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An aerial photo showing the mudbrick remains of a Sumerian temple in what is now Iraq.  (Image credit: British Museum)

Archaeologists in Iraq have unearthed the remains of a 4,500-year-old Sumerian temple dedicated to Ningirsu, the Mesopotamian god of springtime thunder, the British Museum has reported. 

The long-lost temple was built out of mud brick and was the spectacular centerpiece of the ancient city of Girsu, now an archaeological site known as Tello.

“At the heart of the city of Girsu, we have discovered — and are still currently excavating — one of the most important sacred spaces of all ancient Mesopotamia: a temple dedicated to the chief god of Girsu,” Sebastien Rey (opens in new tab) , a curator of ancient Mesopotamia and lead archaeologist at the British Museum in London, said in a presentation (opens in new tab) of the findings.

Girsu was a bustling cultural center at the heart of Mesopotamia — a broad area between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris including Iraq, eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, part of western Iran and Kuwait, and home to some of the first civilizations. The Sumerians were possibly the oldest civilization in the world and the first to establish religion and a code of law.

French archaeologist Ernest de Sarzec first discovered the remains of Girsu in 1877 and removed all the artifacts he could find, including a 4,000-year-old statue of the Sumerian king Gudea, who ruled the city at the end of the third millennium B.C. As a result, many people thought that there was nothing left to excavate. Multiple periods of conflict have also prevented scientists from accessing the site in the Dhi Qar province of southern Iraq. Rey and his team, however, could not shake the idea that Girsu had more secrets to reveal.

Related: Ancient Egyptian temple to the sun cult uncovered near Cairo 

“After the Second World War and years of conflict that followed later in Iraq, the site of Girsu fell into semi-oblivion,” Rey said. “It is not fanciful to say today that Girsu is probably one of the most important heritage sites in the world that very few people know about.”

Now, more than a century after archaeologists last explored the remarkable site, Rey’s team has unearthed the vast temple. Archaeologists used remote sensing techniques to reveal features of the site buried under sand and other deposits. They also created digital elevation models to understand how the landscape has changed since the excavations of the 19th century. 

A digital reconstruction showing how the Sumerian temple at Girsu may have looked 4,500 years ago.  (Image credit: British Museum)

“After five seasons of excavations at the temple site, we were able to uncover a large area of this ancient sanctuary, including the inner sanctum, a ceremonial square, an interior wall which featured a gate, and we were also able to identify and excavate part of the inclosure wall of the religious complex, including a monumental gate,” Rey said.

The temple, referred to in ancient inscriptions as Enninu or the “White Thunderbird,” housed the sacred statue of the hero thunder god Ningirsu, one of the most important gods of the Sumerian pantheon. The Sumerians believed that Ningirsu held power over spring thunder, rainstorms and floods, as well as commanding the plow and plowing of the land, according to the British Museum (opens in new tab) . RELATED STORIES— Ancient temple dedicated to Zeus unearthed in Egypt

— See photos of stunningly preserved 52-foot-long Book of the Dead papyrus from ancient Egypt

— This may be one of the oldest Buddhist temples ever discovered 

Remarkably, the newly unearthed walls surrounding the sacred site perfectly match a map carved into the statue of king Gudea found during the early excavations. 

“Enninu, the White Thunderbird, is the oldest temple for which we have detailed inscriptions — an archaic plan carved into the statue of the king,” Rey said. “We were able to test our theory by opening a series of excavation soundings and identifying, for example, the foundations of a temple gate exactly where we predicted the temple gate would be, according to the 4,000-year-old plan.”

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Protesters throw powder on Tower Bridge during London Marathon

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Protesters throw powder on Tower Bridge during London Marathon

Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.

The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.

A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.

The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.

Pic: LNP
Image:
Pic: LNP

They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.

A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.

Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.

More on London Marathon 2025

There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.

More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.

Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.

Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.

Read more:
Sky’s Beth Rigby running marathon in honour of ‘dearest friend’
Badenoch does not rule out local coalitions with Reform

Pic: LNP
Image:
Pic: LNP

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.

“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”

The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.

The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.

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Business

Chair candidates battle to check in at Premier Inn-owner Whitbread

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Chair candidates battle to check in at Premier Inn-owner Whitbread

Two chairs of FTSE-100 companies are vying to succeed Adam Crozier at the top of Whitbread, the London-listed group behind the Premier Inn hotel chain.

