Italian Researchers Uncover Vast 2,700-Year-Old Lower City in Nimrud
A University of Udine research project has uncovered a vast 3,400-dunam lower city in the ancient Assyrian capital of Nimrud using spy satellite imagery and magnetometry. Preserved for 2,700 years beneath shallow farmlands, the find sheds light on commoners' lives and ancient urban planning.
For nearly two centuries, archaeological excavations in the ancient Assyrian capital of Nimrud (Calah) focused primarily on the grand palaces, temples, and royal statues standing atop the fortified citadel. The lives of tens of thousands of ordinary residents remained an almost complete historical mystery. Now, a new research project by the University of Udine in Italy has revealed for the first time what lies beneath the agricultural fields in northern Iraq: a vast lower city spanning approximately 3,400 dunams, which remained buried and protected underground for millennia.
The remains uncovered now have lain beneath the surface for some 2,700 years, ever since the final collapse of the Assyrian Empire in 612 BCE. The lower city of Calah was never rebuilt on a large scale, and the entire area eventually turned into open agricultural fields over the generations.
Modern Technology Uncovers Ancient Streets
Thanks to the fact that local farmers' plows penetrated to a depth of only about 20 centimeters over the generations, the streets, buildings, and neighborhood foundations have been preserved in almost complete integrity beneath the cultivated layer of soil—waiting for nearly three millennia until modern technology pulled them from the darkness.
The study, published in the scientific journal Antiquity, began by examining aerial photographs from American U-2 spy planes and CORONA and HEXAGON satellite imagery programs from the 1960s and 1970s. These historical photographs preserved terrain features that have since vanished due to agricultural work, indicating a planned urban layout surrounded by an eight-kilometer-long wall. To verify the data on the ground, researchers deployed drones for topographic photography and magnetometer equipment that detects buried walls and structures without excavation.
Magnetic scans identified a well-planned network of straight streets, dense residential neighborhoods, public buildings, and workshops beneath the surface. The agricultural land above the city was plowed over the years to a depth of only about 20 centimeters, leaving the deep archaeological layers intact and well-preserved.
Royal Inscriptions and Water Systems
During the soil survey, numerous pottery sherds were discovered alongside fired bricks bearing inscriptions and fragments of prisms carrying the names of the Assyrian kings Sennacherib and Ashurbanipal—a finding indicating that the city maintained its status and importance even after the royal court moved to Nineveh.
«The new findings raise questions regarding the conventional perception of the water sources of the kingdom's capital. While researchers previously believed that the Petti-Hagali canal built during the days of King Ashurnasirpal II was the main water artery, topographic data now point to a more northern canal system that may have served as the primary source.»
Understanding the water routes is expected to explain how agricultural areas, gardens, and residential zones were distributed in the lower city. In coming research seasons, archaeologists plan to expand the scans and conduct targeted excavations to shed light on the daily lives of commoners in the Assyrian Empire.
Biblical Connections
During the period when Calah served as the capital of the empire, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah stood under military campaigns and the constant threat of Assyrian monarchs. Empire leaders, including Ashurnasirpal II and his successors who fought and levied heavy taxes on the region, set in motion the process that ultimately led to the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel and the Exile of the Ten Tribes by Assyria in 722 BCE.
The names of kings mentioned in the site's discoveries, such as Sennacherib, are directly linked in biblical text to the military campaign in Judah and the siege of Jerusalem during the days of King Hezekiah—dramatic events that shaped the national and religious consciousness of the Jewish people for generations.
