A team of German and Kurdish archaeologists has discovered a 3,400-year-old city from the Mittani Empire, once
Iraq is one of the countries in the world with the mostaffected by climate change. The south of the country in particular has been suffering from severe drought for months. To prevent crops from drying out, since December large amounts of water have been withdrawn from the Mosul Reservoir, Iraq's most important water storage facility. This has led to the revival of a Bronze Age city that was flooded decades ago without any prior archaeological research. It is located in Kemun, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
Excavated large buildings from the Mittani period are measured and archaeologically documented.
Credit: University of Tübingen
Within a few days a group was assembled toemergency excavations. Funding for the work was obtained promptly from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation through the University of Freiburg. The German-Kurdish archaeological team was under strict time constraints because it was unclear when the water in the reservoir would rise again.
As a result, archaeologists excavated large buildingsMittani period, measured them and documented them. In a short time, experts managed to draw up a map of the city. In addition to the palace, which had already been documented during a short research campaign in 2018, several other large buildings were discovered - a massive fortification with a wall and towers, a monumental multi-story warehouse building and an industrial complex. All buildings date back to the time of the Mittani Empire, which controlled most of northern Mesopotamia and Syria.
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