4,500-year-old Sumerian temple dedicated to mighty thunder god discovered in Iraq [View all]

By Sascha Pare published about 12 hours ago

Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a 4,500-year-old Sumerian temple at the heart of the ancient city of Girsu, in southeastern Iraq.



An aerial photo showing the mudbrick remains of a Sumerian temple in what is now Iraq. (Image credit: British Museum)

Archaeologists in Iraq have unearthed the remains of a 4,500-year-old Sumerian temple dedicated to Ningirsu, the Mesopotamian god of springtime thunder, the British Museum has reported.

The long-lost temple was built out of mud brick and was the spectacular centerpiece of the ancient city of Girsu, now an archaeological site known as Tello.

"At the heart of the city of Girsu, we have discovered — and are still currently excavating — one of the most important sacred spaces of all ancient Mesopotamia: a temple dedicated to the chief god of Girsu," Sebastien Rey(opens in new tab), a curator of ancient Mesopotamia and lead archaeologist at the British Museum in London, said in a presentation(opens in new tab) of the findings.

Girsu was a bustling cultural center at the heart of Mesopotamia — a broad area between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris including Iraq, eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, part of western Iran and Kuwait, and home to some of the first civilizations. The Sumerians were possibly the oldest civilization in the world and the first to establish religion and a code of law.

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