Dwindling water levels reveal new surprise: an ancient lost city in Iraq

Extreme drought severely depleted water levels in the Iraqi largest reservoir. This lets the archaeologists to make an outstanding new finding: the ruins of a 3,400-year-old lost city — complete with a palace and a sprawling fort.

The Bronze Age settlement, long engulfed by the Tigris River, emerged earlier this year in the Mosul Dam, and researchers raced to excavate the ancient city before the dam was refilled.

The Iraqi ancient city, located in the Kurdistan region at a site known as Kemune, was documented by a team of German and Kurdish archaeologists. The settlement was likely a key hub during the Mittani Empire, from 1550 to 1350 B.C., said Ivana Puljiz, a member of the research team, NBC reports.

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