Sky News has learnt that Christine Hodgson, who chairs water company Severn Trent, and Andrew Martin, chair of the testing and inspection group Intertek, are the leading contenders for the Whitbread job.

Mr Crozier, who has chaired the leisure group since 2018, is expected to step down later this year.

The search, which has been taking place for several months, is expected to conclude in the coming weeks, according to one City source.

Ms Hodgson has some experience of the leisure industry, having served on the board of Ladbrokes Coral Group until 2017, while Mr Martin was a senior executive at the contract caterer Compass Group and finance chief at the travel agent First Choice Holidays.

Under Mr Crozier’s stewardship, Whitbread has been radically reshaped, selling its Costa Coffee subsidiary to The Coca-Cola Company in 2019 for nearly £4bn.

The company has also seen off an activist campaign spearheaded by Elliott Advisers, while Mr Crozier orchestrated the appointment of Dominic Paul, its chief executive, following Alison Brittain’s retirement.

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It said last year that it sees potential to grow the network from 86,000 UK bedrooms to 125,000 over the next decade or so.

Mr Crozier is one of Britain’s most seasoned boardroom figures, and now chairs BT Group and Kantar, the market research and data business backed by Bain Capital and WPP Group.

He previously ran the Football Association, ITV and – in between – Royal Mail Group.

On Friday, shares in Whitbread closed at £25.41, giving the company a market capitalisation of about £4.5bn.

Whitbread declined to comment this weekend.

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Politics

Bitcoin treasury firms driving $200T hyperbitcoinization — Adam Back

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Bitcoin treasury firms driving 0T hyperbitcoinization — Adam Back

Bitcoin treasury firms driving 0T hyperbitcoinization — Adam Back

Investment firms with Bitcoin-focused treasuries are front-running global Bitcoin adoption, which may see the world’s first cryptocurrency soar to a $200 trillion market capitalization in the coming decade.

Institutions and governments worldwide are starting to recognize the unique monetary properties of Bitcoin (BTC), according to Adam Back, co-founder and CEO of Blockstream and the inventor of Hashcash.

“$MSTR and other treasury companies are an arbitrage of the dislocation between the bitcoin future and todays fiat world,” Back wrote in an April 26 X post.

“A sustainable and scalable $100-$200 trillion trade front-running hyperbitcoinization. scalable enough for most big listed companies to move to btc treasury,” he added.

Hyperbitcoinization refers to the theoretical future where Bitcoin soars to become the largest global currency, replacing fiat money due to its inflationary economics and growing distrust in the legacy financial system.

Bitcoin treasury firms driving $200T hyperbitcoinization — Adam Back
Source: Adam Back

Related: Crypto sentiment recovers, but weekend liquidity risks remain

Bitcoin’s price outpacing fiat money inflation remains the main driver of global hyperbitcoinization, Back said, adding:

“Some people think treasury strategy is a temporary glitch. i’m saying no it’s a logical and sustainable arbitrage. but not for ever, the driver is bitcoin price going up over 4 year periods faster than interest and inflation.”

Back’s comments come nearly two months after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to establish a national Bitcoin reserve from BTC forfeited in government criminal cases.

Related: Serbia’s Prince Filip says Bitcoin is being stifled, expects huge rally

Global firms continue Bitcoin accumulation

Continued Bitcoin investments from the likes of Strategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, may inspire more global firms to follow suit.

Strategy’s approach is proving to be lucrative, with the firm’s Bitcoin treasury generating over $5.1 billion worth of profit since the beginning of 2025, according to Strategy’s co-founder, Michael Saylor.

Bitcoin treasury firms driving $200T hyperbitcoinization — Adam Back
Source: Michael Saylor

Japanese investment firm Metaplanet, also known as “Asia’s MicroStrategy,”  adopted a similar strategy, since surpassing 5,000 BTC in total holdings on April 24, Cointelegraph reported.

As Asia’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder, Metaplanet plans to acquire 21,000 BTC by 2026.

US financial institutions may also have more confidence in adopting Bitcoin after the US Federal Reserve withdrew its 2022 guidance discouraging banks from engaging with cryptocurrency. “Banks are now free to begin supporting Bitcoin,” Saylor said in response to the guidance withdrawal.

“Banks will now be supervised through normal processes, signaling a more open regulatory environment for digital asset integration,” Nexo dispatch analyst Iliya Kalchev told Cointelegraph.

Magazine: Altcoin season to hit in Q2? Mantra’s plan to win trust: Hodler’s Digest, April 13 – 19

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