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Ancient Babylonian city unearthed in Diwaniya
Diwaniya - Voices of Iraq
Tuesday , 18 /03 /2008 Time 7:29:59
Diwaniya, Mar 18, (VOI) – An ancient archeological city dating back to the neo-Babylonian era was unearthed in Diwaniya, the province's museum curator revealed, noting the ancient wide city comprised buildings of an advanced architectural nature.
"The Babylonian city was discovered in the district of al-Shamiya, (33 km) west of Diwaniya, where 341 archeological pieces were found during the first stage of excavations that lasted for the month of February," Muhammad Yahya Radi told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).
"The unearthed city is about eight donums (the Iraqi donum equals 2,000 square meters). The artifacts found included weights used by the ancient Babylonians. One of the weighing units was 30 kg, different from previously found granite duck-shaped units that did not exceed 10 kg," said Radi.
He said the archeological finds also included earthenware slabs and numbers of the neo-Babylonian era that experts failed to decipher.
"Most of the specialists have emigrated Iraq due to the deteriorating security conditions in the country, which causes a problem as to detect a very important epoch of the country's ancient history," explained Radi.
He said that also the remains of four persons laid in pottery vessels were found, noting those four were apparently executed.
"We found out about that because one of the bodies had its half buried in a wall and the other in a funerary urn. The other three bodies had iron nails driven into their hands, legs and necks, which indicates that there were strict laws used to be applied in that city," he indicated.
"Among the finds were Babylonian seals, a sign of a coherent ancient Babylonian civilization and its administrative affiliation to the archeological city of Babylonia," which flourished under Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar II but declined after 562 B.C. and fell to the Persians in 539, he said.
Radi added that the museum's archeological mission also discovered statues representing religious practices during that period, in addition to a network to discharge rainwater and waste water designed magnificently and could be compared to the current developed discharging tunnels.
Diwaniya lies 180 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
Ancient Babylonian city unearthed in Diwaniya
Diwaniya - Voices of Iraq
Tuesday , 18 /03 /2008 Time 7:29:59
Diwaniya, Mar 18, (VOI) – An ancient archeological city dating back to the neo-Babylonian era was unearthed in Diwaniya, the province's museum curator revealed, noting the ancient wide city comprised buildings of an advanced architectural nature.
"The Babylonian city was discovered in the district of al-Shamiya, (33 km) west of Diwaniya, where 341 archeological pieces were found during the first stage of excavations that lasted for the month of February," Muhammad Yahya Radi told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).
"The unearthed city is about eight donums (the Iraqi donum equals 2,000 square meters). The artifacts found included weights used by the ancient Babylonians. One of the weighing units was 30 kg, different from previously found granite duck-shaped units that did not exceed 10 kg," said Radi.
He said the archeological finds also included earthenware slabs and numbers of the neo-Babylonian era that experts failed to decipher.
"Most of the specialists have emigrated Iraq due to the deteriorating security conditions in the country, which causes a problem as to detect a very important epoch of the country's ancient history," explained Radi.
He said that also the remains of four persons laid in pottery vessels were found, noting those four were apparently executed.
"We found out about that because one of the bodies had its half buried in a wall and the other in a funerary urn. The other three bodies had iron nails driven into their hands, legs and necks, which indicates that there were strict laws used to be applied in that city," he indicated.
"Among the finds were Babylonian seals, a sign of a coherent ancient Babylonian civilization and its administrative affiliation to the archeological city of Babylonia," which flourished under Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar II but declined after 562 B.C. and fell to the Persians in 539, he said.
Radi added that the museum's archeological mission also discovered statues representing religious practices during that period, in addition to a network to discharge rainwater and waste water designed magnificently and could be compared to the current developed discharging tunnels.
Diwaniya lies 180 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
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