On the outskirts of Mosul, an excavation team during 2022 discovered that the stone slabs used as foundations for the Assyrian-era gates to the ancient city of Nineveh were actually exquisitely carved reliefs that showed archers, besieged cities, and incredible likenesses of the surrounding landscape.
An Iraqi worker excavates a rock-carving relief at the Mashki Gate, one of the entrances to the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh, on the outskirts of Mosul. AFP
They are now commencing the next stage of work, looking into new locations for excavation, and beginning the reconstruction of the gate. In a significant capacity-building project run by the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage of Iraq, they will commission a new kiln to replicate the earthenware bricks used by the Assyrians thousands of years ago.
After ISIS demolished the Mashki Gate's rebuilding from the Saddam Hussein era, the team arrived in 2021 to excavate it. They started digging towards the bottommost layer of the gate, which was built around 700 BC, and uncovered the top of a carved figure of an archer stretching out from what they thought were stone foundations.
"It blew me away," says project manager and archaeologist Michael Danti, who is co-directing the dig alongside Iraqi archaeologist Fadhel Mohammed Khdir Ali of the SBAH. "We have perhaps the best preserved Sennacherib reliefs anywhere on the lowest 30 to 40 cm [of the reliefs] because they are flawless. They have never experienced weather damage or fire damage. They're extremely amazing," Danti continues.
Pictured in 1977, Mosul's Mashki Gate was reconstructed during Saddam Hussein's time before being damaged by ISIS. Getty Images
The seven carved panels were part of the South West Palace, built by the illustrious Sargonid dynasty leader Sennacherib of Assyria and dubbed "the palace without rival" in its inscriptions. Nineveh was the capital of Sennacherib, who ruled from 705 BC to 681 BC, and turned it into a sizable metropolis.
The reliefs on the Mashki Gate mirror others from the Palace in style and topic and have inscriptions from his reign on the reverse side. The British Museum currently houses several of those panels, which were found during the initial excavation of Nineveh in the middle of the nineteenth century.
The reliefs show Sennacherib's third military expedition against the Phoenicians and the kingdom of Judah, which was carried out in the West. Some depict intricately drawn archers drawing back their bowstrings in order to release their arrows, their beards tightly curled. Others use individually carved leaves with exposed veins or groves of tiny forested trees to represent the environment in which they fought.
Another relief depicts the ringed city of Lachish, which was taken by Sennacherib's army in 701 BC. This sculpture, like the others, was carved in alabaster and was likely originally painted.
A carved figure of an archer at Mashki Gate. Photo: Melissa Gronlund
An instance of artistic blooming
The fact that Sennacherib initiated a significant period of aesthetic transition in Assyrian culture makes the discovery much more exciting. Sennacherib did not leave a lengthy inscription on the back of the reliefs attesting to the fact that he ordered them, as did former kings who recorded their military victories in cuneiform inscriptions. Instead, Danti claims, Sennacherib allowed the vivid representation to demonstrate his military strength.
His use of time in the order in which the reliefs were organized was another novelty. He did this so that the spectator could follow the campaign's narrative rather than trying to capture each moment in a single relief.
The Mashki Gate's original floor was laid by Sennacherib, just like the South West Palace. Two more reconstructions that each added a new floor were built throughout the course of the following century. The Mashki Gate, which had been built of baked bricks arranged around a timber structure, was destroyed when the Babylonians attacked Nineveh in 612 BCE. As a result, the final of the three stages was reduced to a "Pompeii"-like situation, trapping its combatants and their weapons.
The city of Nineveh, with the Mashki Gate, depicted at the height of Assyrian power, when it was capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Alamy
The Iraqi archaeologist Tariq Madhloom, who has previously worked in the Mleiha area of Sharjah, uncovered this scene in the late 1960s. After ISIS seized control of the Mosul region in 2014, Madhloom rebuilt two of the gate's walls before they were completely destroyed as targets for the pre-Islamic past.
It's still unclear
The team, which consists of Iraqi archaeologists and members of the University of Pennsylvania's Iraq Heritage Stabilization Program, has already studied the reliefs for a year, although there are still some unanswered issues. Why did they use these reliefs as a foundation? And why didn't they just plant them in the ground facing outward, with their blank backs creating the visible foundations for the gate, rather than going through the effort to chisel out the designs - Danti and his team also found the shards of stone and, in one case, an 8th-century BC chisel itself? Who then utilized them again?
The person who placed the reliefs attempted to eliminate the images by chiseling away at them. Additionally, because these panels and the others have been maintained in the ground, the chisel marks on them appear to have been produced just yesterday. In fact, local media sources claimed that ISIS was responsible for making them.
Iraqi workers excavate a rock-carving relief at the Mashki Gate, one of the monumental gates to the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh. AFP
The current working theory holds that the parts were transported during the turbulent reign of King Ashurbanipal, which hastened the Assyrian Empire's demise. The dates of the third level of the gate's construction and Ashurbanipal's reign coincide, and it is known that he built a new palace at Nineveh. The team's quest to dig down to the original Sennacherib floor will continue as it was interrupted by the finding, but this will need to be verified by additional research.
Future
Mashki Gate will eventually be substantially rebuilt in order to demonstrate its historical significance. Currently, the location of the Gate, which is about 600 meters from the Palace, is made up of grassy, undeveloped areas that are littered with rocks and ancient artifacts. Eastern Mosul, the new town, sits across the busy road from the site, and its riverbank cafés and restaurants are bustling with the energy of a populace eager to enjoy some peace and security.
The State Board of Antiquities and Heritage will proceed with any reconstructions only with the support of this local community and will take care to preserve the original structures.
The reconstruction of the Mashki Gate as it stood before ISIS's destruction. Photo: Mohamed Al Baroodi
Italian and German archaeological teams, who normally receive more university financing for such missions than their US and UK counterparts, are doing digs elsewhere in Nineveh. The SBAH serves as the team's coordinator, and Aliph and the University of Pennsylvania are funding Danti's team.
It has not yet been decided whether the reliefs will stay where they are or go to a museum, perhaps in Mosul or somewhere else.
