Ancient wine press, carving found in Iraq

Archaeologists in Iraq revealed on Oct. 24 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 9-kilometer-long 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 meters wide and two meters tall, show gods, kings and sacred animals. They date from the reigns of Sargon II (721-705 B.C.) and his son Sennacherib.

"There are other places with rock reliefs in Iraq, 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.

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...