The British Institute for the Study of Iraq
(Gertrude Bell Memorial)

Links to other Websites of Interest

Please contact the Administrator if you have suggestions to add to these lists or find that the links no longer work. The BISI accepts no responsibility for the content of these external sites.

• General Resources
• Archaeological Sites
• Publications
• Cuneiform Texts and Tablets
• Cultural development projects in Iraq
• Iraqi Cultural Heritage Under Threat
• Educational Resources
• Near Eastern Studies degree programmes
• Near Eastern Archaeology Part-time and short courses
• Institutes and University Departments
• Event listings
• People
• Iraqi Associations & Groups

General Resources & The Iraq Museum

• ABZU - A guide to information related to the study of the Ancient Near East on the Web.
• The British Museum - Mesopotamia.
• The Virtual Iraq Museum
• Digitial Nineveh Archive - DNA
• Iraq Museum Publications & Exhibitions
• Iraq's Ancient Past Website
  
   

Archaeological Sites

• Abu Salabikh.
• Tell Brak Project - University of Cambridge. See BISI Newsletters for further reports and the latest report in Newsletter No. 22.
• The Kish Collection - The Field Museum, Chicago. This website details the history, progress, and future prospects of the Kish Project, a federally funded effort to virtually reconcile and publish, in both print and digital formats, the expansive—and divided—collection of ancient material culture from the Mesopotamian city of Kish.
• Learning Sites - Nimrud.
• The Metroplitan Museum - Nimrud.
• Oriental Institute archive of archaeological site photographs from Mesopotamia - University of Chicago.
• Nineveh - DNA Digitital Ninveh Archive
• Samarra - the Smithsonian's resource page

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Publications

• JSTOR Digital journal archive, soon to hold copies of the BISI Iraq journal
• Archaeology Abroad The Archaeology Abroad Bulletin comes out annually in spring and provides information about hundreds of varied and exciting archaeological fieldwork opportunities outside the UK suitable for all pockets, archaeological interests and levels of experience.

Cuneiform Texts and Tablets

• Building an Online Cuneiform Corpus - clear instructions on how to construct an online corpus of cuneiform texts according to the free, standards-based model used for CDLI, DCCLT, DCCMT, and Knowledge and Power; run by Steve Tinney.
• Concise Dictionary of Akkadian - lists addenda and corrigenda to the Concise Dictionary of Akkadian, with new entries colour coded for the benefit of those who have already absorbed the previous version; run by Nicholas Postgate.
• Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative - an enormous catalogue of cuneiform tablets, with photos and transliterations, but no translations; run by Bob Englund.
• Digital Corpus of Cuneiform Lexical Texts - transliterations only at the moment; run by Niek Veldhuis.
• Digital Corpus of Cuneiform Mathematical Texts - with transliterations and English translations; run by Eleanor Robson.
• Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, 1998-2006 - with transliterations and English translations; originally led by the late Jeremy Black.
• Gilgamesh at SOAS - The Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the masterpieces of world literature. Exploring mankind's universal longing for immortality, the poem tells the story of a Babylonian hero's quest for glory and flight from death.
• Knowledge and Power in the Neo-Assyrian Empire - an e-learning project run by Karen Radner and Eleanor Robson, including transliterations and translations of scholarly letters, divinatory queries, and astrological reports to the Assyrian kings.
• Mesopotamian Chronicles - translations and many new editions; by Irving Finkel and Bert van der Spek.
• Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary - searchable dictionary which shows words in context from CDLI, DCCMT, and ETCSL; run by Steve Tinney.
• Cornell University Cuneiform Collections

Cultural Development Projects in Iraq

• Culture For All (CFA) - a non-political and non-sectarian civil society organisation working to strengthen the capacity of the grass-roots to respond and actively engage in the rebuilding of Iraq.

