European Archaeologists Revive Research in Iraq, but Most Americans Stay Away

More than 5,000 years ago, the oldest civilizations we know of were slowly developing the miracle of writing. They had built the world's first cities, complete with monumental temples and palaces to the glory of their gods and their kings. And they had long since learned how to increase their food supplies through irrigation.

Those first civilizations were located in what is today southern Iraq, on a plain between two great rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, which is why the ancient

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