Fire ravaged wealthy temple 2,600 years ago. But these ‘remarkable’ finds survived
Ancient invaders tore through a massive temple complex in modern-day Iraq, taking what they liked and destroying what they didn’t. The looting ended in a blaze as the once-wealthy temple burned.
But not everything was lost in that devastation 2,600 years ago. Archaeologists just found some of the “remarkable” artifacts that survived.
A joint team of American and Iraqi archaeologists returned to the ruins of Nimrud, the once-thriving capital city of the ancient Assyrian Empire, for a third year of excavations, the Penn Museum said in a Dec. 20 news release shared with McClatchy News. The dig was part of the museum’s ongoing Iraq Heritage Stabilization Program (IHSP).
This year, archaeologists focused on the Ninurta Temple, a “sprawling” complex dedicated to “the state god Ninurta, the war god of the mighty Assyrians,” the museum said. The temple was rediscovered in the 1800s but “remained poorly documented” — until now.
As archaeologists dug, they unearthed two “remarkably preserved shrines,” the museum said. Both shrines had a central dais, or “a low platform for the statue of a god or goddess worshipped in the temple.” A photo shows one of these rectangular platforms.
Nearby, archaeologists found fragments of statues “which would have once stood on the daises.”
Excavations also uncovered a “cuneiform-inscribed stone monument,” known as a kudurru, the museum said. The 2,800-year-old monument had “symbols of important deities” carved onto it and recorded “a royal decree.”
In the decree, “the Assyrian king Adad-Nerari III (811-783 BCE) assigned this strategic region to a governor named Nergal-Eresh,” Michael Danti, the IHSP director, said in the release. “It strongly emphasizes that no one may refute Nergal-Eresh’s claim to his new territory. It closes with a long list of curses for anyone who breaks the agreement, damages the stela, or removes it from the temple.”
Archaeologists also found “well-preserved clay tablets with cuneiform inscriptions” describing “the temple’s economic activities,” the museum said. A photo shows one of these tablets.
Other finds included “a stone bowl set into the brick floor of the shrine,” pottery fragments, ivory carvings and jewelry.
“The condition and distribution of artifacts strongly suggest that the shrines and associated treasures were looted and intentionally damaged by the Babylonians and Medes before being set ablaze” during an invasion around 612 B.C., Danti said in the release. “The burning and sudden collapse of the Ninurta Temple left it in a remarkable state of preservation.”
“Despite the looting and destruction of the temple in antiquity, the discoveries reveal Ninurta’s central role in the state religion and the incredible wealth held by the temple,” the museum said.
An exhibit dedicated to the work of the IHSP will open at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia in February. Archaeologists plan to return to Nimrud for further excavations and preservation work.
Nimrud is in northern Iraq, a roughly 250-mile drive northwest of Baghdad and near the border with Syria and Turkey.
This story was originally published December 20, 2024 at 12:56 PM with the headline "Fire ravaged wealthy temple 2,600 years ago. But these ‘remarkable’ finds survived."
