Drone photos reveal an early Mesopotamian city made of marsh islands

This urban settlement had neither a city center nor a surrounding defensive wall

Iraq's Tell al-Hiba site, a sprawling desert landscape, seen from the air

New remote-sensing studies at southern Iraq’s massive Tell al-Hiba site, shown here from the air, support an emerging view that an ancient city there largely consisted of four marsh islands.

Lagash Archaeological Project

A ground-penetrating eye in the sky has helped to rehydrate an ancient southern Mesopotamian city, tagging it as what amounted to a Venice of the Fertile Crescent.