Page "Nineveh" Paragraph 39

* Kuyunjik-The ruin mound rises about above the surrounding plain of the ancient city.

It is quite broad, measuring about.

Its upper layers have been extensively excavated and several Neo-Assyrian palaces and temples have been found there.

A deep sounding by Max Mallowan revealed evidence of habitation as early as the 6th millennium BC.

Today, there is little evidence of these old excavations other than weathered pits and earth piles.

In 1990, the only Assyrian remains visible were those of the entry court and the first few chambers of the Palace of Sennacherib.

Since that time, the palace chambers have received significant damage by looters due to the turmoil in the area.

Portions of relief sculptures that were in the palace chambers in 1990 were seen on the antiquities market by 1996.

Photographs of the chambers made in 2003 show that many of the fine relief sculptures there have been reduced to piles of rubble.