Ongoing excavation at Iraq’s Mosul Dam reservoir yielded finds from the Hellenistic era. “So far, we have discovered approximately 40 tombs,” said Bekas Brefkany, Director of Antiquities in Duhok, who led the dig. Archaeologists documented clay coffins among the burials at the edge of the reservoir near Khanke in Duhok province, and the remains were dated to more than 2,300 years ago, according to CBS News. Nearby lay the ruins of a lost Hellenistic-era city and a large cemetery.
Brefkany said the team worked in conditions opened by unusually low water. In 2023, they surveyed the area but saw only parts of a few tombs because water stood high. Work progressed this year when the reservoir dropped to its lowest level. He said the tombs dated to the Hellenistic-Seleucid period.
The team moved to excavate the burials for transfer to the Duhok Museum before the site is submerged again. “Drought has a significant impact on many things, such as agriculture and electricity. However, for us archaeologists... it allows us to excavate,” said Brefkany.
The discoveries came as Iraq faced a water crisis. Authorities stated that national water reserves fell to about 8 percent of capacity, the lowest level since 1933. Officials cited rising temperatures, chronic shortages, and year-on-year droughts, with reduced precipitation and higher evaporation. Authorities also blamed upstream dams in Iran and Turkey for reducing flows of the Tigris and Euphrates.
The wider setting underscored the stakes. The Mosul Dam, built on the Tigris River, submerged more than 80 villages, schools, and archaeological sites, while supplying water and power; it held up to 11 billion cubic meters and produced about 580 megawatts daily, according to Enikos.
Water fluctuations had already revealed other sites. In 2023, a Yazidi village that lay underwater for nearly four decades resurfaced, followed by a Yazidi tomb from 1961 along the Tigris; in early 2025, a long-submerged school building emerged in Hanke, according to Enikos. The Yazidis are an ethno-religious minority of northern Mesopotamia, especially in Nineveh Governorate and the Kurdistan region.
“Since 2018, we have been monitoring the water levels, when the first major drop brought ancient findings to light. And with the new discovery, the same is happening,” said Brefkany. “After the construction of the Mosul Dam in 1986, a large number of archaeological sites were submerged,” said Brefkany.
Researchers said the tombs added detail to the Hellenistic period in northern Iraq, when local Mesopotamian cultures interacted with Greek rulers and settlers. The material could help reconstruct trade, culture, and governance in the region.
Written with the help of a news-analysis system.