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
Culled from the Agade mailing list for your convenience, here is a list of publications in the fields of Assyriology and Mesopotamian Archeology so far in the Spring of 2017. Please do write to us if we have overlooked a publication, or if anything should be added to the list! Read more
At the end of July this year, Assyriologists from all over the world will be travelling to Marburg to take part in the 63rd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale. The conference itself will be an exciting array of papers and posters, focusing on the interplay between past, present, and future. But what Read more
The excavation of Tell Zurghul, ancient Nigin, has now completed its second season, and already fascinating results have appeared. Davide Nadali from the Sapienza University of Rome and Andrea Polcaro from the University of Perugia give us a glimpse of their findings, and it is clear that their ambitions for Read more
For our third issue of the recurring theme ‘In Popular Culture’, we turn to Assyriology’s ‘greatest hit’ outside the scholarly community: the Epic of Gilgamesh. Like no other text from Mesopotamia, Gilgamesh has caught the attention of a modern audience. But why Gilgamesh? What do the modern artists, poets, authors, Read more
At the Rencontre in Philadelphia last year, Wilfred van Soldt officially stepped back as Secretary of the IAA. Van Soldt is a co-founder and veteran board member of the association, and played a crucial role in shepherding the IAA through its first decade and a half. IAA presidents emeriti, Piotr Read more
It is our pleasure to congratulate Sergio Alivernini, who was recently appointed research fellow at the Oriental Institute in Prague! Alivernini, who has previously held positions in Rome and Heidelberg, will be working in Prague on the waterways of the Ur III and Old Babylonian period. Alivernini is an Assyriologist Read more
As Daesh is pushed back, more archaeological sites are returning to government control. The British Museum has set up a new training programme to help Iraqi heritage professionals prepare for the daunting rescue and retrieval operations that will follow. The program involves intensive training both at the British Museum and Read more