Kuwaiti and Polish archaeologists have announced the discovery of more than 20 kilns dating back around 7,700 years, alongside a collection of artefacts at the Bahra 1 site in the Subiya area of northern Kuwait near the current border with Iraq.
The area now known as Kuwait and Iraq was home to the Ubaid culture, a prehistoric Mesopotamian civilisation that extended from southern Iraq into parts of eastern Arabia. Not much is known about the ancient civilisations in the Kuwait research area, and with the joint research project with Poland, the programme is discovering new and interesting finds.
Finds include a half‑model of a winged owl, remains of local barley dating back 7,500 years, pottery vessels broken during firing, a small clay human head, miniature figurines, a model ship and pottery used for food preparation.
Mohammed bin Redha, Acting Assistant Secretary‑General for Antiquities and Museums, told KUNA that “the Bahra 1 site is the oldest and largest known settlement in the Arabian Peninsula from the Ubaid culture period, dating back to around 5700 BC. The discoveries reflect the life of the local community thousands of years ago.”
He explained that the latest Polish excavation season focused on field and laboratory analyses, including ground‑penetrating radar surveys that revealed buried cultural remains likely to guide future digs.
Hassan Ashkanani, Assistant Professor of Archaeology at Kuwait University, said the new discoveries mark a significant addition to understanding the development of the community in Al‑Sabiyah, building on earlier seasons that uncovered jewellery and shell ornament workshops.
Agnieszka Bienkowska, Deputy Director of the Polish excavation team, noted that the findings shed light on daily practices, food preparation methods, the production of pottery from clay mixed with wild plants, and the use of bitumen as fuel.
Professor Anna Smogorzewska highlighted the pottery workshop as one of the most important discoveries at the site in recent years.
Bahra 1 has been a focal point of archaeological research since 2009, through collaboration between Kuwait’s National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters and the Polish Centre for Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Warsaw. The current mission is supervised by Professor Piotr Bielinski, with Bienkowska serving as deputy director.
As part of the showcasing of the discovered items on November 16, the Embassy of Poland in Kuwait, in collaboration with the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Warsaw (PCMA UW), organised a special exhibition highlighting decades of Polish archaeological research in Kuwait.
Earlier in April, bne IntelliNews previously reported neighbouring Iraq had announced it secured three rare ancient artefacts from New York as part of a deal with the US.
The Iraqi embassy in Washington noted that the items date back to the Sumerian and Babylonian civilisations and described the move as “a new achievement that reflects the tireless diplomatic efforts to safeguard Iraq’s cultural legacy.”
The recovery was coordinated with the Antiquities Trafficking Unit in the Office of the New York District Attorney. The embassy stressed that this step “demonstrates Iraq's firm commitment to retrieving its looted antiquities and returning them to their homeland.”
That retrieval is the latest in a string of returns reported by the country, with the items recently turning up in February.
"It was a significant challenge to recover these Iraqi artefacts, including the Sun God statue and textile panels dating back centuries," said Hussein. "These archaeological pieces are not mere remains but our cherished heritage."
Since 2008, the United States has returned more than 1,200 pieces to Iraq, whose cultural properties and museums were looted after 2003.
In May 2023, President Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid announced the recovery of 6,000 artefacts on loan to the United Kingdom since 1923 for research purposes.
Unearthing the City of Seven Ravines
The remains of an extensive Bronze Age settlement on the Kazakh Steppe that was likely once a major regional hub for large-scale bronze production more than 3,500 years ago, have been revealed by an international team of archaeologists.
image:
An aerial view of Semiyarka site taken by drone.
view moreCredit: Peter J. Brown
The remains of an extensive Bronze Age settlement on the Kazakh Steppe that was likely once a major regional hub for large-scale bronze production more than 3,500 years ago, have been revealed by an international team of archaeologists co-led by researchers from UCL.
Published in Antiquity Project Gallery and co-led by Durham University and Kazakhstan’s Toraighyrov University, the paper presents the first detailed archaeological survey of Semiyarka—a vast, 140-hectare planned settlement and the largest known ancient site of its kind in the region. Although first identified in the early 2000s by researchers at Toraighyrov University, the site has only now been investigated in depth. Dating from around 1600 BC, Semiyarka offers insight into an important period of history when local nomadic communities began transitioning into permanent, urbanised settlements.
Lead author Dr Miljana Radivojević (UCL Archaeology) said: “This is one of the most remarkable archaeological discoveries in this region for decades. Semiyarka changes the way we think about steppe societies. It shows that mobile communities could build and sustain permanent, organised settlements centred on a likely large-scale industry — a true ’urban hub’ of the steppe.”
