St John Simpson

Assistant Keeper, Iran & Arabia

Ancient Iran and Arabia

Department: Middle East

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7323 8942
Email: ssimpson @ thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

Dr Simpson is the curator responsible for the pre-Islamic collections from Iran and Arabia in the British Museum. Star items in these collections include the Oxus Treasure, the Cyrus cylinder, Sasanian silver dishes, and antiquities from ancient South Arabia.

He has a D. Phil. on the archaeology of the Sasanian period in Mesopotamia and his main research field is Sasanian material culture. He has excavated extensively in the Middle East and Central Asia, including sites of all periods from prehistoric to recent times.

Current British Museum projects

Merv: publication of excavations 1992-2000

Cataloguing Ancient South Arabia

Previous British Museum projects

New gallery displays for ancient Iran and South Arabia

Exhibition: Queen of Sheba: Treasures from ancient Yemen (BM, 2002)

External fellowships/ honorary positions/ membership of professional bodies

Joint Editor in Chief: Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies

Vice-chair and Joint Editor of Monograph Series, The Society for Arabian Studies

Hon. Sec., Ancient Persia Fund

Chair, Bead Study Trust

Committee, Association for the History of Glass

Publications

Most recent publications

St J. Simpson, New Studies in Sasanian Archaeology: Economy, Industry and Material Culture (London: British Museum Press, forthcoming)

St J. Simpson, Late Sasanian Remains at Erk-Kala. Louvain: Peeters (Acta Iranica, Textes et Mémoires = Merv Excavation Reports I

St J. Simpson and C.S. Phillips (eds) Softstone in the Near East: Proceedings of a seminar held at the British Museum, July 2004 (Oxford: Archaeopress; Society for Arabian Studies Monograph Series, forthcoming)

St J. Simpson, Turkish Delight: Studies in Late Ottoman and Related Clay Pipe Traditions from the Near East and Mediterranean (Oxford: Archaeopress, forthcoming)

St J. Simpson, Excavations at Tell Abu Dhahir (Oxford: Archaeopress on behalf of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq & Department of Antiquities, Baghdad, forthcoming)