Archaeologists in Iraq revealed Last Sunday the discovery of a large-scale wine factory, as well as a set of carved stone bas-reliefs.

The remains were found by Italian investigators and the Directorate of Antiquities in Dohuk, Iraqi Kurdistan, in two enclaves from the time of King Sargon II, in the north of the Arab country.

“We found 14 presses used to squeeze the grapes and extract their liquid and then turn it into wine,” says Daniele Morandi Bonacossi, co-director of the team of archaeologists, who said that an industrial-sized wine workshop was an unusual discovery. in Iraq.

The stone bas-reliefs were found on the walls of a nine-kilometer-long irrigation canal at the archaeological site of Faida and belong to the time of the Assyrian kings, 2,700 years ago. It consists of 12 stone panels that are five meters wide and two meters high, and show the figures of gods, kings and sacred animals.

The Italian archaeologist explained that “the scenes represent the Assyrian king praying before the Assyrian gods” and pointed out that the seven main deities can be seen, including Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, who appears at the top. of a lion.

Iraq represents the cradle of the civilizations of Sumer, Acadia, Babylon and Assyria, which form the basis of the first types of writing and the first sedentary cities, hence the importance of each new discovery on its territory.