The dam was built in the 80s by Saddam, and it isn't clear why they didn't excavate the palace which was known to be there. There was some work in the area in 8

The dam was built in the 80s by Saddam, and it isn't clear why they didn't excavate the palace which was known to be there. There was some work in the area in 82[1], but I don't know what they excavated. I imagine the Iran-Iraq war made it impractical. There were bombings and missile attacks in Mosul and Kirkuk at the time. [1] https://www.jstor.org/stable/4200223 https://www.jstor.org/stable/4200223