Please join us in congratulating the research team and everyone involved in bringing this important work to fruition.

Delighted to announce the publication of 'New evidence for Pleistocene hominin presence in the north-east Arabian Desert, Iraq' by Dr's Ella Egberts, Jaafar Jotheri, and Andreas Nymark

Funded by the BISI Pilot Project Grant

@amgc-vub.bsky.social

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

We are now inviting applications for our Outreach Grants (up to £1000). Grants support public or academic engagement projects and events that promote a greater understanding of Iraq's history, society, & culture.

Deadline: 1st October 2025

More info and to apply: www.bisi.ac.uk/grants-schol...

as there are problems with the excavation records, and other explanations for the collection. However, one thing it does offer is insights into ancient interest in an even more ancient past, and possibly even some attempts at early archaeology.

C. Leonard Woolley, the lead excavator at Ur for most of the seasons, called that cylindrical tablet the earliest known museum label, and hence the key to the meaning of the collection of objects as an ancient museum. However, these claims can and should be called into question,

There, objects from much earlier eras were found on the Neo-Babylonian layer of the palace, supposedly in a single room, together with a “key” that unlocked the meaning of the collection — a cylindrical clay tablet that described another object in the room and noted that it was there “for viewing”.

This talk will look at a curious collection of objects at the centre of her new book, Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History. These objects were found in the palace of a princess named Ennigaldi-Nanna in the city of Ur dated to the 6th century BCE.

Please join us for our Annual November Lecture on Wed 19 November, 6pm, at The British Academy, for what promises to be a fascinating evening

@moudhy.bsky.social will be speaking on The Princess & the “Key”: Archaeology in Ancient Mesopotamia

Register here: www.bisi.ac.uk/event/lectur...

‘It’s destruction disguised as progress’: how the oil industry is sucking Iraq’s ancient wetlands dry

Hawizeh’s wetlands once had abundant fishing and wildlife. In a land threatened by drought and desertification, oil drilling is draining the last of the water

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Türkiye returns cuneiform tablets to Iraq

www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkiye-retu...

BISI funded Pilot Project leads to Archaeologists uncovering 1.5-million-year-old hand axes in Iraqi desert

archaeologymag.com/2025/02/1-5-...

Faith in crisis: Water, ritual, and resilience among Iraq’s Mandaeans

www.soas.ac.uk/about/blogs/...

Join the Nahrein Network's final public event as they reflect on 8 years of impact. A BISI panellist will discuss the Visiting Scholarship Programme, its history, outcomes, and future.

📅 3 July
🕒 3pm
💻 Zoom

Register here:https://ucl.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2UPkDyyYTnifa-bRccdUcQ#/registration

How do Iraq and Britain shape one woman's identity? Dalia Al-Dujaili's Babylon, Albion explores the connection

www.newarab.com/features/how...

'Leave our marshes alone': Iraqis fear oil drilling would destroy fabled wetlands

www.france24.com/en/live-news...

@bsrome.bsky.social @bsathens.bsky.social @bilnas.bsky.social @cbrl.bsky.social@thebiaankara.bsky.social @bisi1932.bsky.social , The British Institute in Eastern Africa and The British Institute of Persian Studies

Created by BIRI archivists and researchers drawing on material held in the British International Research Institutes' (BIRI) archives and supported by the @britishacademy.bsky.social funded BIRI Digital Coordination and Strategy project.

From Rome to Ankara, from the Peloponnese to the Levant, we chart these women’s professional achievements, archaeological discoveries and the vibrant networks they formed in a male-dominated field.

Explore our interactive history to learn about the interconnected lives and ground-breaking work of women archaeologists such as Eugénie Sellers Strong, Winifred Lamb, Yusra Al-Ḥaifawiyah and Kathleen Kenyon.

Look out for our digital history of women archaeologists, ‘Women Transcending Boundaries: Over a century of scholarship, fieldwork and friendship across the British International Research Institutes’, on display at the British Academy Summer Showcase, 20-21 June
storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/47f5...

Thank you to all who attended our May lecture.

And a very special thank you to Dr Sébastien Rey and Dr Ebru Torun for delivering such an insightful lecture on The Girsu Project in Iraq

You can now watch the lecture on the BISI YouTube channel here: youtu.be/lMnj4FAHZuc?...

New book out now! 🏺Available to order or read online (for free!): Tracing Transitions and Connecting Communities in the Archaeology of Southwest Asia: Papers in Honour of Roger Matthews

www.sidestone.com/books/tracin...

We are now inviting applications for the BISI Research & Conference (up to £6,000), and Pilot Project Grants (up to £10,000) to support research on the lands and peoples of Iraq.

Deadline: 1 April 2025

Info & to apply: www.bisi.ac.uk/grants-schol...

The turbulent life of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq (now BISI).

Launched in 1932 the school has spent almost a century uncovering Iraq’s ancient treasures, including the spectacular Assyrian capital at Nimrud.

www.theguardian.com/science/2018...