AN ENIGMATIC A newly discovered 3,500-year-old palace in Iraqi Kurdistan provides a rare look at a regional superpower By Daniel Weiss The ruins of a monumental mudbrick building dating to the Mittani Empire (ca. 1500-1330 b.c.) at the site of Kemune in northern Iraq were revealed in 2018 when drought caused Mosul Lake's water levels to drop. A cuneiform tablet unearthed in the building identified it as a palace. 32 ARCHAEOLOGY * March/April 2023