Today, what remains of the city are two rows of rectangular earthen mounds about a metre high that were the foundations of enclosed homes with multiple rooms. Nearby, the researchers also found the remains of a larger, central structure twice the size of the homes. Though its exact purpose is unclear, it could have been the site of rituals, a common communal space or may have been the home of a powerful family.
The scale and permanence of the settlement is surprising, as researchers had understood the people that lived in the region at the time to be semi-nomadic, living in mobile camps or small villages.
Co-author Professor Dan Lawrence of Durham University said: “The scale and structure of Semiyarka are unlike anything else we’ve seen in the steppe zone. The rectilinear compounds and the potentially monumental building show that Bronze Age communities here were developing sophisticated, planned settlements similar to those of their contemporaries in more traditionally ‘urban’ parts of the ancient world.”
Semiyarka was likely a major centre for tin bronze production in the region – a rare discovery in the Eurasian Steppe. On the southeast end of the city, researchers unearthed evidence of an ‘industrial zone’ dedicated to tin bronze metallurgical production, the main bronze alloy that defined the Bronze Age. Excavations and geophysical surveys revealed crucibles, slag, and tin bronze artefacts, providing the first firm evidence that Semiyarka metallurgists operated complex production systems rather than small-scale workshops.
Currently, little is known little about tin bronze production in the Eurasian Steppe Bronze Age, despite hundreds of thousands of tin bronze artefacts preserved in museum collections. Only one other settlement in eastern Kazakhstan, a Late Bronze Age mining site of Askaraly, has been linked to tin bronze production. Semiyarka shows an entire settlement zone dedicated to tin bronze making —suggesting a highly organised, possibly limited or controlled, industry of this sought-after alloy. The researchers hope that the site can offer more insights into the region’s poorly understood ancient production practices.
The city is located on a promontory above the Irtysh River in northeastern Kazakhstan and was first discovered in the early 2000s. Its name means “Seven Ravines,” taken from the network of valleys it overlooks. Its strategic location suggests that Semiyarka was once both a centre of exchange and a regional power. It’s also situated in the vicinity of copper and tin deposits in the nearby Altai Mountains which supplied the raw materials for its bronze manufacturing.
Co-author Dr Viktor Merz of Toraighyrov University in Kazakhstan, who first discovered the site, said: “I have been surveying Semiyarka for many years with the support of Kazakh national research funding, but this collaboration has truly elevated our understanding of the site. Working with colleagues from UCL and Durham has brought new methods and perspectives, and I look forward to what the next phase of excavation will reveal now that we can draw on their specialist expertise in archaeometallurgy and landscape archaeology.”
Excavated finished metallic artifacts and pottery shards indicate that the Alekseevka-Sargary people predominantly inhabited the site, a group that were some of the first to construct permanent dwellings in settlements in the region. Other items are reminiscent of the Cherkaskul people, another group that lived throughout the region but were thought to be more nomadic, indicating the inhabitants of Semiyarka likely traded with these and other local peoples.
The researchers hope in the future to examine how Semiyarka’s communities organised production and trade with their neighbours, as well as the environmental impact of these activities. In addition, the team also identified several nearby burial sites and temporary settlements from the same timeframe which could provide additional insight into the region’s ancient culture.
The research was funded by the British Academy, Kazakh Ministry for Science and Higher Education and the ERC awarded/UKRI-funded DREAM Project.
Notes to Editors
For more information or to speak to the researchers involved, please contact Michael Lucibella, UCL Media Relations. T: +44 (0)75 3941 0389, E: m.lucibella@ucl.ac.uk
Miljana Radivojević, Dan Lawrence, Victor K. Mertz, Ilya V. Mertz, Elena Demidkova, Mark Woolston-Houshold, Richie Villis and Peter J. Brown, ‘A Major City of the Kazakh Steppe? Investigating Semiyarka’s Bronze Age Legacy’ will be published in Antiquity Project Gallery on Tuesday 18 November 2025, 00:01 UK Time, 17 November 2025, 19:01 US Eastern Time, and is under a strict embargo until this time.
The DOI for this paper will be https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2025.10244.
Additional material
Images and a copy of the final paper is available at the following link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1I5NCcXPxJbAW6pam5qM44ClXPu8coT1z?usp=sharing
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Article Title
A Major City of the Kazakh Steppe? Investigating Semiyarka’s Bronze Age Legacy
Article Publication Date
18-Nov-2025
A bronze axe discovered at the Semiyarka site.
A bronze object discovered at the Semiyarka site.
A crucible used for refining and producing bronze discoverd at the Semiyarka site.
Credit
VK Merz & IK Merz
Researchers Dan Lawrence, Miljana Radivojevic and Ilya Merz (L to R) in the field vehicle on the site
Researchers Miljana Radivojevi, Ilya Merz, Dan Lawrence, and Richie Villis discussing results.
Credit
Peter J. Brown
