Middle East programme

Project focus

Iraq heritage crisis - New photos

Uruk scene

The British Museum and the British Army (Multinational Division) recently undertook a unique joint project to assess damage at a number of archaeological sites in southern Iraq.

The work was carried out with the full support of the State Board for Antiquities and Heritage in Iraq.

Overview

The British Museum is currently making preparations for a major exhibition in London about Shah 'Abbas, the great Safavid ruler of Persia in the 17th century. As well as British Museum curatorial visits to Iran, Iranian curators are working in London on the Museum's Shia material.

The collaboration is structured to foster research and training opportunities alongside planning for the exhibition.

Exhibitions in the Middle East

Word into Art
Dubai International Finance Centre (6 February – 30 April 2008)

Exhibitions and events in London

Babylon
13 November 2008 – 15 March 2009

Middle East Now season
18 May – 3 September 2006

  • Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East
  • The Royal Game of Ur
  • Sculptures in the Great Court

On-going fieldwork and research projects

Sasanian coin project
The comprehensive results of Tehran's joint research with the British Museum on the Sasanian Coin Project will be published in three fully illustrated catalogues in 2008/9.

Tell es-Sa‘idiyeh excavations
To study in detail a large and strategically important site in one of the most fertile regions of the Levant, and to understand Tell es-Sa‘idiyeh in its environmental setting.

Sidon excavations
A unique opportunity to systematically excavate ancient Sidon, which is well known historically from ancient texts but previously unexplored archaeologically, in conjunction with the Lebanese Department of Antiquities.

Ashurbanipal Library
The Ashurbanipal Library Project is the fruit of a long-term cooperation with Iraqi colleagues in Mosul University in Iraq. The ultimate aim of this project is to produce an up-to-date catalogue of the entire Nineveh library tablets.

British Museum Siraf project
To provide a complete catalogue of the around 32,000 finds from the Siraf excavations that are held at the British Museum. This catalogue will be comprised of two main elements: a finds database and a hard-copy publication.

MENCAWAR
To publish a full catalogue of the Ancient South Arabia collection in the British Museum in collaboration with the University of Pisa; Yarmouk University, Jordan and the University of St Joseph, Lebanon.

Merv, Turkmenistan
This excavation series covers over 1,500 years of history at one of the most important ancient city-sites in Central Asia.

Web Analytics