Previously untouched 600BC palace discovered

Archaeologists revealed that ISIS dug tunnels underneath the ruins of the Tomb of the Prophet Yunis. These tunnels lead to discover an ancient palace dating back to 600 BC deep under the ruins of the tomb, in northern Iraq. They said they have made an unexpected discovery, which could help in our understanding of the world’s first empire.

The Prophet Yunis' shrine containing what Muslims and Christians believe to be the tomb of Jonah, as he was known in the Bible, or Yunis in the Koran – was blown up by ISIS militants soon after they seized huge swathes of northern Iraq in 2014, according to the UK Telegraph.

The shrine is situated on top of a hill in eastern Mosul called Nebi Yunis, one of two mounds that form part of the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh.
The Iraqi army retook the area from ISIS last month, revealing the extensive damage wrought by ISIS elements.

Limited excavation was carried out by the Ottoman governor of Mosul in 1852, which was revisited by the Iraqi department of antiquities in the 1950s. But neither team reached as far as the palace. It is the first evidence of ISIS'S use of tunneling in ancient grounds in their hunt for artefacts to plunder.
 
Inside one of the tunnels, Iraqi archaeologist Layla Salih discovered a marble cuneiform inscription of King Esarhaddon thought to date back to the Assyrian empire in 672BC.

While the king’s name is not visible on the cuneiform slab, a historian who has seen photographs of it says phrases are legible which were used only to describe him, in particular his rebuilding of Babylon after his father Sennacherib had it destroyed.
 
The palace was built for Sennacherib, renovated and expanded by Esarhaddon (681-669 BC), and renovated again by Ashurbanipal (669-627). It was partly destroyed during the Sack of Nineveh in 612 BC.

There are only a handful of such cuneiforms recovered from the period, most of which from the second mound just north of Nebi Yunis in Kouyunjik.
 
In another part of the tunnel they discovered Assyrian stone sculptures of a demi-goddess, depicted sprinkling the “water of life” to protect humans in her care.

Ms Salih, a former curator of the Mosul museum who is supervising a five-man team carrying out the emergency documentation, said she believes ISIS looted hundreds of objects before Iraqi forces recaptured the eastern side of the city.