MOSUL, Iraq — When
Daesh fighters bulldozed
the ancient monumental Mashki gate in the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2016, it was
part of the extremists’ systematic destruction of cultural heritage.
اضافة اعلان
Now, US and Iraqi archaeologists working to
reconstruct the site have unearthed extraordinary 2,700-year-old rock carvings
among the ruins.
They include eight finely made marble bas-relief
carvings depicting war scenes from the rule of the Assyrian kings in the
ancient city of Nineveh, a local Iraqi official said Wednesday.
Discovered last week, the detailed carvings show a
soldier drawing back a bow in preparation to fire an arrow, as well as finely
chiseled vine leaves and palms.
The grey stone carvings date to the rule of King
Sennacherib, in power from 705-681 BC, according to a statement from the
Iraqi Council of Antiquities and Heritage.
Sennacherib was responsible for expanding Nineveh as
the Assyrians’ imperial capital and largest city —siting on a major crossroads
between the Mediterranean and the Iranian plateau — including constructing a
magnificent palace.
Fadel Mohammed Khodr, head of the Iraqi
archaeological team working to restore the site, said the carvings were likely
taken from Sennacherib’s palace and used as construction material for the gate.
“We believe that these carvings were moved from the
palace of Sennacherib and reused by the grandson of the king, to renovate the
gate of Mashki and to enlarge the guard room,” Khodr said.
‘Iconic’
When they were used in the
gate, the area of the carvings poking out above ground was erased.
“Only the part buried underground has retained its
carvings,” Khodr added.
ALIPH, the Swiss-based International Alliance for
the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas, said the Mashki gate had been an
“exceptional building”.
Daesh targeted the fortified gate, which had been
restored in the 1970s, because it was an “iconic part of Mosul’s skyline, a
symbol of the city’s long history”, it added.
ALIPH is supporting the reconstruction of the Mashki
Gate by a team of archaeologists from Iraq’s
Mosul University, alongside US
experts from the University of Pennsylvania. The restoration project, which is
being carried out in collaboration with Iraqi antiquities authorities, aims to
turn the damaged monument into an educational center on Nineveh’s history.
Iraq was the birthplace of some of the world’s
earliest cities. It was also home to Sumerians and Babylonians, and to some of
humankind’s first examples of writing.
But in the past decades, Iraq has been the target of
artifacts smuggling. Looters decimated the country’s ancient past, including
after the 2003 US-led invasion.
Then, from 2014 and 2017, Daesh demolished
pre-Islamic treasures with bulldozers, pickaxes, and explosives. They also used
smuggling to finance their operations.
Iraqi forces supported by an international coalition
recaptured Mosul, the extremists’ former bastion, in 2017.
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