A new exhibition will open on Saturday, 7th March at Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle upon Tyne. This family-friendly event aims to bring to life fascinating stories of ancient Iraq through over 80 items on loan from the British Museum, also highlighting the work of the British Museum’s Iraq Emergency Heritage Management Training Scheme, in particular at Girsu and Qalatga Darband. Furthermore, this exhibition will display the contribution of two renowned individuals from the North East of England to the archaeology of Iraq: William Kennet Loftus and Gertrude Bell.
A British Museum touring exhibition Ancient Iraq: new discoveries
Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle upon Tyne
7 March – 2 August 2020
Andrew Parkin (Keeper of Archaeology at the Great North Museum)
This exhibition, which opens at the Great North Museum: Hancock, in Newcastle upon Tyne on 7th March 2020, seeks to explore the rich cultural heritage of Iraq, as well as raise awareness of the challenges faced in preserving it. The exhibition highlights the important work of the British Museum’s Iraq Emergency Heritage Management Training Scheme, in particular two fieldwork projects at Girsu and Qalatga Darband. These projects have led to significant archaeological discoveries that have illuminated key periods in the history of Iraq.
One section of the exhibition, centred on the site of Girsu in Southern Iraq, explores the emergence of the first cities in Iraq around 4,000 years ago. A range of objects from the British Museum’s collections support the story of fieldwork at this site. Excavations, involving the British Museum and Iraqi colleagues, have discovered the site of an important temple complex with a bakery attached. In addition archaeologists were able to carry out important conservation work on the bridge at Girsu, which is recognised as the oldest bridge still in existence.
Statue of King Gudea; dolerite;
Tello, Iraq; 2130 BC
© The Trustees of the British Museum
While the finds from this recent excavation work will not be on display, the story of Girsu and the world’s first cities is underpinned by other material from the British Museum’s collections. This includes spectacular objects from the royal tombs at Ur as well as items deposited in temples as dedications to the gods. A particular highlight is the upper part of a dolerite statue of King Gudea of Lagash dating from around 2130 BC. According to written sources Gudea was responsible for the construction of a temple at Girsu.
A further section of the exhibition shifts the focus to 2,000 years ago and the Parthian period, describing the British Museum’s fieldwork at Qalatga Darband in Iraqi Kurdistan. This fortified site at the very edge of the Roman Empire dates to the Parthian era but was probably a Hellenistic foundation. Here visitors will gain an insight into the border zone between two Empires and the rich culture that emerged from this contact.
Statue of Herakles; limestone;
Nineveh, Iraq; 50 AD
© The Trustees of the British Museum
Again a range of objects from the British Museum’s collections allow visitors to explore the fascinating material culture of this period, revealing the impact of the Greco-Roman world on the Parthians. Objects include Greek-inspired statuettes, personal ornaments influenced by Greek mythology, as well as a limestone statue of Herakles from Nineveh.
The contribution of individuals from the North East of England to the archaeology of Iraq is also featured in the exhibition. William Kennet Loftus’, the first western excavator of Uruk, was educated in Newcastle and sent a number of his finds to the Natural History Society of Northumbria based in the city. These included bricks from Babylon and Ur as well as a number of Elamite terracotta statuettes. The other key figure from the North East was Gertrude Bell, who was responsible for Iraq’s first antiquities law and established the Iraq Museum in Baghdad.
Elamite female figures collected by William Kennett Loftus. c.1500 – 1100 BC.
© Great North Museum: Hancock
The final section concentrates on the recent destruction of Iraq’s cultural heritage, particularly by Daesh (the so-called Islamic State) and illustrates the work of the Iraq Emergency Heritage Management Training Scheme in response to this. The scheme’s work delivering training and advice to Iraqi archaeologists helping them assess, document and preserve cultural heritage sites that have been damaged or destroyed is outlined. This important work demonstrates how much there is still to learn about Iraq’s cultural heritage and why the archaeology of this region is of global importance.