Drought in Iraq Reveals Ancient Tombs — But at a High Price

Ancient Tombs Unearthed In Iraq Due To Drought (AFP)

Nisaba Media (Nineveh, Iraq): When archaeologists first surveyed the banks of the Mosul Dam reservoir in 2023, they noticed little more than faint outlines of stone emerging from the mud. At the time, rising water covered most of the area, and only fragments hinted at what lay beneath.

But this summer, with water levels plunging to historic lows, the picture has changed dramatically.

“So far, we have discovered approximately 40 tombs,” said Bekas Brefkany, the director of antiquities in Duhok province, who is leading the excavation. “We could only work on the site when the water levels dropped to their lowest.”

The tombs, believed to date back more than 2,300 years to the Hellenistic or Hellenistic-Seleucid period, were unearthed in the Khanke region of northern Iraq. Their exposure offers a rare glimpse into the past, but it comes at a sobering cost.

The very droughts that are devastating agriculture, crippling electricity production, and upending livelihoods are also peeling back the layers of history hidden under Iraq’s reservoirs and rivers.

An Uneasy Gift of Climate Change

The excavation team had previously identified only a handful of burial sites, but the dramatic fall in water levels this year revealed dozens more.

The tombs are expected to be moved to the Duhok Museum for study and preservation before the reservoir eventually rises again, swallowing the site.

For archaeologists, the discovery is extraordinary. Iraq is often described as the “cradle of civilization,” home to the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians. Yet decades of war, looting, and neglect have hampered archaeological research. Climate change, paradoxically, is offering new opportunities.

“The droughts have significant impact on many aspects, like agriculture and electricity. But for us archaeologists, it allows us to do excavation work,” Brefkany explained.

This is not the first time history has resurfaced as a result of drought. In 2022, another team uncovered a 3,400-year-old city near Mosul Dam, believed to be part of the ancient Mitanni Empiren, after water levels receded dramatically.

A man works on a grave unearthed on the banks of Mosul Dam on an archaeological site in the Khanke sub-district of Dohuk Governorate, Iraq, August 30, 2025 [Ismael Adnan/AFP]

Similar finds have been reported across the country as once-submerged landscapes are laid bare.

Iraq’s Shrinking Waters

The broader picture, however, is grim. Iraq has been hit by five consecutive years of drought. Authorities warn that water reserves are now at just eight percent of their full capacity, the lowest levels in nearly a century. This year has been described as the driest since 1933.

The reasons are both local and geopolitical. Rising global temperatures have driven heatwaves across the Middle East, accelerating evaporation and stressing rivers.

But upstream dam projects in Turkey and Iran have also sharply reduced the flow of the Tigris and Euphrates, rivers that have sustained Mesopotamia’s fertile lands for millennia.

Farmers in central and southern Iraq are watching their crops wither. Hydroelectric plants, which rely on reservoir levels, are producing less power, worsening electricity shortages that already leave Iraqis sweltering without cooling in the summer heat.

Rural communities are abandoning their land, fueling migration to cities already struggling with unemployment and poor infrastructure.

“Every day we see the consequences,” said an agricultural engineer in Nineveh, who asked not to be named. “Fields are turning to dust. Families are leaving. And now we are told that even the water we have left hides the bones of our ancestors.”

Archaeology Meets Climate Crisis

The latest discoveries underline the duality of Iraq’s crisis. On one hand, drought reveals extraordinary windows into the past, helping archaeologists piece together the cultural and political history of the region during the Hellenistic period, when Alexander the Great’s successors ruled vast swathes of the Middle East.

On the other hand, it exposes the fragility of Iraq’s present.

Archaeological work is also a race against time. Once waters rise again, tombs risk being damaged, eroded, or permanently lost.

Iraq’s antiquities authority struggles with limited funding and resources, leaving many sites at risk of neglect. Looting, a persistent problem since the chaos of 2003, adds another layer of threat.

Still, discoveries like those at Khanke demonstrate the resilience of Iraq’s heritage sector.

Despite political instability and economic hardship, Iraqi archaeologists are pushing forward, often in collaboration with international teams.

Each new find reminds the world of Iraq’s role not just as a battleground in modern conflicts but as a crossroads of civilizations.

A History Written in Water

The Mosul Dam itself is a symbol of Iraq’s uneasy relationship with water. Built in the 1980s, the dam created the country’s largest reservoir but has long been plagued by structural problems and political controversy.

It was briefly seized by ISIS in 2014, sparking fears of catastrophic flooding. Today, it stands as both a lifeline and a warning, storing water that Iraq desperately needs, while hiding archaeological treasures beneath its surface.

As drought drains its reservoir, Iraq is reminded that water is both a source of life and a keeper of memory.

The tombs at Khanke belong to a period when Greek and local cultures intertwined, centuries before Rome extended its influence into Mesopotamia.

They hint at ancient rituals of death and remembrance, carried out along the same river valleys that still nourish Iraqi society today.

Looking Ahead

For now, Brefkany and his team are focused on carefully excavating and transferring the tombs.

The goal is to preserve them for study and display at the Duhok Museum, safeguarding them against the fluctuating waters of Mosul Dam.

Yet the future of such work depends on Iraq’s ability to navigate the escalating climate crisis.

International agencies have repeatedly warned that Iraq is among the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate change.

Without urgent reforms in water management, cooperation with neighboring states, and investment in sustainable agriculture, the cycle of drought and discovery may continue, revealing history while erasing the livelihoods of the present.

As the archaeologists sift through layers of dust and stone, they know they are working against time.

Each tomb tells a story, not just of the Hellenistic rulers who once commanded these lands, but of Iraq itself, a nation where the past is constantly resurfacing, even as the future remains uncertain.

“Every drought reveals something new,” said Brefkany. “But what we really need is water for life, not just for history.”