The ancient city was submerged under water after Iraq built the Mosul Dam in the 1980s.
According to CNN, a 3,400-year-old city has emerged after the water level of the Mosul reservoir near the Tigris river, in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, dropped rapidly due to severe drought conditions.
This ancient city has been identified as the city of Zakhiku – one of the centers of the reigning Mittani Empire (1550 -1350 BC), Bronze Age.
As the water level gradually decreased, the buildings and ruins of the ancient city began to appear. These include a huge fortress, a multi-storey storage building and an industrial complex, all of which date back 3,400 years to the time of the Mittani Empire.
A team of German and Kurdish archaeologists first excavated the Mittani Empire-era city during a drought in 2018. However, they have yet to get the full results. was submerged under water.
So this latest unforeseen dry spell has put them under pressure to excavate and document the Bronze Age city as quickly as possible, before the water rises again.
This is a partnership project with the Directorate of Antiquities and Heritage in Duhok to preserve the cultural heritage of the area for future generations.
According to Ms. Ivana Puljiz, professor of Near Eastern archaeology at the University of Freiburg in Breisgau (Germany), and one of the project leaders, the territory of the kingdom of Mittani stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to the region. Northern Iraq.
The Forgotten Old City
Zakhiku was submerged underwater after Iraq built the Mosul Dam in the 1980s, and since then, the ancient city has been continuously hidden from sunlight.
After Ivana Puljiz heard that the city had “re-emerged”, her team rushed to excavate the area because they did not know when the water level would rise again. During January and February at the beginning of this year, they worked tirelessly in the hope of many new discoveries.
“Due to great time pressure, we work hard in extreme weather conditions, freezing, snow, sleet, rain, even storm, as well as occasional sunny days, don’t know when the water will rise again and how much time will we have,” said Ivana Puljiz.
Excavations in 2018 resulted in reports of a palace. And in the latest excavation, many new structures have been found. Other discoveries include a fortification complete with towers and walls, and a multi-story building used for storage.
Most of the structures are made of sun-dried mud bricks, the researchers say, which usually won’t hold well under water.
However, Zakhiku suffered an earthquake around 1350 BC, and parts of the upper walls collapsed and covered the buildings.
Like a miracle
Ms. Ivana Puljiz said little is known about the ancient Mittani people who built this city. The main reason is that researchers have not identified the capital of the empire or discovered their archives. However, certain artifacts found during the latest excavation can help provide insight.
Archaeologists found five ceramic pots containing more than 100 cuneiform clay blocks, dating back to shortly after the earthquake event. They are believed to date from the Middle Assyrian period, which lasted from 1350 to 1100 BC. They may shed light on the fall of the city as well as the rise of the Assyrian regime in the region.
Peter Pfälzner, professor of near-eastern archeology at the University of Tübingen and one of the leaders of the excavation, said: “It is similar to a miracle that wedge-shaped structures made of clay are not fusing can last for decades underwater”.
“I’m very curious to see what the study of cuneiform clay inscriptions will reveal about the fate of the city and its inhabitants after the devastating earthquake,” she said.
All excavated artifacts are kept in the Duhok National Museum.
Before the city once again disappeared under water, the researchers covered the ruins with canvas and fixed them with rocks and gravel. Puljiz hopes these measures will protect the ancient site from water erosion and prevent it from disappearing altogether.
