The department of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Innsbruck is honored to host the 64th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, which will take place in Innsbruck, July 16th through 20th, 2018. This year’s theme is “The Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near East.” The program includes Read more
As Cécile Michel notes in her interview, the IAA ‘must encourage its members to increase their contacts with a wider public by any means’. Often, philologists feel limited in the means of outreach available to them, and experience a lack of enthusiasm from the wider public. In this paper, originally Read more
It is our pleasure to thank and congratulate the organizers of this year’s Rencontre Assyriology Internationale for a highly successful 63rd installment of the annual meeting! In late July, scholars from near and far convened to enjoy the medieval charm of Marburg, participate in stimulating discussions, and meet a delegation Read more
At the General Meeting of the IAA in 2017, the winners of three IAA prizes were announced: the IAA Dissertation Prize, the IAA Prize for the Best First Article Written After the PhD, and the IAA Subsidy for Cuneiform Studies. The winner and runner-up of the IAA Dissertation Prize will Read more
The University of Hamburg has not had a full professorial chair in Assyriology since 1999. But now, Cécile Michel and her PhD-student Wiebke Beyer are breathing new life into cuneiform studies in Hamburg. As President of the IAA, Michel shares her thought on the joys, potentials, and challenges of the Read more
The spotlight falls on the University of Helsinki, where Saana Svärd and Aleksi Sahala tells us about a major new research centre, automated word analysis, a passion for methodology, a macabre motto, and the transformation of Assyriology in Finland. The students have always been wonderful and smart. I think it’s Read more
Ahmed Kamil Mohammed, Expert at the Iraq Museum (currently Director), reports on the latest news in the struggle to protect, preserve, and rebuild ancient Iraqi heritage. The year 2017 has seen many and varied activities as part of this project: everything from visits by international scholars, meetings with UNESCO, and Read more
For close to a decade, the Future of Babylon project has worked to conserve the archaeological remains of the most famous Mesopotamian city. As part of the World Monuments Fund, the project seeks to redress decades of neglect and damaging interventions during the 1980s. Jeff Allen reports on the project’s Read more
A small but significant collection of cuneiform tablets lies in Moscow, in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. The museum now brings news of many exciting initiatives, including the creation of an online, freely available database of cuneiform texts. High-resolution photography using a new computer technology has allowed for Read more
The study of the Ancient Near East in Japan has marked an anniversary very much in the spirit of cuneiform cultures: the 60th installment of its research workshop, Sumer Kenkyu-kai. The anniversary was celebrated with due distinctions, including a massive chocolate cake and a cuneiform watch presented to the co-founder Read more