２７００年前の王のレリーフと大規模なワイン醸造所を発掘　イラン北部

【ドホークＡＦＰ＝時事】２７００年前の新アッシリア帝国時代に建てられた大規模なワイン醸造所と、かんがい用水路の石壁に彫られた王家のレリーフがイラクで発見された。イラク北部ドホークの考古学当局とイタリアの考古学者による共同チームが２４日、発表した。（写真はイラク北部ニナワ県ファイダ付近で発掘された、新アッシリア帝国時代のかんがい用水路の壁に彫られたレリーフ）
　レリーフが見つかったのは、イラク北部ファイダにある、全長約９キロのかんがい用水路の壁面だ。
　高さ２メートル、幅５メートルの石板１２枚には、神々や祈りをささげる王、聖なる動物などの彫刻が施されている。サルゴン２世（紀元前７２１年～同７０５年）と息子センナケリブ王の統治時代にさかのぼるものだ。
　イタリアの考古学者ダニエーレ・モランディボナコッシ氏は「イラクでは他の場所でも石のレリーフが見つかっているが、これほど巨大で記念碑的なものはない」と指摘する。
　丘陵地から農家の畑まで水を運ぶかんがい用水路は、石灰岩を切り開いて建設された。レリーフは、この用水路建設を命じた王を人々に知らしめるために作られた。
　モランディボナコッシ氏は「これは宗教的な場面を描いただけでなく、政治的な、一種のプロパガンダのようなものだ」と語った。
　またドホーク近郊のキニスでは、センナケリブ王の時代に商業規模のワイン醸造に使用された、巨大な岩を掘ったブドウの圧搾場も発掘された。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/10/25-16:28）

Archaeologists in Iraq revealed Sunday their discovery of a large-scale wine factory from the rule of the Assyrian kings 2,700 years ago, along with stunning monumental rock-carved royal reliefs.
The stone bas-reliefs, showing kings praying to the gods, were cut into the walls of a nearly nine-kilometre-long (5.5-mile) irrigation canal at Faida in northern Iraq, the joint team of archaeologists from the Department of Antiquities in Dohuk and colleagues from Italy said.
The carvings, 12 panels measuring five metres (16 feet) wide and two metres tall, show gods, kings and sacred animals. They date from the reigns of Sargon II (721-705 BC) and his son Sennacherib.
There are other places with rock reliefs in Iraq, especially in Kurdistan, but none are so huge and monumental as this one, said Italian archaeologist Daniele Morandi Bonacossi.
The scenes represent the Assyrian king praying in front the Assyrian gods, he said, noting that the seven key gods are all seen, including Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, who is depicted on top of a lion.
- Ancient 'propaganda scene' -
The irrigation canal was cut into limestone to carry water from the hills to the fields of farmers, and the carvings were made to remind people of the king who ordered its construction.
It was not only a religious scene of prayer, it was also political, a sort of propaganda scene, Morandi Bonacossi added.
The king, in this way, wanted to show to the people living in the area that he was the one who has created these massive irrigation systems, so... the people should remember this and remain loyal.
At Khinis, also near Dohuk, the team unearthed giant stone basins cut into white rock that were used in commercial wine-making during the reign of Sennacherib, in the late 8th or early 7th century BC.
It was a sort of industrial wine factory, said Morandi Bonacossi, professor of Near Eastern archaeology at Italy's University of Udine, adding this was the first such discovery in Iraq.
We have found 14 installations, that were used to press the grapes and extract the juice, which was then processed into wine.
Some of the most famous carvings that have survived from the Assyrian period are the mythical winged bulls, with examples of the monumental reliefs seen in the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, as well as the Louvre in Paris and the British Museum in London.
Iraq was the birthplace of some of the world's earliest cities. As well as Assyrians it was once home to Sumerians and Babylonians, and to among humankind's first examples of writing.
But it is also now a location for smugglers of ancient artifacts.
Looters decimated the country's ancient past, including after the 2003 US-led invasion.
Then, from 2014 and 2017, the Islamic State group demolished dozens of pre-Islamic treasures with bulldozers, pickaxes and explosives. They also used smuggling to finance their operations.
However, some countries are slowly returning stolen items.
Earlier this year, the United States returned about 17,000 artifacts to Iraq, pieces that mostly dated from the Sumerian period around 4,000 years ago.
Last month, a 3,500-year-old tablet recounting the epic of Gilgamesh was returned to Iraq after being stolen three decades ago and illegally imported to the US.