Drought Reveals Ancient Iraqi Necropolis Beneath Reservoir

Archaeology Magazine ^ | September 2, 2025 | editors / unattributed

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Al Jazeera reports that a historic drought in northern Iraq has lowered water levels in the country's largest reservoir, unexpectedly revealing parts of a 2,300-year-old ancient cemetery. An archaeological team investigated approximately 40 tombs around the edges of the Mosul Dam Lake near the Tigris River. Researchers were first made aware of the potential site in 2023 when a survey identified a few graves, but it was only during the recent dry spell that they realized how extensive it really was. "The droughts have a significant impact on many aspects, like agriculture and electricity," said Bekas Brefkany, the director of antiquities in Duhok. "But, for us archaeologists, it allows us to do excavation work." The team unearthed clay coffins and other artifacts that they believe date to the Hellenistic or Seleucid periods, from approximately 330 to 30 b.c. Experts are hoping that the new discovery will provide more information about this historical period when local traditions became heavily influenced by Greek culture following the region's conquest by Alexander the Great. To read about a 2018 drought that exposed some 5,000 years of history throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, go to "The Marks of Time."

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TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: cemetery; godsgravesglyphs; iraq; tigrisrive

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A man works on a grave unearthed on the banks of Mosul Dam on an archaeological site in the Khanke sub-district of Dohuk Governorate, Iraq, August 30, 2025 [Al Jazeera]

Ismael Adnan/AFP

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