Is anyone doing any interesting armchair travelling this summer?

Archaeologists uncover ancient palace of the Mittani Empire in Kurdistan Region

Only last year, due to a lack of rainfall and water, archeologists were able to launch a spontaneous rescue excavation of the ruins exposed by the receding water levels.

The research was headed by Dr. Hasan Ahmed Qasim (Duhok) and Dr. Ivana Puljiz (Tübingen), as a joint project between the University of Tübingen and the Kurdistan Archaeology Organization (KAO) in cooperation with the Duhok Directorate of Antiquities.

"The Mittani Empire is one of the least researched empires of the Ancient Near East," Ivana Puljiz of the Tübingen Institute for Ancient Near Eastern Studies (IANES) said.

"Information on palaces of the Mittani Period is so far only available from Tell Brak in Syria and from the cities of Nuzi and Alalakh, both located on the periphery of the empire."

One of the few helpful aspects of climate change, uncovering ancient ruins.