Archaeologists find trove of treasure plundered by ISIS fighters

Islamic State fighters who uncovered an ancient Assyrian palace under the ruins of Mosul are feared to have sold war booty stored by kings.

An Iraqi Counter Terrorism Section member near the village of Bazwaya, on the eastern edges of Mosul. Picture: AFP

Islamic State fighters who uncovered an ancient Assyrian palace under the ruins of Mosul are feared to have looted and sold war booty stored there by kings.

Archaeologists have spent two months exploring tunnels dug by ISIS under the tomb of the prophet Jonah, a celebrated shrine in East Mosul that the group blew up for ideological reasons.

The jihadists held Mosul for more than three years before it was finally liberated in the middle of 2017.

The tunnels lead to the military palace founded by King Sennacherib in the 7th century BC. Attempts to excavate the site in the 19th and 20th centuries were curtailed for fear of disturbing the shrine and offending local people.

When the tunnels were ­revealed it was thought that ISIS had extended earlier excavations as part of an underground network in which it hid from ­coalition bombing raids.

However, Peter Miglus, the Heidelberg University archaeologist who has led work at the site, said the gold booty apparently kept in the palace by Sennacherib and his heirs suggested that there used to be a lot more. “We can presume many very valuable ­objects must now be on the black market,” he said.

Professor Miglus said the excavations carried out by ISIS had identified the palace throne room — the largest of any in the palaces — and enabled him to plot its network of other passages and chambers, which may reveal untouched plunder when the dig resumes.

It is vital to conduct those further excavations before the mosque and shrine are reconstructed, he added.

The Times