A team of German and Kurdish archaeologists has uncovered a 3400-year-old city dating to the Mittani Empire, once situated along the Tigris River. The settlement emerged when water levels dropped in the Mosul reservoir earlier this year, amid severe drought in Iraq. The expansive site, featuring a palace and multiple grand structures, may correspond to the ancient city of Zakhiku, a significant center in the Mittani era (1550–1350 BC).
Iraq ranks among the nations most impacted by climate change, with the southern region especially parched for months. To protect crops, large volumes of water have been drawn from Iraq’s key reservoir, the Mosul Dam, since December. The retreating water revealed a Bronze Age city that had been submerged for decades, previously untouched by systematic archaeology. The ruins lie near Kemune in the Kurdistan region.
The city’s discovery is timely and dramatic, prompting an urgent salvage campaign to document it before floods threaten more of the site. Kurdish archaeologist Hasan Ahmed Qasim, head of the Kurdistan Archaeological Organization, joined forces with German scholars Ivana Puljiz of the University of Freiburg and Peter Pfälzner of the University of Tübingen to conduct rapid excavations at Kemune in January and February 2022, in cooperation with the Directorate of Antiquities and Heritage in Duhok. Short-term funding from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation supported the effort. (Attribution: University of Freiburg and University of Tübingen researchers, as reported by collaborating institutions)
Within days, a rescue team formed to map the city on a broad scale. In addition to a palace documented in a 2018 brief, researchers identified a towering fortification with walls and towers, a monumental multi-storey warehouse, and an industrial complex. The urban landscape traces to the Mittani period, when northern Mesopotamia and parts of Syria were under Mittani influence (ca. 1550–1350 BC). (Attribution: University of Tübingen and Freiburg teams)
Experts note that the large warehouse complex likely stored substantial goods from across the region, underscoring the city’s regional importance. Excavations suggest the site functioned as a major hub in the Mittani empire. (Attribution: Ivana Puljiz and colleagues)
The excavated walls appear remarkably well preserved, some several meters high, despite being built from sun-dried adobe and having spent more than four decades submerged. The exceptional preservation is credited to the city’s destruction by an earthquake around 1350 BC, which toppled upper sections of walls while embedding the lower portions for future study. (Attribution: research team reports)
Of particular significance is the discovery of five ceramic vessels containing a cuneiform archive, comprising more than 100 tablets from the Middle Assyrian period shortly after the earthquake. Some tablets remain in clay envelopes, and researchers hope the collection will illuminate the transition from Mittani to Assyrian rule in the region. One scholar notes the remarkable resilience of unbaked clay tablets recovered underwater after decades. (Attribution: Peter Pfälzner and colleagues)
To guard the site from rising waters, the excavated structures were sealed under tight plastic sheeting and covered with gravel, part of a broader conservation program funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation. This protective work aims to shield unfired clay walls and artifacts stored in the ruins during flood periods. (Attribution: conservation project acknowledgments)
Overall, the Kemune discovery offers a window into a pivotal moment in northern Mesopotamian history, revealing how a thriving Mittani center operated on the edge of powerful river dynamics and regional exchange. The combination of architectural scale, material culture, and archival tablets points to a city that played a crucial role in the late Bronze Age landscape of the ancient Near East. (Attribution: project findings and scholarly commentary)
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