From/ Dawlat Abouna/ Baghdad

Ten new rock reliefs showing the Assyrian king and the gods of Assyria sculpted along a large rock-cut irrigation canal. By the Italian Archaeologists from (University of Udine – Italy).
The team made discovery in the archaeological site of Faida (20 km south of Duhok). Ten unique Assyrian rock reliefs of the eighth-seventh century BC were excavated on the eastern side about 7-km long canal dug into the bedrock. The Faida canal cuts through the limestone of the hill range and was fed by a series of karst springs – in part still active today – situated in several small wadis along the mountain’s northern flank. The canal had an average width of 4 m and today is buried under deposits eroded from the mountain. From the primary canal, several offtakes diverted water into secondary canals to irrigate the neighbouring fields and thus improve the agricultural production of the countryside in the hinterland of Nineveh, The Assyrian Empire capital.

The canal was possibly planned by the Assyrian king Sargon (720-705 BC) and along its east bank the king had panels – almost 5 m high and 2 m wide – sculpted, showing the ruler on both sides of a line of deities mounted on their sacred animals. Before the excavation, only the upper parts of the sculpted panel frames emerged from the colluvial deposits and in some cases it was possible to recognize the crowns of the deities depicted on the buried panels.

The Faida reliefs portray a procession of statues of seven of the main Assyrian deities standing on podia in the shape of striding animals in the presence of the king – who is depicted twice, at both the left and right ends of each panel. The figures are shown in profile facing left and thus looking in the same direction as the current flowing in the channel. The deities can be identified as Ashur, the main Assyrian god, on a dragon and a horned lion, his wife Mullissu sitting on a decorated throne supported by a lion, the moon god Sin on a horned lion, the god of wisdom Nabu (?) on a dragon, the sun god Shamash on a horse, the weather god Adad on a horned lion and a bull, and Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, on a lion.

Important Assyrian reliefs (ten have already been excavated, but many others are still waiting to be identified and unearthed), but also to record them using new technologies, to conserve them – and above all to protect this unique and exceptional archaeological site. During the 2019 field season, the canal and the reliefs have been excavated and cleaned, where necessary consolidated, and recorded by means of UAV technology, laser scanning, and digital photogrammetry.

At the end of the excavation and work, which will continue in the next years, an archaeological park of the Faida Assyrian reliefs will be established. This will allow the canal and its rock reliefs to be opened to sustainable local and international tourism, The Faida canal with its extraordinary reliefs will thus join the other Assyrian canals, aqueducts and rock reliefs existing in the Duhok region (Khinis, Maltai and Shiru Maliktha reliefs, and Jerwan aqueduct). This complex monumental hydraulic system built by the Assyrian king Sennacherib has been studied and documented by the Italian Archaeological Mission of Udine University.

Allen Alluna