The archeological site, Kemune, is believed to be the Bronze Age city of Zakhiku, an important hub of the Mittani Empire that reigned from 1550 to 1350 BC. The kingdom stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to northern Iraq, according to Ivana Puljiz, a junior professor in the Department of Near Eastern Archeology and Assyrology at the University of Freiburg in Braisgau, Germany, and one of the project directors. Zakhiku sank after the construction of the Mosul Dam by the Iraqi government in the 1980s and has rarely been seen since. After Puljiz heard that the city had reappeared, her team rushed to excavate the site because it was unknown when the water levels would rise again. “Because of the huge pressure of time, we dug in low temperatures, snow, hail, rain and even thunderstorms, as well as the occasional sunny day, without knowing when the water would rise again and how long we would have it,” Puljiz said. . The ancient city is now submerged again, but researchers have been able to capture much of the site. A palace had already been documented when the city appeared for a while in 2018, but many additional constructions were documented during the last excavation. Some of the discoveries include a fortification with towers and walls and a multi-storey storage building. Many of the structures were made of sun-dried mud bricks, which usually did not hold well under water, the researchers said. However, Zakhiku suffered an earthquake around 1350 BC, and parts of the upper walls collapsed and covered the buildings.

Preservation of the past

Little is known about the ancient Mittani who built the city, largely due to the fact that researchers have not identified the empire capital or discovered their records, Puljiz said. However, some items discovered during the last excavation could help provide information.
Archaeologists have unearthed five pottery vessels holding more than 100 clay wedge-shaped slabs dating back to the earthquake. They are believed to date from the Middle Assyrian period, which lasted from 1350 to 1100 BC, and could shed light on the disintegration of the city and the rise of Assyrian rule in the region, according to a press release. “It is almost a miracle that wedge-shaped clay slabs have survived so many decades underwater,” said Peter Pfälzner, a professor of Near Eastern archeology at the University of Tübingen and one of the directors of the excavation, in a statement. The tablets have not yet been decrypted, but Puljiz assumed they belonged to a private file. “I am curious to see what the study of the cuneiform texts will reveal about the fate of the city and its inhabitants after the catastrophic earthquake,” he said. All excavated artifacts, including the plaques, are housed in the Duhok National Museum. Before the city disappeared under water again, researchers covered the ruins with plastic sheets that fit snugly with stones and gravel. Puljiz hopes that these measures will protect the ancient site from water erosion and prevent its complete disappearance.