Long-Lost Iron Age Temple Unearthed in Iraq

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Long-Lost Iron Age Temple Unearthed in Iraq
Jul 8, 2014 09:55
by Owen Jarus, LiveScience

Life-size human statues and column bases from a long-lost temple dedicated to a supreme god have been discovered in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq.

The discoveries date back over 2,500 years to the Iron Age, a time period when several groups — such as the Urartians, Assyrians and Scythians — vied for supremacy over what is now northern Iraq.

"I didn't do excavation, just archaeological soundings —the villagers uncovered these materials accidentally," said Dlshad Marf Zamua, a doctoral student at Leiden University in the Netherlands, who began the fieldwork in 2005. The column bases were found in a single village while the other finds, including a bronze statuette of a wild goat, were found in a broad area south of where the borders of Iraq, Iran and Turkey intersect. [See Photos of the Life-Size Statues & Other Discoveries in Iraq]

For part of the Iron Age, this area was under control of the city of Musasir, also called Ardini, Marf Zamua said. Ancient inscriptions have referred to Musasir as a "holy city founded in bedrock" and "the city of the raven."

MORE at http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/long-lost-iron-age-temple-unearthed-in-iraq-140708.htm
There is a photo album of these and other discoveries at http://www.livescience.com/46665-iraq-archaeological-discoveries-photos.html