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The catalogue
15 places to sift through. Narrow by kind, country, period or how firmly each one is established — contested and pseudoarchaeological claims are labelled here, never hidden.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Neolithic to Abbasid (6000 BCE–present; Assyrian capital 705–612 BCE) · Assyrian / Babylonian / Persian / Hellenistic / Parthian
Great Assyrian capital under Sennacherib (705–681 BCE) extended by Ashurbanipal (668–630 BCE), Nineveh at fall (612 BCE) was world's largest city (~15 km walls, 100,000 inhabitants).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Hydraulic works
Neo-Assyrian Sargonid (720 – 681 BCE) · Neo-Assyrian imperial under Sennacherib
Khorsabad 5 km arched head of Sennacherib's 55 km 690 BCE Khinis–Nineveh canal system.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Hydraulic works
Neo-Assyrian Empire 879-612 BCE · Assyrian Neo-Assyrian imperial engineers
879 BCE Assyrian Tigris weir dam (200 m) at Nimrud with 5 gated sluices feeding Sennacherib's canal cascade to Nineveh.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Neo-Assyrian (883–612 BCE imperial capital; ziggurat 883 BCE) · Assyrian (Neo-Assyrian)
Assyrian imperial second capital Kalhu/Nimrud (Assurnasirpal II 883–859 BCE): mudbrick ziggurat crowning citadel mound adjacent to Northwest Palace with famous Nimrud ivories, throne room and lamassu.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Middle to Neo-Assyrian (1350–612 BCE) · Assyrian
Second capital of Assyria after Assur under Ashurnasirpal II (883 BCE), who built the Northwest Palace with 600 m of alabaster lamassu and bas-reliefs (Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III showing King…
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Late Bronze–Neo-Assyrian (c.1500–600 BCE) · Mitanni → Middle/Neo-Assyrian
Small but archive-rich tell 20 km N of Nineveh: Mitanni layer produced Nuzi-type tablets, Middle Assyrian governor’s correspondence (14 c. tablets) and Neo-Assyrian granaries. E.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Old Babylonian to Mitanni · Amorite / Old Assyrian
Old Babylonian planned city ziggurat at Tell al-Rimah (Qattara/Karana) c.1800 BCE: 45×45 m Adad ziggurat on 130 m terrace, Sinjar plain encircled city.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Old Babylonian to Mitanni, c.1900-1400 BCE (Shamshi-Adad, Hammurabi, Mitanni) · Old Babylonian / Mitanni (Karana / Qattara)
Tell al-Rimah (ancient Qattara/Karana) south of Jebel Sinjar: massive tell 40 ha with high ziggurat mound 30 m high (200×200 m base) and lower town.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Hydraulic works
Iron Age Neo-Assyrian Empire (705–681 BCE Sennacherib) · Neo-Assyrian imperial engineers under Sennacherib
690 BCE Assyrian 300-m stone arch aqueduct—world's oldest bridge-aqueduct carrying Nineveh's 80-km canal.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Parthian to Sassanian (c.200 BCE–241 CE) · Parthian-Arab (Hatrene Aramaic) / Hellenistic influence
Fortified Parthian-Arab desert city (2nd c BCE–241 CE) with circular walls 6.4 km circuit resisting Trajan (117) and Septimius Severus (198).
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Neo-Assyrian (713–705 BCE construction and occupation only) · Assyrian
Short-lived Assyrian capital built 713–707 BCE by Sargon II as brand-new square city 1.628 km side with seven gates, 24 km walls, and palace on citadel.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Neolithic Hassuna-Samarra (c.6000–5600 BCE) · Hassuna
Type site 1939–44 excavation by Seton Lloyd that defined the Hassuna painted pottery tradition of northern Iraq.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Old Babylonian–Old Assyrian (c.1900–1700 BCE) to Middle Assyrian · Upper Mesopotamian Old Babylonian kingdom of Karana / Qattara
Upper Jazira fortified court city Karana (Tell al-Rimah) with massive temple Zigg followed by a double palace discovered by David Oates: palace with wall paintings, archive of 600 OB letters (Qattara…
🇮🇶 Iraq · Hydraulic works
Neo-Assyrian 690 BCE · Neo-Assyrian Sennacherib
Mountain head reliefs and 17-spring capture merging to 55 km Nineveh canal.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Tell
Neolithic–Iron Age (c.6100–600 BCE) plus later · Halaf → Ubaid → Ninevite 5 → ED–Akkadian → Mittanian–Assyrian
Sinjar plain megamound 80 ha (Halaf–Assyrian 6k yr sequence, 25 m high) near Tel Afar.
