The Erbil Plain Archaeological Survey (EPAS) investigates settlement and land use from the Neolithic to the present in the Erbil Governorate of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which includes a large portion of the core of the Assyrian Empire. In seven field seasons, it has documented a broad settlement landscape in a region of great social and political importance, especially in the Bronze and Iron Ages, including 728 archaeological sites. Its field methodology combines traditional surface collection with the use of historical aerial and satellite photographs, mobile GIS, and UAV (drone) photogrammetry. Preliminary results show some unexpected patterns: a high density of culturally Uruk settlements in the fourth millennium B.C., variable urban morphologies in the Early Bronze Age; and large but low-density settlements at the end of the Sasanian period or the early Islamic period. The project is explicitly testing several hypotheses about centralized Neo-Assyrian landscape planning in the imperial core. These hypotheses appear to be confirmed, although the situation was more complex than in surrounding provinces, probably due to the longer history of continuous settlement.

Digital methods provide archaeologists with ever-increasing opportunities to collect more data about the past in new formats. These larger evidentiary datasets, in turn, help us to address questions about the human past with increasing precision. To take full advantage of these opportunities, archaeologists must develop digital literacy skills and learn how to lead digital projects. Here, we describe seven digitally-based projects we have undertaken at the University of Pennsylvania in order to create new tools for archaeological data collection and sharing, as well as to test collaborative models for the digital humanities programming process. In these projects, archaeology students work directly with engineering students. Through this interface, the students from both areas gain valuable transdisciplinary experience while experimenting with new ways to accomplish programming goals and to collect archaeological data. The learning potential for these students was a key motivation for our initiative. Our projects have already led to several websites and digital applications that are available as open source downloads. We present our impressions of this collaborative process with the goal of encouraging other archaeologists to form similar digital humanities partnerships.

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