Excavated 5,000-year-old ‘Tavern’ in Iraq talks of Mesopotamia

Outside the city of Al-Shatrah in southern Iraq, archaeologists discovered a sizable tavern replete with seats, an oven, a type of ancient clay refrigerator called a "zeer", and storage containers, some of which still contained food, according to Penn Today.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pisa in Italy discovered the tavern at Lagash, one of the largest archaeological sites in what was once Mesopotamia. 

The excavation method used to find the tavern, which dated to about 2,700 BCE, was modern, according to project manager Zaid Alrawi.

Alrawi told Penn Today that “it’s not like old-time archaeology in Iraq,” adding that “we’re not going after big mounds expecting to find an old temple. We use our techniques and then, based on scientific priority, go after what we think will yield important information to close knowledge gaps in the field.”

According to the project manager, new information about the inhabitants of southern Mesopotamia gets revealed with each excavation made at Lagash, noting that “as you excavate, you analyze and create a story that we hope gets closer and closer to the reality of the past.”

Read more: Ancient royal tomb discovered in Luxor, Egypt