4 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

A new magnetic survey of the ancient Assyrian capital of Khorsabad has revealed a 127-room villa twice the size of the U.S. White House

Archaeologists in northern Iraq have conducted an extensive magnetic survey using an exhaustive magnetic survey at Khorsabad, once the ancient Assyrian capital, and with the help of this technology have found the remains of a huge villa (with 127 rooms), royal gardens, the city’s water gate and five large buildings that may have been used for various purposes.

The site, dating back 2,700 years, was originally established as Dur-Sharrukin, or “Fortress of Sargon,” by Neo-Assyrian Emperor Sargon II in 713 B.C.

The Neo-Assyrian emperor Sargon II began building a new capital city, named after himself, in the desert of what is now Iraq. For a long time, archaeologists believed that this ambitious project had only just begun when it was abandoned, leaving behind nothing but the remains of a building site. However, a recent survey of the site challenges that notion. The city did indeed flourish outside the palace, as evidenced by visualizations of data from a precision magnetometer that reveal hitherto undiscovered structures and infrastructure inside the city walls.

Sargon II died a few years after work began on Dur-Sharrukin (“Fortress of Sargon”), now called Khorsabad. His son quickly set up his own capital in the city of Nineveh, and for the next 2,500 years, Sargon II’s building project was largely forgotten. In the 1800s, French archaeologists rediscovered the site.

Their excavation of Sargon’s palace uncovered treasures of Neo-Assyrian art and culture, but teams digging elsewhere in the city came up empty-handed. Archaeologists concluded that the palace was the only building begun within Khorsabad’s city walls, which enclose an area more than one mile square (1.7 by 1.7 square kilometers).

Image of an Assyrian mythical creature from Sargon II’s palace at Khorsabad. Credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen.
Image of an Assyrian mythical creature from Sargon II’s palace at Khorsabad. Credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen.

In 2017, the French Archaeological Mission in Khorsabad decided to launch a new project to evaluate above-ground damage and conduct the first geophysical survey of buried remains at the site after the Islamic State’s two-year occupation of Khorasabad officially ended. The survey was expected to uncover the city’s water infrastructure, provide fresh insights into the wall fortifications, and perhaps even uncover new signs of habitation outside the palace.

The archaeologists conducted this survey in extremely difficult conditions while buried deep underground. Buried deep underground, the archaeologists underwent extremely tough conditions to conduct this survey. The magnetometer is a device that detects buried structures by mapping subtle changes in the Earth’s magnetic field, reports a press release by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and that makes it an incredibly useful tool for archaeologists seeking to find hidden structures that have been lost for centuries.

Jörg Fassbinder, a geophysicist from Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich and the study’s lead author, presented the results of this research at the 2024 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Annual Meeting.

Fassbinder noted, “Every day we discovered something new… all of this was found with no excavation. Excavation is very expensive, so the archaeologists wanted to know in detail what they could expect to achieve by digging. The survey saved time and money. It’s a necessary tool before starting any excavation.”

When the data were visualized as grayscale images, ghostly outlines emerged of structures as deep as six to ten feet (two to three meters) below ground. The data revealed the location of the city’s water gate, possible palace gardens, and five enormous buildings, including a 127-room villa twice the size of the U.S. White House. These and other discoveries are evidence that, at least for some time, Khorsabad was a living city.

Fassbinder’s discoveries reveal a bustling urban landscape extending beyond the palace walls, suggesting a vibrant capital teeming with activity.

American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Cover Image Credit: Reconstructed Model of Palace of Sargon at Khosrabad. Public domain

Related Articles

Archaeologists in Israel are restoring the largest Roman Basilica in the country

6 June 2021

6 June 2021

Archaeologists in Israel are trying to rebuild a 2,000-year-old Roman-era basilica that is thought to be the country’s biggest. A...

Imperial cult temple discovered in Spello: It opens a new chapter in the Roman Empire’s transition from paganism to Christianity

6 January 2024

6 January 2024

American researchers have announced the discovery of an Imperial cult temple in Spello, Italy. The discovery was announced by Douglas...

6th-Century BC Houses and Earthquake Evidence Discovered in Davti Blur, an Urartian Fortress City in Armenia

28 January 2025

28 January 2025

An Armenian-Polish archaeological team has uncovered remnants of 6th-century BC houses, a cremation cemetery, and signs of a significant earthquake...

In Turkey’s Gedikkaya Cave, a stone figurine was discovered inside a 16,500-year-old votive pit

17 December 2022

17 December 2022

A stone figurine was discovered in a 16500-year-old votive pit belonging to the Epi-paleolithic period, the transition phase from the...

Ancient Mythical Castle “Sörby Borg” Discovered on Swedish Island Creates Archaeological Sensation

4 August 2021

4 August 2021

A text from the early 18th century mentions the castle, which has become a bit of a legend. It has...

Remains of a 12-year-old boy wearing a bronze warrior belt found in Pontecagnano

6 July 2021

6 July 2021

The remains of a 12-year-old boy wearing a bronze warrior belt were found at Pontecagnano, an outpost of the pre-Roman...

Ancient city site unearthed in Central China produces fortune-telling relics

8 February 2024

8 February 2024

Bone slips used for “fortune-telling activities” and “ancient sacrificial ceremonies” were unearthed during excavations at an archaeological site in Puyang,...

Hagia Sophia May Collapse: Experts Sound Alarm Over 1,500-Year-Old World Heritage Monument

30 June 2025

30 June 2025

Beneath the grandeur of Hagia Sophia’s golden domes and sacred mosaics lies a ticking time bomb. With over 1,500 years...

Marble inlay floors found in a Sunken Roman villa in Baia, the Las Vegas of the ancient world

9 April 2023

9 April 2023

Expansion of research activities in the Terme del Lacus area in the sunken Baia park, known as the ‘Las Vegas’...

In the city of Gods and Goddesses Magnesia, Zeus Temple’s entrance gate found

26 September 2021

26 September 2021

During an excavation in the ancient city of Magnesia, located in the Ortaklar district of Germencik in Turkey’s Aegean province...

2,000-Year-Old Unique Composite Fish Scaled Armor Found in Ancient Tomb

20 December 2024

20 December 2024

Chinese researchers have recently found fish-scaled armor in the tomb of Liu He, Marquis of Haihun from the Western Han...

Hunting tools Dating Back 1900 Years Found inside a Cave in Querétaro, Mexico

27 January 2024

27 January 2024

Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) found hunting weapons dating back approximately 1,900 years in a...

A Trove of ‘Exceptional’ stunningly preserved bronze statues found at an Ancient Thermal Spa in Tuscany, Italy

10 November 2022

10 November 2022

A group of Italian archaeologists made the discovery of 24 well-preserved bronze statues from an ancient thermal spring in Tuscany....

The discovery that surprised archaeologists; a Rare glass cup adorning the table of rich Romans in Crimea

2 April 2022

2 April 2022

A discovery made in Frontovoye-3 necropolis in Crimea shows that during the Roman Empire there were more centers of glass...

An inscription containing the Turk name was discovered for the first time in Anatolia

3 September 2022

3 September 2022

For the first time in the pre-Islamic Early period Turkish history, an inscription bearing the inscription expression “Turk” and written...