Huge find throws new light on ancient Iraq

05 Apr 2013 University of Manchester archaeologists have started the excavation of an enormous building complex in Iraq, thought to be around 4,000 years old. The team, directed by Professor Stuart Campbell and Dr Jane Moon, both from Manchester, and independent archaeologist Robert Killick, first spotted the amazing structure - thought to be an administrative complex serving one of the world's earliest cities- on satellite. It was after carrying out geophysical survey and trial excavations at the site of Tell Khaiber that they were able to confirm the size of the complex at about 80 metres square - roughly the size of a football pitch. They are the first British archaeologists to excavate in Southern Iraq since the 1980s, working close to the ancient city of Ur, where Sir Leonard Woolley discovered the fabulous 'Royal Tombs' in the 1920s. The arrangement of rooms around a large courtyard are at a site only 20km from Ur, the last capital of the Sumerian royal dynasties, the founders of the earliest cities in the world. Professor Campbell is head of the University's renowned Department of Archaeology. He said: "This is a breathtaking find and we feel privileged to be the first to work at this important site.