Archaeologists revealed Monday that the ruins of a lost city from 3400 years ago, complete with a palace.
Researchers raced to find the Bronze Age settlement that was long submerged by the Tigris River earlier this year at the Mosul Dam. This discovery is the latest example of how drought conditions caused by climate change are producing unexpected discoveries: Last month in Nevada, falling levels of Lake Mead revealed a pair decades-old skeletal remains.
A team of Kurdish and German archaeologists documented the ancient city in Iraq, which is located in the Kurdistan Region at a location called Kemune. Ivana Puljiz is a junior professor of Near Eastern archaeology from the University of Freiburg, Germany, and was a member of the research group.
Puljiz stated that the city was situated directly on the Tigris and may have been an important link between the core region of Mittani Empire (which was in northeastern Syria) and the empire’s eastern perimeter.
The fortified outpost’s surviving ruins include towers, a massive palace, and many other large buildings. Archaeologists believe the settlement to be the ancient city Zakhiku, which was once a bustling political center in the region.
Researchers found that the walls of fortification, which can reach several meters high in certain places, are remarkable well-preserved despite being made from sun-dried mud bricks. Archaeologists believe that the Bronze Age city was destroyed by an earthquake that occurred in the region around 1350 B.C. They believe that the natural disaster caused the walls’ upper sections to burrow most of the buildings that survived, which kept them relatively intact for many millennia.
Five ceramic vessels found at Kemune contained over 100 tablets inscribed in cuneiform script. Archaeologists believe the artifacts may be ancient correspondence. They were discovered in the Middle Assyrian period shortly after the devastating earthquake.
Peter Pfalzner (director of the Department of Near Eastern Archaeology, University of Tubingen, Germany) said that it was almost a miracle that unfired clay cuneiform tablets survived for so many decades in water. He is also a member of the research group.
After water levels at the Mosul Dam had been reduced in December, the archaeological site was discovered. This was done to stop crops drying out. Low rainfall and drought have plagued the region, which has seen it become more vulnerable to climate change.
The archaeologists raced to excavate and map as much of the ancient city as possible during January and February.
Puljiz stated that “we were under a lot pressure because it was not clear how much time we would get and when the water would rise back again.” We owe our great success to a highly motivated and dedicated team who worked nearly non-stop for several weeks in all types of weather, including snow, rain and hail, as well as fog, hail, hail, and storms.
Puljiz stated that scientists knew about the ancient city since the 1980s, but it has been constantly under water ever since the construction of the Mosul Dam in the 1980s.
Puljiz’s team was able to excavate a portion of the palace after the area experienced a brief drought. She said that it was during this field work that she realized the structure was part a larger city at Kemune.
She said that it wasn’t until mid-December 2021 when the water level in the Mosul reservoir suddenly dropped for the first times in three years. “My colleagues, and I immediately knew that there was no time to lose.”
Archaeologists applied a plastic coating to the ruins and covered them with gravel. This will preserve the unbaked clay walls.
Puljiz stated that the water levels at the dam have been steadily rising since February and that the city is now fully submerged.