An ancient, important battle site in Iraq discovered by archaeologists using spy satellite images

Beirut – 1970s-era US spy satellite images have led a British-Iraqi archaeological team to what they believe is the site of a seventh-century battle that was decisive in the spread of Islam across the region.

The Battle of al-Qadisiyah was fought in Mesopotamia – modern-day Iraq – in the AD 630s between Arab Muslims and the army of the Sassanid Persian dynasty during the Islamic expansion. The Arab army was victorious and continued its march into Persia, now Iran.

A joint team of archaeologists from Durham University in the UK and Al-Qadisiyah University stumbled across the site while conducting a remote sensing survey to map the Darb Zubaydah, a pilgrimage route from Iraq’s Kufa to Mecca in Saudi Arabia that took more than a year to build. -1,000 ago. . The findings were published Tuesday in the journal Antiquity.

While mapping the route, the team noticed that an area about 20 kilometers south of Kufa in the southern Iraqi province of Najaf – a desert area with scattered agricultural areas – has characteristics that almost match the description of the al-Qadisiyah battle area described in history. documents.

William Deadman, an expert in archaeological remote sensing at Durham University, said that Cold War-era satellite images are tools used by archaeologists working in the Middle East because older images often show features that have been destroyed or altered and will never appear. in today’s satellite images.

“The Middle East has developed a lot in the last 50 years, both with the growth of agriculture and the expansion of cities,” he said. Some of the distinguishing features of the al-Qadisiyah area, such as the distinct canal, were “very clean and clear” in the 1970s photos, he said.

The survey conducted confirmed the findings and convinced the team that they had identified the area correctly.

Key features were a deep moat, two forts and an ancient river that was reportedly once crossed by Persian soldiers on elephants, said Jaafar Jotheri, a professor of archeology at Al-Qadisiyah University who is part of the discovery team. . The survey team also found pottery fragments dating back to the time when the battle took place.

A revealing, well-known battle

Jotheri said Iraqis of his generation, who grew up under Saddam Hussein’s regime, were familiar with the war in minute detail, down to the names of the generals on both sides.

The war at the time had political connotations – Iraq was engaged in a devastating war with Iran in the mid-1980s. Saddam pointed to the Battle of Qadisiyah as a harbinger of victory for Iraq.

Like many children growing up at that time, Jotheri said he watched the famous film about the war as many times as it aired on television.

In the post-Saddam era, al-Qadisiyah has become a test of political power. Iraqis’ views on the war vary depending on their feelings about Iran, which has increased its influence in the country since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam.

“There is a political and religious context in this war because now, there are religious differences, ethnic differences, political differences in Iraq and we study or look at everything based on … our differences,” said Jotheri. But he added, “We all agree that it is a very important, decisive battle, and we all know about it.”

Discovery was part of a regional trend

The team plans to start digging in the area next year, said Jotheri.

The discovery comes as part of a wider project launched in 2015 to document archaeologically vulnerable areas in the region.

It is also during the resurgence of archeology in Iraq, a country often called “the center of civilization,” but where archaeological exploration has been blocked for decades by conflicts that have halted excavations and led to looting of tens of thousands. of artefacts.

In recent years, the digs have returned and thousands of stolen items have been returned.