ISIS jihadists have uncovered an Assyrian palace

30 March 2017

The gradual re-taking of the Mosul area, captured by the armed forces of ISIS in July 2014, has not been without its share of surprises. No sooner than they had taken possession of the territory, the jihadists embarked on a series of destructive acts, attacking archaeological remains on the neighbouring hills of Nebi Yunus and Kuyunjik, situated on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, opposite Mosul.

According to tradition, the first of these tells is the site of the tomb of Jonas, a prophet recognised by three religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The jihadists destroyed the mosque built on the holy site, which in turn was built on the ruins of a Nestorian church dating from the sixth century CE.

On the second tell lie the ruins of a part of the ancient city of Nineveh, which became the Assyrian capital at the end of the eighth century BCE. The site encompasses the sumptuous palaces of Sennacherib (704–681) in the southwest and of his youngest son Aššurbanipal (668–627) in the north. The palaces’ remains were brought to light by the British in the mid-nineteenth century. Video footage circulated on the Internet showed jihadists reducing to rubble the monumental statues of guardian human-headed winged bulls at the Nergal gate, one of the principal gateways in the city’s fortified walls.

During January, Iraqi troops retook the eastern Mosul zone that includes the two tells, and a team of archaeologists, headed by Layla Salih, a long-serving conservator at the Mosul Museum, came to take stock of the situation. Lying beneath the ruins of the mosque raised on the site believed to be the tomb of Jonas, the archaeologists discovered a network of tunnels dug deep into the ground by ISIS troops. These tunnels led to an Assyrian palace dating from the seventh century BCE which had never before been explored. According to the testimony of Iraqi archaeologists and some photographs published in the press, there are remains of walls, monumental statues of human-headed winged bulls (identical to those found at the entrances of all the other Assyrian palaces), bas-reliefs depicting four full-face women – a rather rare representation for this period – and a marble plaque bearing an inscription. The last mentioned item has been attributed to Esarhaddon (680-669), on account of the honorific title seen in other inscriptions ordered by the same king, and also because mention is made of the rebuilding of Babylon, which was utterly destroyed by his father, Sennacherib.

The Nebi Yunus tell has not been the subject of intensive excavations because of the presence of the mosque, a place of pilgrimage, and a village built on its summit. However, the texts left by the Assyrian kings indicate that Sennacherib built an arsenal on this spot (ekal masharti), whose entrance, guarded by human-headed winged bulls, had already been revealed by excavations carried out in the second half of the twentieth century. The texts also refer to a second (residential) building being located on this spot. Sennacherib’s son Esarhaddon enlarged the arsenal with the aim of providing protection for horses, mules, carriages, military hardware and booty seized from the enemy, and he transformed the second building into a large royal palace where he resided for part of the year. One of these two edifices was brought to light by ISIS troops. Various statues and dozens of objects were unearthed by the salvage team, but without doubt prior to their arrival the jihadists would have looted many hundreds of objects that were lying in the palace, and which up to that point had likely never been disturbed.

At Nebi Yunus, the archaeologists’ work is perilous because of the poorly supported tunnels that are at risk of collapsing at any moment. Elsewhere, a survey to access the damage is being carried out. During a meeting that was held in Paris last February (under the aegis of UNESCO) to report on the state of cultural heritage sites in the liberated areas of Iraq, we learnt that 70% of the ancient remains at Nineveh and 80% of those at Kalhu have been destroyed. The retaking of part of the city of Mosul has also made it possible to recover antiquities stolen by the jihadists. For example, in the house of a commander of the ISIS troops, the Iraqis discovered a hundred or so ancient Assyrian ceramics. As was announced during the UNESCO meeting, it is high time to assess the damage and to implement measures to protect and conserve the sites, monuments and objects that constitute priceless World Heritage.