Dohuk – Archaeologists from University of Udine discovered in Iraqi Kurdistan,(Dohuk region) remains of a 20,000 years old dried up lake (late Pleistocene-early Holocene). The discovery was made during the annual research campaign of ” Land of Nineveh Regional Archaeological Project ” (PARTeN) as part of the Italian archaeological mission in Assyria (MAIA),started in 2012 and is directed by Daniele Morandi Bonacossi. During last mission in the lands of the ancient Assyrian empire, which lasted two and a half months, 150 new archaeological sites (982 in 5 years of research, 12 those surveyed before the project) have been discovered, ranging from earliest prehistoric settlements (dated more than half a million years ago) to the more recent Ottoman villages (until 1900 AD).(9colonne)