SHADDADI, Syria (North Press) – In an area known for being an archaeological area south of Hasakah, northeast Syria, water dropping and drought led to unearthing a very old cemetery with lined graves date back to hundreds of years.
While Suleiman Dahesh, a resident of the village of Taban, walking carefully across these graves in order not to harm anything inside the graves, he said that individuals found this cemetery 20 days ago.
Dahesh further explained that after constructing al-Basel dam on Khabur River and due to increasing the water flow in the dam, water inundated lands in the vicinity of the dam.
Al-Basel Dam was established on the Khabur River south of Hasakah in 1991. It is one of the most important dams in the region with a 640 million cubic meters shortage capacity.
The length of the Khabur is 320 km. It originates in Turkey and enters the Syrian territory at the city of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain), passing through Hasakah, then it merges with the Jaqjaq River to flow into the Euphrates near the city of al-Mayadin in Deir ez-Zor, and then enters Iraqi territory.
In October 2019, Turkish forces, with the support of their affiliated Syrian opposition faction also known as the Syrian National Army (SNA) launched the military operation Peace Spring against Sere Kaniye and Tel Abyad.
As a result they seized large swaths in these areas.
With severe climate change-linked drought, water shortages have become more severe since May 2021, when the Turkish-backed SNA built three earth dams in areas under their control, cutting off the vital Khabur River.
In total, 53.7% of the Khabur water flow between Turkey and Hasakah was dammed, according to PAX.
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As water in al-Basel Dam has decreased by about 120 million m³, the cemetery reemerged. It extends on an area of about one kilometer near Taban Hill, according to Dahesh.
“The area was inundated by the dam’s water and then water has dropped, so that this old cemetery has reemerged,” he said while pointing at the land where the cemetery is located.
He recalls days in 1995 when a Japanese delegation specialized in excavation and archaeological hills visited, in coordination with the Syrian government, the Taban Hill next to the cemetery is situated.
“It (the hill) is an ancient hill which dates back to about 2.400 years BC,” he said.
Employees in agriculture committee in the town of Shaddadi believe that lack of rainfalls and drought the region has witnessed during the past few years contributed to the reemergence of this cemetery.
Hassan al-Abed, an expert, said that the cemetery extends from Taban archaeological hill to the village of Tel al-Zahab on the river’s banks east of the dam.
“The cemetery includes hundreds of graves, which contains human bodies that smash just by touching, and this indicates that they date back to hundreds of years,” he added.
This cemetery was not designated for burying villagers of the nearby villagers, according to al-Abed.
“Residents of the neighboring villages stressed this issue because before the construction of the dam in 1991, the cemetery had not existed and even old people do not know about it,” he stressed.
Director of Board of Antiquities in Hasakah, Adnan Berri, has not been surprised on the reemergence of these graves as water level in the dam decreased, saying, “According to official statistics, about 300 archaeological sites are situated on the banks of the Khabur.”
He went further saying that about 59 sites are inundated by water. Many of the sites were unearthed, as many expeditions explored these sites.
Berri noted that the reemergence of these graves is quite normal because these sites have been documented previously, revealing that they date back to Assyrian period.
He added that it is possible for other archaeological sites to reemerge as the water level in the dam continues to decrease.
The new unearthed cemetery has been documented in the board previously, according to the director, who confirmed that the board knew about it.
There are other archaeological sites deploy in the area between Taban and Khnedij hill on the right bank of the Khabur, 20 kilometers south of Hasakah, according to Berri.