After drought, 3,400-year-old city in Iraq resurfaces

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After drought, 3,400-year-old city in Iraq resurfaces

2022-06-03 00:00:00 - From: Iraq News

An ancient city was rediscovered in Iraq by a team of German and Kurdish archaeologists after a drought lowered water levels in the area.

The researchers of the excavation, which took place in January and February, were able to map out most of the 3,400-year-old city located at Kemune in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where they uncovered a palace, a massive fortification with wall and towers, a monumental, multistory storage building, and an industrial complex. The city was dated to the time of the Empire of Mittani, approximately 1550-1350 B.C., which controlled large parts of northern Mesopotamia and Syria, according to a Monday press release from the Eberhard Karl University of Tubingen in Germany.

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Researchers excavated a site at Kemune in Iraq, where they uncovered several massive buildings and fortifications near a lake.

"The huge magazine building is of particular importance because enormous quantities of goods must have been stored in it, probably brought from all over the region," said Dr. Ivana Puljiz, one of the archaeologists in the excavation.

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Excavators discovered five ceramic vessels that contained an archive of over 100 cuneiform tablets, with some of the clay tablets, which might have been letters, in their clay envelopes. The researchers hope the tablets will provide information about the end of the Mittani-period city and the beginning of Assyrian rule in the region.

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The well-preserved state of the city's sun-dried mud-brick walls, protected by an earthquake around 1350 B.C. that caused some of the upper parts of the walls to bury the buildings, "stunned" the research team.

The excavation team, formed by Kurdish archaeologist Dr. Hasan Ahmed Qasim, the chairman of the Kurdistan Archaeology Organization, and German archaeologists Puljiz and Dr. Peter Pfaelzner, had to act quickly to analyze the city before it could be resubmerged.

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The excavated buildings were covered with tight-fitting plastic sheeting and gravel fill to prevent further erosion.