Islamic State militants began demolishing the site on Thursday, Iraqi officials said.
The UN cultural body's Iraq director, Alex Plathe, called it "another appalling attack on Iraq's heritage".
"They are erasing our history," Iraqi archaeologist Dr Lamia al-Gailani told the BBC.
IS says ancient shrines and statues are "false idols" that have to be smashed.
Iraqi workers clean a statue at an archeological site in Nimrud, 35km (22 miles) southeast of Mosul, northern Iraq, in 2001: Nimrud lies just south-east of Mosul, where militants attacked artefacts with sledgehammers last week © AFP Nimrud lies just south-east of Mosul, where militants attacked artefacts with sledgehammers last week
Nimrud, which was founded in the 13th Century BC, lies about 30km (18 miles) south-east of Mosul.
Many of the artefacts found there have been moved to museums in Baghdad and overseas, but larger artefacts remain on site.
'Levelled'
Nimrud covers a large area, and it is not yet clear whether it has been totally destroyed, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut, neighbouring Lebanon.
But a local tribal source told Reuters news agency: "Islamic State members came to the Nimrud archaeological city and looted the valuables in it and then they proceeded to level the site to the ground.
"There used to be statues and walls as well as a castle that Islamic State has destroyed completely."
Last week, IS released a video apparently showing militants with sledgehammers destroying historic artefacts in a museum in Mosul.
That attack was condemned by the UN as a war crime."
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