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Iraqi Cultural Heritage Under Threat

• Report on Meeting at Babylon, 11 - 13 December 2004, by Dr John Curtis of the British Museum
• The British Library hosts Director of the Iraq National Library and Archive, Dr Saad Eskander's Blog in Iraq.
• The threat to world heritage in Iraq - list constructed by Professor Nicholas Postgate and Dr Eleanor Robson, 2003.
• The 2003 Iraq War and Archaeology - This site lists and maintains meaningful information regarding the Iraq War and its impact on archaeological/historical sites/monuments/artifacts maintained by Francis Deblauwe, Ph.D; last updated April 2007.
• Iraqcrisis - A moderated list for communicating substantive information on cultural property damaged, destroyed or lost from Libraries and Museums in Iraq during and after the war in April 2003, and on the worldwide response to the crisis.
• Lost Treasures from Iraq - The Oriental Institute, Chicago.
• Illicit Antiquities Research Centre, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge.
• SAFE (Saving Antiquities for Everyone) - a coalition of professors and archaeologists working together with professionals in advertising and publicity to raise awareness about the world's endangered cultural heritage.
• Archaeology Watch: Hatra - Archaeological Institute of America. On September 9, 2004, as a response to recent information that controlled detonation of military ordnance near the important ancient and Early Islamic site of Hatra in Iraq will likely result in permanent damage to the site, AIA President Jane C. Waldbaum sent a message to Dr. Joseph Collins, Assistant Secretary of Defense, Col. Frank Romano, Department of Defense, and Mr. William Jeffrey, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy requesting that they take steps to ensure the protection of the site.

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Educational Resources

• The Universal Index of Doctoral Dissertations in Progress - The site now includes an expanded list of categories concerning Ancient Near East Studies, Archaeology etc.
• ICONEA (International Conference of Near Eastern Archaeomusicology) is a research group of the Institute of Musical Research, School of Advanced Studies, University of London.

Near Eastern Studies degree programmes

• Cambridge Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. - University of Cambridge.
• Centre for the Study of the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East - University of Durham
• MA in Ancient Civilisations of the Mediterranean and Middle East - University of Edinburgh
• SOAS BA in Near Eastern Studies - School of Oriental and African Studies.
• Oxford BA courses in Ancient Near Eastern Studies - Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford
• Oxford Masters and DPhil courses in Ancient Near Eastern Studies - Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford
• UCL BA in Archaeology - Institute of Archaeology, University College London.
• UCL MA in Archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranian and Middle East - Institute of Archaeology, University College London.

Near Eastern Archaeology part-time and short courses

• Ancient Near East and Aegean Studies - Birkbeck, University of London: Certificate of Higher Education.
• City Lit Adult education Courses - This year two courses are offered: 'Ancient Iraq: from Babylon to Rome' and 'Ancient Iraq: the 'royal' graves'
• Oxford University Department of Continuing Education - This year the following course is offered: 'Mesopotamia: The Cradle of Civilisation'
• Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education
• ZIPANG storytelling: Enheduanna Society - Mesopotamian storytelling workshops
• Bloomsbury Summer School

Institutes, Societies and University Departments

• The London Middle East Institute - The London Middle East Institute (LMEI) draws upon the resources of London and SOAS to provide teaching, training, research, publication, consultancy, outreach and other services related to the Middle East. It serves as a neutral forum for the consideration of issues concerning that region and helps to create links between individuals and institutions with academic, commercial, diplomatic, media or other specialisations.
• British Society for Middle Eastern Studies - The British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (popularly known as BRISMES) was established in 1973 to encourage and promote the study of the Middle East in the United Kingdom. It brings together teachers, researchers, students, diplomats, journalists and others who deal professionally with the Middle East.
• The Warburg Institute Institute - The Warburg Institute of the University of London exists principally to further the study of the classical tradition, that is of those elements of European thought, literature, art and institutions which derive from the ancient world. It houses an Archive, a Library and a Photographic Collection.
• City University London - Global Politics Course resource page on the current crisis in Iraq
• The Bead Study Trust - The Bead Study Trust was founded in 1980 to promote research and the use of archaeological, ethnographic and scientific techniques on beads, past and present, from all parts of the world.
• The Imperial College Iraqi Society

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Event listings

• The London Diary of the Ancient Near East - A standard listing for events in London relating to the ancient Near East.
• Society for Arabian Studies - held a conference on 'Death, Burial and the Transition to the Afterlife in Arabia and Adjacent Regions' supported by a BISI grant
• London Middle East Institute at SOAS

People

• The Gertrude Bell Project - University of Newcastle.
• Hormuzd Rassam (1826-1910) - British Museum Highlights article
• Agatha Christie - the official Agatha Christie website.

Iraq Associations & Contact Groups

• Iraqi Association
• British Iraqi Friendship Society
• Iraqi Society - Imperial College London

Please contact the Administrator if you have suggestions to add to this list, or if you find that any of the links no longer work.

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