[HN Gopher] Archaeology sensation: An ancient city reemerges in ...
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       Archaeology sensation: An ancient city reemerges in Iraq reservoir
        
       Author : diodorus
       Score  : 46 points
       Date   : 2022-06-11 05:49 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.dw.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.dw.com)
        
       | 7thaccount wrote:
       | Seems like an exciting time for archaeology. It must be
       | interesting to live in these regions with such long history of
       | civilization. Do these findings excite those living there, or are
       | they more like "meh"?
        
         | AlotOfReading wrote:
         | Unless you're in one of the few island nations that were
         | settled recently like NZ or Madagascar, there's a very good
         | chance your country has stuff that's just as old as this. Many
         | of the ruins under Tucson slightly predate this site, for
         | example. If you're in Australia, there are important sites that
         | predate this by tens of thousands of years.
         | 
         | There's no denying that near eastern stuff is cool, but it's
         | good to be aware of the stuff in your own backyard as well.
        
         | throw93232 wrote:
         | Not really, quite opposite, archeology is very expensive.
         | 
         | Istanbul desperately needed metro, but new tunnel was delayed
         | by 15 years for excavations. If new site is found during
         | construction, many builders just pay off archaeologists, and
         | pour concrete over it.
        
           | Tuna-Fish wrote:
           | True for most of the middle east. Egypt is an interesting
           | counterexample, both because tourism is so important for
           | their economy, and because for most of their history moving
           | water uphill was really expensive, so if you just move a bit
           | off the river valley you can be fairly certain that no-one
           | ever built anything there, so you always have room to develop
           | without having to stumble on ruins.
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | tgv wrote:
         | Can't speak for them, but I know that people in certain regions
         | of Spain don't care much about Roman excavations. There are so
         | many, it's almost a nuisance to some.
        
         | john-doe wrote:
         | I would think they'd be happier to have enough water.
        
         | behnamoh wrote:
         | Unfortunately these regions are war-torn and often suffer from
         | drought and famine. It's crazy how the cradle of civilization
         | has come down to this.
        
           | pigtailgirl wrote:
           | > It's crazy how the cradle of civilization has come down to
           | this.
           | 
           | -- and should be a beacon of caution to those of us in young
           | nations --
        
             | behnamoh wrote:
             | Interesting that you use -- in your comment(s). Any
             | particular reason why?
        
               | pigtailgirl wrote:
               | -- habit from irc/forum days - was in a quake clan with
               | members that punctuated this way - also found it helpful
               | to find my place quickly on irc in irssi - also i think
               | its easy to read - do you find it annoying? --
        
       | sherr wrote:
       | Also covered in the Smithsonian Magazine site :
       | 
       | Drought in Iraq Reveals 3,400-Year-Old City [1]
       | 
       | [1] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/drought-in-iraq-
       | re...
        
       | jaqalopes wrote:
       | Possibly dumb question... Did they know the city was there when
       | they built the Mosul Dam and flooded the area to create the
       | present reservoir?
        
         | ncmncm wrote:
         | Not dumb. Yes, they did know of it. But they did not get
         | opportunity to study it. So now they have to hustle before it
         | goes under again.
         | 
         | They had to do Abu Hureyra in a mad rush before it went under.
         | That was a site occupied at the time the bolide strike in
         | 10,818 BCE itinitiated the 1300-year Younger Dryas freeze, and
         | burnt it to cinders and glass beads.
        
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