Drought Archaeology

Lake Mosul, Tigris River, Kurdistan

An extreme drought in Iraq has led to the uncovering of a 3,400-year-old city due to falling water levels in an artificial lake.

The settlement was excavated on Lake Mosul, along the Tigris River in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. It is thought to be the city of Zakiko from the Bronze Age, an important hub of the Mitanni Empire that reigned from 1550 to 1350 BC.

Zakikou sank after the construction of the Mosul Dam in the 1980s.

The uncovering of the city has led to a flurry of archaeologists wishing to excavate the site, before the water level rises and hides the city again.

The city appeared above the water briefly back in 2018 when a palace had been found but now many other buildings have been recorded. Finds include a fortification with towers and walls and a highrise storage building. With many of the structures made from mud bricks, many have not survived, however it has also been recorded that an earthquake in approx. 1350BC destroyed the upper level of buildings, hiding and ultimately protecting the lower structures.

Cuneiform tablet

Not much is known about the ancient Mitanni who built Zakikou, but artefacts found hope to uncover new information, like five pottery vessels containing more than 100 clay wedge-shaped slabs. They are dated back to the Middle Assyrian period from 1350-1100BC. The plates have not yet been decrypted, but could give new light on how the Mitanni Empire declined and the Assyrian rose to rule in the region.

In a bid to save as much of the remaining settlement as possible, archaeologists have covered the ruins in plastic sheeting hoping to protect it long enough until it reappears above the water again.

In Wales the super-dry conditions have revealed traces of some ancient Roman structures. Using aerial photographs, forts, marching camps, villas and roads have been discovered. The ancient structures left their calling card in an ‘x-ray-like’ form. Over 200 new archaeological sites have now been documented across Wales.

As if Italy did not have enough ancient sites to see above water level! Now there are even more with many areas of the country suffering drought conditions and river levels dropping to record lows.

With levels the lowest in 70 years, archaeological treasures that have been submerged are now being revealed. Findings have appeared in several areas along the Tiber River, which flows through Rome, and the Po River in Piedmont.

On the dry Oglio riverbed in the Lombardy region, foundation stilts dating back to the Bronze Age –2300 – 700BC have been revealed.

At Lake Como, fossils of rhinos, hyenas and lions and been found as well as a 100,000-year-old skull of a large deer.

In the region of Emilia Romagna, sunken WW2 shipwrecks have emerged along the Po River. A medieval red brick bridge in Piedmont has been found which also had defensive bastions.

The ruins of a lost castle in Verona; the Morando di Bonavigo Castle located along the Adige river have appeared after layers of mud and silt have been washed away.

In the USA the drought at Lake Mead, one of the largest man-made lakes in the world is the reservoir to the Hoover Dam, on the Arizona-Nevada border. It has revealed several sets of human remains and thereby helping local police to solve several unsolved mobster crimes from decades ago!

So, you never know when the next hidden treasure will come to light, with its own story to tell!