German-Iraqi archaeological team discovers 4,000-year-old boat in the city of Uruk

IRAQ – A joint Iraqi-German archaeological mission announced the discovery of an artifact in the ancient city of Uruk. The excavating team found a seven-meter-long boat and forty-one centimeter in width. The boat is about four thousand years old.

The boat was found near the ancient Sumerian (and later Akkadian and Babylonian) city of Uruk, also called al-Warka which is located in the Muthanna Governate in southern Iraq. The Sumerians invented writing and findings of clay tablets tell us much about the first civilizations. Sumer and Uruk came up in the middle of the fourth century BC in what is now modern-day southern Iraq and witnessed the earliest urbanization.

The prospecting team of the Berlin-based Archeological Institute stated that “the discovered boat is in very good condition, and it will be transferred to the National Museum in Baghdad for the purpose of carrying out minor repairs on it,” noting that “this discovery is unique in its kind, and being in this good condition, it represents a valuable treasure.”

In another context, and in order to preserve the environment of the Iraqi people, the Non-Governmental Organizations Department in the General Secretariat of the Iraqi Council of Ministers launched, on Friday, an initiative to plant one million trees and seedlings.

In a press release, the director general of the department, Ashraf El Dahan, said that the initiative includes planting fruit trees and various seedlings of roses to achieve comprehensive sustainable development, as well as increasing green spaces. Al-Dahan indicated that the project includes environmental awareness, agricultural campaigns, and feeding state institutions, universities, schools, public squares and city entrances with green spaces.