sites & excavations
One of the fabled ‘cradles of civilisation’ within the Fertile Crescent of the Ancient Near East, Iraq was the heartland of early Mesopotamian civilisation, the lands of Sumer and Akkad, and the core territories of the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires. Later ancient empires, including the Persian, the Roman, the Parthian and Sassanian also strove to control the land of the two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates.
This page provides a guide to online resources documenting Iraqi archaeological sites and excavations, as well as Iraqi archaeology in general.
General
Webcast, 7 February 2005: Joanne Farchakh, “Mesopotamia Endangered: Witnessing the Loss of History”, University of California Berkeley (running time: 58 minutes)
In March 2003, the world turned its attention to the tragic looting of Iraqi museums and other cultural institutions. Since then, persistent looting and destruction have occurred at Iraq’s archaeological sites. Whole cities that lay buried in the Iraqi countryside have been systematically plundered of their marketable artifacts, such as inscribed tablets, small sculptures and pottery. Farchakh’s investigative reporting in Iraq documents this large-scale devastation of history in graphic images.
IraqCrisis : A moderated list for communicating substantive information on cultural property damaged, destroyed or lost from Libraries and Museums in Iraq during and after the war in April 2003, and on the worldwide response to the crisis.
Lost Treasures from Iraq (Oriental Institute, Chicago)
Iraq: Site Photos (Oriental Institute, Chicago, 2003-2004)
Essay: Middle East Quarterly 11.2 (Spring 2004) – Alex H. Joffe, “Museum Madness in Iraq”
Article (12/2003) – Eleanor Robson, “Iraq: the history of mathematics and the aftermath of war”(British Society for the History of Mathematics)
The Threat to World Heritage in Iraq (last updated 03.04.03)
Archaeobotanical Reports from Iraq and Related Items (Naomi F. Miller, University of Pennsylvania Museum)
Tell Asmar (Eshnunna)
Article: Oriental Institute News and Notes (Fall 1998) – Clemens Reichel, “Clay Sealings and Tablets from Tell Asmar – An Ancient Mesopotamian Palace Reinvestigated”
Assur
German Expedition to Assur (Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Deutsche Orient-Gesselschaft & Martin Luther Universität, Halle-Wittenberg)
Heidelberger “Assur-Forschung” im Rahmen des Leibniz-Förderprogramms
Ashur – COMPASS (British Museum)
Babylon
Babylon – COMPASS (British Museum)
Diyala (region)
The Diyala Project (Oriental Institute, University of Chicago)
Girsu
Iraq Site Photos: Girsu (Oriental Institute, Chicago, 2003-2004)
Tall Harmal (Shaduppum)
Stratigrafische Kontrolluntersuchungen in Tell Harmal (Deutsches Archäologischen Institut)
New Excavations at Tall Harmal (German Archaeological Institute)
Jarmo
Excavations at Jarmo – Robert Braidwood, Letters from the Field, 1950-1951 (Chicago, Oriental Institute)
Khorsabad
Excavations at Khorsabad (Oriental Institute, University of Chicago)
Thorkild Jacobsen, “Crusading to the Past” (Oriental Institute, University of Chicago)
Nimrud
Excavations at Nimrud (New York Metropolitan Museum website)
Website includes pages on the Nimrud ivories, the Northwest Palace and its Reliefs, and the various excavators of Nimrud from Layard to Mallowan and beyond