12th Century Prayer Room Found under Mosque in Iraq’s Mosul

Excavations around the Al-Nuri mosque in the old town of Iraq's northern city Mosul, which was heavily damaged by ISIS in 2017. (AFP)
Excavations around the Al-Nuri mosque in the old town of Iraq's northern city Mosul, which was heavily damaged by ISIS in 2017. (AFP)
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12th Century Prayer Room Found under Mosque in Iraq’s Mosul

Excavations around the Al-Nuri mosque in the old town of Iraq's northern city Mosul, which was heavily damaged by ISIS in 2017. (AFP)
Excavations around the Al-Nuri mosque in the old town of Iraq's northern city Mosul, which was heavily damaged by ISIS in 2017. (AFP)

The foundations of a prayer hall from the 12th century have been discovered under the Al-Nuri mosque -- where the ISIS group once proclaimed their so-called "caliphate" -- in Iraq's Mosul, site managers said Tuesday.

The mosque, which along with its iconic leaning minaret was severely damaged by ISIS during the battle to dislodge the jihadists from Mosul in 2017, has been undergoing reconstruction.

The prayer room was found during excavation underneath the mosque, according to Khaireddine Nasser, director of the department of antiquities and heritage in Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital.

Four additional rooms for the performance of ablutions were also discovered under the prayer room, Nasser said.

Those rooms "are interconnected and built of stone and plaster".

The discovery allows for "better knowledge of the surface of Al-Nuri mosque and this ancient prayer room, but also the ablution basins" found there.

Each ablution room measures three meters (almost 10 feet) in height and 3.5 meters in width, Nasser said.

"They are about six meters underground," he added.

He said the discovery "amplifies the importance of this historical and archaeological site".

The excavation was carried out by his department, with support from UNESCO and funding from the United Arab Emirates.

"The foundations of the old prayer hall are more extensive than those of the prayer hall built in the 1940s", he added.

The mosque was constructed in 1172, but much of it was destroyed and reconstructed in 1942, with the exception of its minaret, which endured.

UNESCO raised more than $100 million in 2019 as part of its initiative to "revive the spirit of Mosul". About half of the funds were pledged by the UAE.

Reconstruction work is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.



Scientists: Giant Kangaroos Perished During 'Climate Upheaval'

This handout photo taken on April 17, 2025, and released on April 23, 2025 by the University of Wollongong shows Scott Hocknull, a vertebrate palaeontologist and senior curator at the Queensland Museum, holding a Protemnodon skull fossil. (Photo by Handout / UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG / AFP)
This handout photo taken on April 17, 2025, and released on April 23, 2025 by the University of Wollongong shows Scott Hocknull, a vertebrate palaeontologist and senior curator at the Queensland Museum, holding a Protemnodon skull fossil. (Photo by Handout / UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG / AFP)
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Scientists: Giant Kangaroos Perished During 'Climate Upheaval'

This handout photo taken on April 17, 2025, and released on April 23, 2025 by the University of Wollongong shows Scott Hocknull, a vertebrate palaeontologist and senior curator at the Queensland Museum, holding a Protemnodon skull fossil. (Photo by Handout / UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG / AFP)
This handout photo taken on April 17, 2025, and released on April 23, 2025 by the University of Wollongong shows Scott Hocknull, a vertebrate palaeontologist and senior curator at the Queensland Museum, holding a Protemnodon skull fossil. (Photo by Handout / UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG / AFP)

Giant prehistoric kangaroos perished when "climate upheaval" turned lush Australian rainforest into desert, scientists said Thursday after studying ancient fossils with new techniques.

Weighing as much as 170 kilograms (375 pounds) -- almost twice as hefty as the chunkiest living kangaroos -- the extinct "Protemnodon" bounded across Australia as many as five million years ago, AFP reported.

Researchers were able to recreate the foraging habits of one population by matching long-lived chemicals from fossilized teeth to recently unearthed rocks.

Similarities in chemical composition helped mark how far the kangaroos hopped in search of food.

"Imagine ancient GPS trackers," said Queensland Museum scientist Scott Hocknull.

"We can use the fossils to track individuals, where they moved, what they ate, who they lived with and how they died -- it's like Palaeo Big Brother."

Scientists found the mega-herbivores lived in what was then a verdant rainforest -- barely venturing far from home to forage.

The rainforest started to wither around 300,000 years ago as the region's climate turned "increasingly dry and unstable".

"The giant kangaroos' desire to stay close to home, during a time of major climate upheaval 300,000 years ago, likely contributed to their demise," the researchers said.

Species of giant kangaroo survived in other parts of Australia and Papua New Guinea, with the last populations surviving until around 40,000 years ago.

Scientist Anthony Dosseto said the new techniques could be used to better understand the disappearance of Australia's megafauna.

Prehistoric species of giant echidna, wombat-like marsupials weighing over two tons, and hulking flesh-eating lizards once roamed the Australian continent.

"The debate about the extinction of the Australian megafauna has been going on for decades, but now we can take it to an individual and species-by-species perspective," said Dosseto, from the Wollongong Isotope Geochronology Lab.

"With these precise techniques, each site and each individual can now be used to test and build more accurate extinction scenarios."

The findings were published in peer-reviewed journal PLOS One.