Archaeologists in northern Iraq have discovered the remains of a massive villa, royal gardens and other structures buried deep underground at what was once the ancient Assyrian capital of Khorsabad, a new magnetic survey reveals.
The international team of researchers used a magnetometer in unusually taxing conditions to detect the 2,700-year-old city's water gate, possible palace gardens and five large buildings — including a villa with 127 rooms that is twice the size of the White House. The previously undiscovered structures challenge the notion that Khorsabad was never developed beyond a palace complex in the eighth century B.C., according to an American Geophysical Union (AGU) statement.
