When a severe drought forced the 3,400-year-old city to recede from a dam located on the Tigris River in northern Iraq, archaeologists rushed to dig before the water receded.The Bronze Age city, located in the archaeological site known as Kemune, is a remnant of the Mittani Empire (also known as the Mitanni Empire), an ancient empire that dominated northern parts of Mesopotamia from about 1500 B.C. to 1350 B.C. Researchers have long been aware of the city’s remains, but they can only explore them during a drought.Archaeologists have partially captured Kemune in 2018 and found a lost palace with walls and 22-foot-high (7 meters) rooms adorned with painted paintings, Live Science reported earlier. In this case, researchers mapped out a larger map of the city, including an industrial area and a multi-storey warehouse that could hold supplies from all over the region, according to a statement issued by the University of Tübingen in Germany.
Kemune is the only well-known urban center from the Mittan Empire located directly on the Tigris River, suggesting that the city crosses the crossing of this section of the canal and that it may have been an important connecting point for the state, Ivana Puljiz, a junior professor of antiquity. Archeology near the East at the University of Freiburg in Germany also worked in excavation, he told Live Science via email.The quake almost destroyed much of the city in about 1350 B.C., but some of its ruins are preserved under the collapsed walls. People flooded the site with water during the construction of the Mosul Dam in the 1980s – archaeologists knew about Chemune at the time, but had not yet explored the area, according to Puljiz.
Researchers also discovered Kemune in 2010, but were unable to dig until the water level in the lake was low enough during the 2018 severe drought. They had a second chance to revitalize the city in 2022, because Iraq needed to use water from the lake to prevent crops from drying out and not working during another severe drought – Iraq was severely affected by climate change – so water levels were low enough again, according to the statement.Kurdish and German archaeologists are assembling a team during the decision-making days to investigate Kemune and are working quickly in the area in January and February, not sure when the water will return. Among the ruins of Mittani, a team uncovered more than 100 clay tablets from the Assyrian medieval period (from about 1365 B.C.).
After the Mittite Empire came to an end, the Assyrians built a new settlement in Chemune and their tablets may contain references to this transformation. “At this stage we do not know what the text says,” Puljiz said. “But we hope he will provide us with information on the beginning of Assyria.Some of the archaeological canals were flooded as the dam rose in February. They put plastics on the buildings and covered the sheets with grass to protect the city from further damage. Kemune is now completely submerged and researchers do not know when they will be able to return.”It is very unlikely that the area will reappear,” Puljiz said. “It may appear earlier this summer or a few years later.”
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