Mashki Gate: Stunning ancient rock carvings found in Iraq

Archaeologists successful bluish Iraq person made an breathtaking find - unearthing beauteous stone carvings that are astir 2,700 years old.

They were recovered successful Mosul by a US-Iraqi excavation squad moving to reconstruct the past Mashki Gate, which Islamic State (IS) militants destroyed successful 2016.

Iraq is location to immoderate of the world's astir past cities, including Babylon.

But years of turmoil person seen galore archaeological sites looted and damaged by militants and subject action.

The 8 marble reliefs amusement finely chiselled warfare scenes, grape vines and thenar trees.

They day backmost to the Assyrian King Sennacherib, who ruled the past metropolis of Nineveh from 705 to 681 BC, the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage said, successful a connection seen by AFP.

The almighty king was known for his subject campaigns, including against Babylon, and his immense enlargement of Nineveh.

It is believed the relics erstwhile adorned his palace, and were past moved to the Mashki Gate, Fadel Mohammed Khodr, caput of the Iraqi archaeological team, told AFP.

The Mashki Gate was 1 of the largest successful Nineveh, and was an icon of the city's size and power. The gross was reconstructed successful the 1970s, but was destroyed with a bulldozer by IS militants successful 2016.

The militant radical ransacked and demolished respective past sites that pre-date Islam successful Iraq, denouncing them arsenic symbols of "idolatry".

Mr Khodr said that erstwhile the marble slabs were positioned astatine the gate, they were partially buried. The sections underground were preserved and carnivore the carvings seen today; immoderate was above-ground was wiped creaseless implicit the centuries.

The excavation team, which comprises experts from Iraq's Mosul University and the United States' University of Pennsylvania, is moving to reconstruct the Mashki Gate tract to however it was earlier IS bulldozed it.

More than 10,000 archaeological sites person been recovered successful Iraq.

However it is not lone militants, vandals and smugglers who person damaged archaeological sites successful Iraq.

US troops and their allies damaged the ruins of Babylon erstwhile the fragile tract was utilized arsenic an service campy aft the US invaded Iraq successful 2003.

A 2009 study by Unesco, the United Nations taste agency, recovered troops and their contractors "caused large harm to the metropolis by digging, cutting, scraping, and levelling".