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Remains of a grave recently found by Kurdish archeologists near Mosul Dam. Photo: Submitted by Duhok's Antiquities and Heritage Department.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A team of Kurdish archaeologists from Duhok province has recently discovered at least 40 graves in a cemetery near Iraq’s largest dam. The head of the team told Rudaw on Friday that the site - believed to date back thousands of years - resurfaced following a dramatic drop in the dam’s water level.
“We discovered a main city along with a cemetery. This is the first time graves of this type and size have been found in the area. So far, we have uncovered nearly 40 ceramic graves, which date back to the Hellenistic period,” Bekas Brifkani, head of Duhok's Antiquities and Heritage Department, said. The period spans roughly from 323 BCE to 31 BCE.
He added that they also found pottery.
The newly discovered site, located behind the Old Khanke village in Duhok province’s Semel district, resurfaced after a severe drought led to a significant drop in the water level of the Mosul Dam.
“After the construction of Mosul Dam in 1986, a large number of archaeological sites were submerged. Since 1921, our directorate has started sweeping the vicinity of the Mosul Dam because the water level in the dam dropped in 2018, leading to the surfacing of many archaeological sites. We have been monitoring the drop in water level in recent years in order to find archeological sites,” Brifkani noted.
The Kurdish team had worked with foreign experts in recent years but the 14-member group now operates independently.
“This site resurfaced ten days ago. We have been working on it since, including excavation,” Brifkani stated.
Water levels at Mosul Dam in northern Iraq’s Nineveh province have dropped sharply, largely due to a dry winter and reduced releases from upstream neighboring countries.
A Yazidi grave from 1961 resurfaced from the Tigris River, which is directly linked to Mosul dam.
The dam’s water level has fallen noticeably only three times in the past 50 years - in 2017, 2023, and again this year. In July, the receding waters also revealed a school in Khanke that had been submerged in the Tigris for more than four decades, according to reports.
In 2023, an old Yazidi village emerged from the reduced water levels. More than 80 villages were submerged when Mosul dam was constructed on the Tigris River in 1984, 50 kilometres north of Mosul.
The dam can store up to 11 billion cubic meters of water that is used in agriculture and residential sectors. It also produces hydropower, generating an average of 580 megawatts of energy per day.
Construction of Mosul Dam’s main sections began January 25, 1981, and it became operational on July 24, 1986.
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