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Babylon continues to inspire the dreams of archaeologists who work diligently to restore its functionality and influence. Using a method called “archaeomagnetism,” scientists recently managed to determine the construction date of the famous Ishtar Gate, which guards the entrance to the eastern facade of the ancient city’s southern palace.
The imposing Gate of Ishtarelle embodied the splendor and opulence at the entrance to Babylon. It was reconstructed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin and impresses with its azure bricks and its golden motifs depicting bulls and dragons. By using an alternative dating technique using archaeomagnetism. Scientists were able to determine that the gate was built several years after the important Babylonian conquests that shaped the region’s history.
A monument from the time of the Babylonian conquests
In a Jan. 17 study published in the online journal Plus oneIn detail, scientists describe the methods for analyzing the Ishtar Gate. The latter was built in three phases in the 6th century under the leadership of King Nebuchadnezzar II. Archaeologists therefore resorted to archaeomagnetism, which is particularly useful in studying clay bricks and other terracotta elements. Archaeomagnetism studies the influence and variations of the Earth’s magnetic field on these artifacts. This method, used since 1930, is sometimes found to be more accurate than carbon-14 dating.
In the case of the Ishtar Gate, researchers took five samples of bricks from the monument. The Ishtar Gate is believed to have been built around 583 BC. It was built in three relatively short phases. Until now, archaeologists did not know how long the gate was built. The first bricks were laid shortly after the conquest of Jerusalem by the Babylonians during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. A particularly prosperous time for the city in what is now Iraq.
In the 6th century, Babylon was the center of a vast empire that spanned the entire Middle East and the Levant. Discovered in 1902, the Ishtar Gate opened access to a majestic processional route and marked the wealth of the prestigious ancient city.
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