Cinzia Pappi is an Assyriologist and archaeologist specializing in the cultures of ancient Mesopotamia. She obtained her PhD from the University of Udine and has held research and teaching positions at several international institutions, including the University of Leipzig, Brown University, the University of Innsbruck, and Freie Universität Berlin. She is currently a research associate at the Einstein Center Chronoi. Her research focuses on religious topography, political structures, and material culture in the ancient Near East. She has led archaeological excavations in Iraqi Kurdistan for several years (Satu Qala, Qala Shila, Archaeological Survey of Koya Project) and has published extensively on topics such as urbanism, ritual spaces, and political geography.

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Since November 2021: Research Associate at the Einstein center Chronoi of the Frei Universität Berlin

2020: Postdoc Fellow at the School of Advanced Studies, DFG-Kollegforschergruppe 2615 “Re-thinking Oriental Despotism.”

2018-2020: White-Levy Fellow (Freie Universität Berlin) Title of the Project “Archaeological Excavations at Satu Qala, the Ancient Idu, Fieldwork 2010-2013.

2015-2018: Visiting Ass. Professor at the Institute for Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the Leopold-Franzens University Innsbruck.

2008 - 2015: Lecturer (Wissenschaftliche Assistentin) at the Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, University of Leipzig (Germany).

2012-2013: Postdoc Visiting Professor at the Department for Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies, Brown University (U.S.A).

2007-2008: Research Assistant at the project "Sources for Early Akkadian Literature" at the Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, University of Leipzig (Germany).

Cinzia Pappi teaches courses on various aspects of Ancient Near Eastern archaeology and history, with a particular focus on Mesopotamia. Her teaching covers material culture, political and religious structures, as well as archaeological fieldwork methods. She emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach and the practical application of research findings, integrating current excavation projects and epigraphic studies into her courses.

2024-2025: Co-director of the Chronoi Exploration Project “The Multiple Lives of Hammurabi” with Nicola Laneri.

2023-2024: Co-director of the Chronoi Exploration Project “Synchronwelten: Synchronizations and Synchronicities as Historical and Archaeological Practice” with Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum.

2018-2020: Shelby White and Leon Levy Publication Grant “Archaeological Excavations at Satu Qala, the Ancient Idu, Fieldwork 2010-2013”.

2017 – present: Project director of the archaeological excavations at Qala Shila (Iraqi Kurdistan).

2016-2017: Project coordinator of the pilot project “Digital Stories from the Past”.

2015 – present: Project director of the Archaeological Survey of Koi-Sanjaq (ASK) Project.

2012-2014: Project director of the archaeological excavations at Satu Qala (Iraqi Kurdistan).

2010-2012: Co-director of the archaeological excavations at Satu Qala (Iraqi Kurdistan) with Wilfred Van Soldt.

Selected Publications

Books

The Religious Landscape of Mari in the Middle Bronze Age (in Preparation)

Discovering Idu: Excavations at Satu Qala 2010-2013. (in Preparation)

Gli itinerari di culto nell’etá di Mari. PhD Dissertation. University of Udine 2007.

Cuneiform Texts of the Iraq Museum. A Preliminary Catalogue. Neo-Assyrian Texts from Nimrud. Part I. (Materiali per il Vocabolario Sumerico 14), Roma 2004.

Edited Books

G. B. Lanfranchi, D. Morandi Bonacossi, C. Pappi, S. Ponchia, Leggo! Sudies presented to Prof. Frederick Mario Fales on the Occasion of his 65^th Birthday (Leipziger Altorientalistische Studien 2), Harrassowitz 2012.

R. Rollinger, I. Madreiter, M. Lang, C. Pappi, The Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near East Proceedings of the 64th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale and the 12th Melammu Symposium, University of Innsbruck, July 16‒20, 2018. Melammu Symposia 12. ÖAW. 2023.

Articles in Journals and Book Chapters

“Come, Tell Me Where You Live! Perceptions of Local Antiquity and Cultural Awareness in the Region of Koya” in Nathalie Kallas, Bridging the Gap: Disciplines, Times, and Spaces in Dialogue – Volume 2, Archaeopress (2025).

With C. Coppini, The Plain of Koi Sanjaq/Koya (Erbil, Iraq) in the 3rd Millennium BCE. History, Chronologies, Settlements, and Ceramics in Barbara Couturaud (Ed.), Early Bronze Age in Iraqi Kurdistan, BAH 226, Ifpo Press (2024), 71-84

“Portrait of an ancient borderland: Settlement patterns and mobility in the region of Koi Sanjaq/Koya (Erbil, Iraq)”, in L. d’Alfonso, I. Calini, R. Hawley, M.G. Masetti-Rouault (Eds) Between the Age of Diplomacy and the First Great Empire in Ancient West Asia (1200-900 BC): Moving Beyond the Paradigm of Collapse and Regeneration, ISAW. (2024) 301-324.

