re-invented on the periphery.

As the team backfills the trenches at the end of the season, leaving the "Monumental Building" to sleep once more under the earth, Kani Shaie stands as a testament to the sophistication of the ancient highlanders—the gatekeepers of the Zagros who helped birth the Bronze Age.