Conflict and Closed Airspace Stall Research at Alexandria on the Tigris, a Buried Metropolis Near Basra
A major archaeological effort to map Alexandria on the Tigris, an ancient city spread across an estimated 500 square kilometers near Basra, has been delayed as Iraq’s security situation deteriorates and regional travel becomes increasingly constrained.
Michael Hauser, the archaeologist leading the Alexandria on the Tigris project, said the Israeli and US attack on Iran was “ill-advised” and “a complete catastrophe” on multiple fronts. With Iraqi airspace closed, he explained, the practicalities of fieldwork have become unworkable. A planned campaign of geophysical research has been postponed, and the team is now hoping it may be able to reapply for an autumn season.
The interruption comes at a moment when non-invasive methods are transforming what scholars can know about the site without extensive excavation. Drone imagery and geophysical surveys have already suggested that Alexandria on the Tigris functioned as a key regional trade hub. Subsequent analysis using a cesium magnetometer, which detects subtle anomalies in the Earth’s magnetic field caused by buried structures, identified four principal civic zones: a residential district, a palace, a river port with workshops, and an agricultural irrigation system.
Despite the immediate risks posed by instability, Hauser noted that the site’s geography offers a measure of protection. The landscape is flat and the ruins largely lie below ground, reducing the likelihood that standing remains would be directly damaged in conflict. Yet the location carries a more recent military imprint. Hauser said the area was previously used as a military camp, and its wall was incorporated into the second defensive line during the Iran-Iraq War (1980–89). He pointed to a study by Mary Shepperson documenting roughly 2,000 changes to the site’s surface, including trenches and tank protections, underscoring how modern warfare can reshape archaeological terrain even without targeted destruction.
The broader scholarly ecosystem around Iraqi heritage is also feeling the strain. The University of Baghdad and the Iraqi Antiquities Authority had been preparing to host a major international gathering, the 71st Rencontre assyriologique internationale, scheduled for the end of March. The conference has now been cancelled due to the “security situation,” according to its website. Iraqi health authorities have reported at least 82 people killed and dozens injured during the current conflict.
Alexandria on the Tigris has a layered identity in the historical record. The city was abandoned in the third century after the Tigris River shifted course and sedimentation restricted access to the port. It was also known as Antiocheia in Susiana and later as Charax Spasinou (the rampart of Hyspaosines) following its re-establishment by a local ruler. The site then receded into the desert until the mid-20th century, when researcher John Hansman reviewed aerial photographs and linked faint structural traces in an area known as Jebel Khayyaber with a first-century description by the Roman author Pliny the Elder.
Political and security pressures have long shaped what can be studied in southern Iraq. Hauser noted that even when access improved, it often came with heavy constraints: in 2014, British researchers Jane Moon, Robert Killick, and Stuart Campbell were permitted to visit the site under tight security and invited Hauser, one of the few specialists in post-cuneiform Near Eastern archaeology, to join their work.
For Hauser, the stakes extend beyond a single city plan. He argues that the period between the decline of cuneiform writing in the mid-first millennium BC and the advent of Islam was historically sidelined as academic disciplines took shape, compounding gaps in knowledge and investment. In recent years, he said, interest in post-cuneiform Near Eastern archaeology has grown internationally, opening the possibility of reassessing long-standing assumptions.
In particular, Hauser believes that the Arsacid (or “Parthian”) Empire, which lasted from 250 BC to 226 AD and operated as Rome’s eastern counterpart and occasional adversary, has too often been characterized as poorly organized. Excavating Alexandria on the Tigris, which he describes as the capital of one of the empire’s core provinces, could help test that narrative by providing material evidence of administrative structure, urban planning, and the connective tissue of long-distance trade.
Whether that work can resume soon will depend on conditions far beyond the trench line. For now, the project’s next steps remain on hold, a reminder that the recovery of ancient history is frequently contingent on the volatility of the present.
