3:7 Nineveh is laid waste. The once-great city of Nineveh has been desolate for 2600 years, now covered with a great mound of accumulated dirt and debris. It has been almost continually under excavation by archaeologists since the mid-nineteenth century, but may never be completely excavated because of its huge size. It has yielded great historical information. For a long time, it was considered by critics to have been merely a Bible myth, so completely hidden by sand as it was. As usual, however, the Biblical history was right after all.