Climate change gave archaeologists a chance to map an ancient Bronze Age city in Iraq that was discovered by a severe dry spell.
Locals in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq were forced to draw large amounts of water from a river in order to prevent crops from drying out due to a lack of water. Ancient structures from a 3,400-year-old city were rejuvenated by the lower water levels.
Iraq is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. Warming temperatures have made the country more prone to dry spells and threatens the livelihoods of those who live there. A senior adviser at Iraq's water resources ministry told Agence France-Presse in April that the country's water reserves were 50 percent less than last year.
Researchers can only look at the city's remains when there is a dry spell.
A team of Kurdish and German archaeologists rushed to the Kemune archaeological site in January and February to map the entire city.
According to archaeologists, the city is from the time of the Empire of Mittani, a kingdom that ruled large parts of northern Mesopotamia and Syria. The upper parts of the walls came crashing down after a large earthquake destroyed the city. After years of being submerged under the fallen walls, experts say it might have helped to be buried beneath them.
The site was an important center in the Mittani Empire according to the results of the excavation.
The original clay envelope of one of the jars with more than 100 Cuneiform tablets was found by researchers.
Peter Pflzner of the University of Tbingen, who was part of the excavation team, said in a statement that it was close to a miracle that the unfired clay tablets survived for so long underwater.
After finishing up their excavation in February, the archeologists covered the site with plastic sheets to keep it from getting worse.
The team is not the only group that is trying to save artifacts from being damaged by climate change. New finds are being unearthed by retreating waters, melting glaciers, and rising sea levels. There are long-submerged bodies in Nevada's Lake Mead. In Hawaii ancestral remains, which are traditionally buried along the shore, are under threat from coastal erosion.
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