Nimrud
Topographical survey
Surveying in the city area highlighted a series of large squares and courtyards around which houses were arranged in the city’s plan. The layout of roads is very unclear; it may be hypothesized that the urban layout of Nimrud was composed of a series of large squares or gardens connected to each other by wide passage ways such as the one that connected the wide area outside Fort Shalmaneser and the rest of the lower city. A large square (possibly used for parades) extended at the feet of the acropolis. The entire city was surrounded by walls.
The location of the zoological and botanical gardens is uncertain: if historical texts tell us that the latter was located outside the city, the zoological garden, on the other hand, was probably inside the city; the most likely site is a tell situated at the centre of the west side of the city. This seems to be suggested by the extreme scarcity of ceramic fragments found on the surface.