Ancient Babylonian City Unearthed in Southern Iraq
An archaeological team from Russia and Iraq has unearthed an ancient urban settlement dating back to the Old Babylonian era at Tell al-Duhaila, located approximately 30 km from Ur in the Dhi Qar Governorate. The site includes walls that may belong to sacred structures, along with artifacts such as remains of furnaces, an oxidized arrowhead, and clay figurines of camels from the 1st millennium BCE. Additionally, evidence suggests early agricultural practices utilizing silt, with a branch of the Euphrates river flowing through the area for four thousand years. Remnants of a river port highlight the commercial prosperity of Babylon. Alexei Jankowski-Diakonoff remarked that this discovery marks a significant advancement in understanding civilization's history. A more extensive excavation, involving ten teams, is set to commence in October. The Babylonian civilization reached its zenith under Hammurabi in the early 2nd millennium BCE.
Key facts
- Discovery of an Old Babylonian city at Tell al-Duhaila, Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq
- Joint Russian-Iraqi team led by Alexei Jankowski-Diakonoff
- Site includes sacred building walls, furnace remains, oxidized arrowhead, clay camel figurines
- Evidence of early agricultural use of silt and a branch of the Euphrates called 'river of the plain of Eridu'
- River port remains indicate commercial activity
- City is the only Old Babylonian city on the edge of the Arabian desert
- Larger excavation campaign starts in October with teams from Italy, France, UK, Russia, USA
- Background on Babylonian civilization: Hammurabi, mathematics, astronomy, Venus tablet, astrolabe
Entities
Institutions
- Russian-Iraqi archaeological mission
- Artribune
Locations
- Tell al-Duhaila
- Dhi Qar Governorate
- Iraq
- Ur
- Mesopotamia
- Euphrates
- Eridu
- Arabian desert
- Palestine
- Babylon
- Italy
- France
- Great Britain
- Russia
- United States