Sifting through the tan dirt of northern Iraq, archaeologists looked at the remnants of an ancient empire’s capital city.

An ancient Roman artifact dropped into the huge crater left by the flood. Photo from the Municipality of Utrecht City officials shared photos of the ancient Roman finds in a May 7 Facebook post.

Archaeologists uncovered a relief of King Ashurbanipal with Assyrian gods in ancient Nineveh, offering new insight into Mesopotamian art.