## 6 Conclusions  
Remote sensing archeology of the Middle East is currently experiencing a certain divide in standard methodological procedures due to the release of images generated by the KH-9 Hexagon system in digital form. Images of the KH-9 Hexagon system with a resolution of up to 0.5 m can be used for comparison with datasets reflecting the current  
Figure 11: Photograph from field research capturing the dismantling of older buildings in the inner part of the city to obtain a key building material: timber (author: [PERSON]). state of the land, and their prospecting is not limited to the detection of anthropogenic relics, but can assist above all with the detailed mapping of individual features on the ground. This reality, together with the fact that the newly available historical satellite images open up the possibility of obtaining further data for a multi-temporal approach, offers new opportunities for research in urban landscape archeology--especially in areas of highly endangered or already destroyed cultural and historical heritage. The speed of documentation plays an important role in such topics. Archaeological research through remote sensing data allows effective and detailed analysis of large areas and can thus be used to assess the degree of threat and conservation status. The case study of the Qazbagi village is direct evidence of this. The long-term stable village unit was deployed in the range of five years (2014 to 2019), and it is likely that the built environment of the original village will disappear in the near future. The question is whether in the next five years we will be able to detect in the landscape the original location of the village during such rapid transformation processes. It will probably only be possible to capture components that belong to the suburbs, but the built environment itself will disappear. At present, traditional nucleated villages in Iraqi Kurdistan are becoming a critically endangered type of monument environment, and it is therefore necessary to include them in archaeological projects and research on landscape of Iraqi Kurdistan. The study of modern village settlements offers a unique opportunity to expand the interpretive basis for research of the landscape development of northern Iraq. Archaeological projects based on landscape data collection and analysis in this region usually end in the medieval and early modern periods and focus only to a minimal extent on the areas of living or recently extinct villages. Continuity of settlement in close connection with natural conditions and communication systems presupposes a stability of settlement for long periods. Research on villages of the 20 th century--specifically before 1988--offers the possibility of retrogressive analysis, i.e., controlled projection of knowledge back into the past. The retrogressive remote sensing analysis provides further indications that the al-Anfal operation artificially disrupted the natural development of the village settlement and changed its structure, both in terms of its landscape and its demographics. To follow the direct evidence of this critical period of the 1980s in terms of landscape archeology; however, we would need to supplement the source base with remote sensing data reflecting the period just before and after the individual operations. Unfortunately, such data are not yet available. In addition to the remote sensing data, direct evidence provided by anthropological research (oral history) and an analysis of textual reports about al-Anfal also need to play a substantial role. The second milestone in the development of the village settlement structure is the social transformation of the Kurdish countryside in recent years due to the abandonment of traditional pastoral lifestyles and the search for new jobs that require a different form of homesetad and better access to larger cities (i.e., connections to major roads).