BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Uncovering a Buried Assyrian Capital

Magnetometry reveals unknown palaces and gardens

Winged genie from Sargon’s palace at Dur Sharrukin.
Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

One of Sargon II’s (r. 721–706 BCE) many acts—besides conquering Samaria and taking the ten northern tribes of Israel into exile, of course—was the establishment of a brand-new capital for the Assyrian Empire, Dur-Sharrukin. Before the purpose-built city was completed, however, Sargon fell in battle, and his son, Sennacherib, moved the capital instead to Nineveh, leaving the unfinished Dur-Sharrukin to be buried by history. Now, a joint French-German team is discovering that much more of the city had been completed than previously thought. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

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Assessing an Assyrian Capital

Utilizing a high-resolution magnetometer, the team conducted a large-scale survey, scanning 2.79 million square feet of the site over a week. While this is less than ten percent of the ancient city’s overall area, the team still made some incredible discoveries, including five previously unknown monumental buildings, as well as the city’s water gate and several palace gardens. One of the monumental buildings was an enormous 127-room villa, twice the size of the White House. These discoveries help prove that despite only lasting for around a decade before being abandoned, Dur-Sharrukin was a genuinely lived-in city.

Magnetometry, which scans for electromagnetic materials beneath the ground, allows researchers to investigate a site without the need for excavation, which can be costly in resources and time. Following such surveys, archaeologists can better target areas where digging may be the most fruitful.

The team at Dur-Sharrukin carried the 33-pound magnetometer along the ground as opposed to mounting it on a vehicle or drone to avoid additional attention, as the surrounding region is still potentially dangerous even with the Islamic State occupation of the area having ended in 2017. During their occupation, Islamic State destroyed parts of the ancient site, and it was later the site of fighting between Islamic State and Kurdish forces. Fortunately, very little of the site has been excavated and thus most of it was protected from threats.

Related reading in Bible History Daily:

Lamassu from Dur-Sharrukin Revealed

Hanging Gardens of Babylon … in Assyrian Nineveh

All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library:

Assyrian Palace Discovered in Ashdod

Europe Confronts Assyrian Art

Grisly Assyrian Record of Torture and Death