Drought in Iraq reveals a 3,400-year-old city | smart news

Archaeologists gained short access to the city during another drought in 2018, but this is the first time they have conducted a comprehensive study of the site. Photo courtesy of the University of Tübingen

Iraq is grappling with its worst drought in decades. Lack of rainfall and poor resource management have left the communities that depend on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers without the water they need to survive. So authorities drained part of the Mosul Dam reservoir in the country’s Kurdistan region last January to prevent crops from drying out.

As it turns out, save resolution more than crop. From that dried-up region, an ancient city emerged—and with only days to examine the area before the waters returned, archaeologists have succeeded in mapping what they believe to be a major city in the Mitanni Empire (also spelled Mitanni Empire) built 3,400 years ago.

People in the area knew the city existed when the dam was built in the 1980s, but the buildings and artifacts that survived the city’s destruction in an earthquake around 1350 B.C. have not been fully investigated, Live Science’s Patrick Bester reports.

Parts of the city first emerged from the depths during a severe drought in 2018, Smithsonian’s Jason Daly reported at the time. During that short period, researchers were able to explore a lost palace with massive walls 22 feet high, about six feet thick, and discovered “remains of frescoes in vibrant shades of red and blue.” However, archaeologists eventually did not have enough time to draw a sufficient map of the city before the waters returned.

So when drought struck again this year, a research team was assembled within days to rush to the site, according to a statement from the University of Tübingen. The researchers secured short-term funding through the University of Freiburg to examine the city as much as possible before it was re-flooded.

The city walls were in amazingly good condition. Photo courtesy of the University of Tübingen

Now, archaeologists have a clearer picture of what this ancient city might have been, thanks to the team’s mapping of several large buildings and the discovery of hundreds of artifacts. Among the buildings found were an industrial complex, a fortress with a wall and towers, and a multi-storey storage building.

“The huge magazine building is of particular importance because huge quantities of goods must be stored in it, probably brought from all over the region,” Ivana Polges, associate professor of archeology from the University of Freiburg, says in the statement.

Hassan Ahmed Qasim, head of the Kurdistan Antiquities Authority and head of the mission, adds that “the results of the excavations show that the site was an important center in the Mitanni Empire.”

The team was impressed by how well many of the walls – sometimes nearly ten feet high – have been preserved despite being made of sun-dried mud and submerged in water for more than 40 years. This is most likely due to the earthquake that devastated the city. It turned the upper parts of the walls into ruins that buried and protected the lower parts of the city for centuries.

They are also surprisingly well preserved: five earthenware vessels containing more than 100 cuneiform tablets, some of which are still in clay envelopes. In the statement, Peter Pfälzner, professor of archeology at the University of Tübingen, describes the survival of the uncoated clay tablets underwater as “close to miraculous.” The team hopes that the tablets, some of which may be letters, will shed more light on what the city looked like and its daily life.

The site is likely the ancient city of Zakhiko, a major center of the Mitanni Empire, which lasted from approximately 1500 to 1350 BC and is one of a number of kingdoms and states founded by the Indo-Iranians in Mesopotamia and Syria, at its height the empire spanned what Just over 600 miles, it stretched from the Zagros Mountains to the Mediterranean.

In the early years of the empire, the Metans wrestled with Egypt for control of Syria until a truce was reached with the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose IV around 1420 BC.

Although the appearance of this underwater city is incredible, it is not the only deserted city that has been revealed from the depths due to drought this year. In February, the Spanish village of Aceredo — which was flooded to create the Alto Lindoso Reservoir in 1992 — was completely exposed during a drought, reports Gizmodo’s Molly Taft. Although the tops of homes are sometimes visible when water levels in the reservoir drop, entire buildings were never exposed before this winter, which was abnormally dry due to climate change.

Before the water returned, the researchers covered the area with tarpaulins and gravel for safekeeping. Photo courtesy of the University of Tübingen

The drought can also reveal other archaeological wonders. Milan Soleil of the Smithsonian Institution reported at the time that the 4,000-7,000-year-old rock monument known as the Dolmen of Guadalperal appeared in 2019 when drought struck a Spanish reservoir that covered stones for nearly 60 years.

Iraq has been particularly hard hit by global warming, with temperatures there rising at twice the global rate, according to PBS Simona Fultin. Average annual rainfall has fallen by 10 percent, and as a result historic wetlands have dried up, livestock have died, and people are struggling for fresh water.

For now, there is still enough water that the Mosul tank was refilled in February, ending the researchers’ investigation. To protect the city, the team covered the area with gravel cloth before the area was completely flooded.

Drought is expected to continue to engulf the region. That would be a disaster for the locals – and could provide other opportunities for archaeologists. There is likely a lot to discover: As Qasim told Art Newspaper Hadani Ditmars, “there are more than 100 underwater sites in the East Tigris region” alone.

Ancient Civilizations Archeology Cold Climate Change Brings Drought In Iraq

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