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3w ago

Radiocarbon Study Links Zanj Slave Labor to Southern Iraq’s Ancient Agricultural Network

Published in Antiquity, the study reveals construction dates from the late ninth to mid-thirteenth century, shedding new light on Iraq’s landscape heritage.

An aerial photo shows an archaeological site where researchers uncovered massive earthen structures, believed to have been built with slave labor, and found that their construction spanned several centuries, near Basra, Iraq, Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Jaafar Jotheri)
An aerial photo shows archaeologists working at an archaeological site where researchers uncovered massive earthen structures, believed to have been built with slave labor, and found that their construction spanned several centuries, near Basra, Iraq, Friday, Jan. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Jaafar Jotheri)
Archaeologists work at an archaeological site where researchers uncovered massive earthen structures, believed to have been built with slave labor, and found that their construction spanned several centuries, near Basra, Iraq, Friday, Jan. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Jaafar Jotheri)
An aerial photo shows archaeologists working at an archaeological site where researchers uncovered massive earthen structures, believed to have been built with slave labor, and found that their construction spanned several centuries, near Basra, Iraq, Friday, Jan. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Jaafar Jotheri)

Overview

  • Researchers used radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating on samples from four ridge crests across the Shaṭṭ al-Arab floodplain to determine their ages.
  • Results place the network’s construction beginning around the 869–883 A.D. Zanj rebellion and continuing until the mid-thirteenth century, indicating extended use of enslaved labor.
  • The enslaved workers, known as the Zanj, were captives from the East African Swahili coast and many of their descendants now live in modern-day Basra.
  • Analysis of more than 7,000 manmade ridges and canals underscores the large-scale investment of human labor in southern Iraq’s irrigation system.
  • The study’s authors call for protecting these earthen structures as minority heritage sites to support ongoing research during Iraq’s archaeological resurgence.