Overview
- The long-lost Hellenistic city, founded by Alexander the Great in 324 B.C., has been located near the Persian Gulf.
- Surveys mapped fortification walls, a street grid, temple complexes, industrial quarters with kilns and furnaces, plus harbor and canal remains.
- The urban footprint spans roughly 2.5 square miles, a scale the team describes as enormous for an ancient city.
- Repeated flooding and a lack of later construction preserved structures just below the surface, enabling unusually clear geophysical imaging.
- Fieldwork launched in the 2010s under British archaeologists continued under guard during periods of conflict, and the team now seeks funding to finish geophysics this year and begin targeted excavations.