MOSUL, IRAQ—BBC News reports that seven marble reliefs have been unearthed in the ancient city of Nineveh, which is located in northern Iraq, by a team of Iraqi archaeologists led by Fadel Mohammed Khodr in partnership with other international researchers led by Michael Danti of the University of Pennsylvania. The carvings, which date to the reign of the Assyrian king Sennacherib some 2,700 years ago, depict war scenes, grapevines, and palm trees. Khodr said the carvings are thought to have been part of Sennacherib’s palace before they were moved to the city’s Mashki Gate, where they were partially buried. The carvings survive on these buried sections, he explained, while the exposed stone is now smooth. To read about an aurora that Assyrian astronomers recorded on cuneiform tablets found at Nineveh, go to “Around the World: Iraq.”
