The village is built atop an archaeological mound dating to the fifth century BC. The Church of Mar Youḥannan at Dawodiya was constructed in the seventeenth century. The village was devastated in a
Kurdish raid in 1712. The village's population was converted from the
Church of the East to the
Chaldean Catholic Church in the 1830s as a result of the influence of
Dominican missionaries and
Joseph Audo,
metropolitan of
Amedi. A military barracks was built at the village in 1840. By 1850, there were 30-45 Chaldean Catholic families at Dawodiya with no priests or churches as part of the
Diocese of Amadiya. In 1913, the village was inhabited by 300 Chaldean Catholics, who were served by one priest, one church, and one school. After the
Simele massacre in 1933, Dawodiya was inhabited by 275
Assyrians, according to a report by the
League of Nations. It was populated by 524 people in 80 households in 1957. By 1961, there were 150 families in 120 households at Dawodiya. The village, including a school and the Church of Mar Youḥannan, was destroyed in 1987 and its population of 82 families was dispersed. During the
Anfal campaign, the shrine of
Mart Shmuni at Dawodiya was damaged and five adults from the village disappeared from August to September 1988. Fifteen families returned after the
1991 Iraqi uprisings whilst the other families inhabited other parts of Iraq or had joined the
diaspora. In early 2009, there were 153
internally displaced Assyrians in 43 families at Dawodiya. In 2012, 320 Chaldean Catholics and 150 adherents of the
Assyrian Church of the East inhabited Dawodiya. ==References==