“Between Assyria and Adiabene: Cultural Transitions in the Valley of the Lower Zab”, in C. Coppin, R. Palermo, R. Pappalardo, R. Pierobon (Eds.), “Dark Ages”? Identifying Markers of Transition in Mesopotamia and the Near East on a Diachronic Scale, Workshop ICAANE 2018, Studia Chaburiensia, Harrassowitz (2022).

“Archäologische Beobachtungen II: C. Pappi, Archaeological Investigations in the Transtigrine Region: Satu Qalā and its Hinterland” in Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum & Christian Hess (unter Mitarbeit von Jaume Llop, Kristina Cassar; mit Beiträgen von Rafał Koliński & Cinzia Pappi), Toponyme der mittelassyrischen Texte : Osten und Peripherie des mittelassyrischen Reiches. Sepoa (2022)

With K. Pavelka und K.Pavelka jr., “Modern Possibilities of Documentation and replication of Archaeological Finds in The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences". XLVI-M-1-2021, 531-538.

“745–737 v. Chr.: Godnapping – Bildpropaganda im Neuassyrischen Reich, Beute. Ein Bildatlas zu Kunstraub und Kulturerbe” in Bénédicte Savoy, Merten Lagatz, Philippa Sissis (Ed). Berlin (2021) 82-85.

With O. Maeda, “Bladelet production by pressure-flaking at the Proto-Neolithic site of Satu Qala” in L. Astruc, C. McCartney, F. Briois and V. KassianidouIraqi-Kurdistan, (Eds) Near Eastern Lithic Technologies on the Move (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 40), Nicosia: Astrom Editions (2019) 249-256.

"The Land of Idu: City, Province, or Kingdom ?" State Archives of Assyria Bulletin 24 (2018) 97-123

“Satu Qala: Stratigraphy and Material Culture of the Assyrian and Post-Assyrian Phases” in K. Kopanias and John MacGinnis (Eds), The Archaeology of the Kurdistan Region ofIraq and Adjacent Regions, Oxford: Archaeopress 2016, 297-307.

With W. H. Van Soldt, K. Ahmad, C.W. Hess, A. Wossink, "Tell Satu Qala: A Preliminary Report of the Seasons 2010-2011”, Anatolica 39 (2013), 197- 239.

“Assyrians at the Lower Zab”, in G.B. Lanfranchi, D. Morandi Bonacossi, C. Pappi, S. Ponchia (Eds), Leggo! Sudies presented to Prof. Frederick Mario Fales on the Occasion of his 65^th Birthday (Leipziger Aoltorientalistische Studien 2) Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2012, 577-591.

“Religion and Politics at the Divine Table: the Cultic Travels of Zimrī-Līm”, in G. Wilhelm (Ed.) Proceedings of the 54^th Réncontre Assyriologique Internationale, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns 2012.

“The Religious Landscape of Qatna during the Mari Period”, D. Morandi Bonacossi (Hg.), Qatna I: Urban and Natural Landscapes of an Ancient Syrian Capital Settlement and Enviroment at Tell Mishrifeh/Qatna and in Central-Western Syria (SAQ 1), Udine: Forum 2008, 319-328.

“The Jebel Bishri in the Physical and Cultural Landscape of the Ancient Near East”, KASKAL 3 (2006), 241-256.

Entries for Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie (RlA), M.P. Streck u.a. (Ed.), Berlin: De Gruyter:

Zab RlA 15 3-4 (2017) 161-164

Waschung A RlA 15 1-2 (2016) 1-3

Tuttul. Philologisch RlA XIV/1-4 (2014) 233-236

Thron. RlA XIII/7-8 (2013) 633-635

Taškimama RlA XIII/5-6 (2012)

Sillī-Sîn von Ešnunna RlA XII/7/8 (2011) 498

Sphinx RlA XII/7-8 (2011) 643-645

Spiegel RlA XII/7-8 (2011) 645-646

Seife(npflanze), RlA XII/5-6 (2010) 353-354

Šennam von Uršum, RlA XII/5-6 (2010) 391

Šepraru , RlA XII/5-6 (2010) 39

Salbe, Salbengefäß, RlA XI/7-8 (2008) 572-574

Entries for Encyclopedia of Ancient History, R. Bagnall, K. Brodersen, C. Champion, A. Erskine, S. Huebner (eds), London/New York: Wiley-Blackwell 2012:

Ninurta.

Shamash (Utu)

Sin (Nanna)