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

Research sponsored by the BISI

Archaeological Fieldwork

Ancient Mesopotamia straddles modern political boundaries and this is reflected in the BISI's current fieldwork. Work on the ground in Iraq has been impossible since 1990; consequently, the BSAI/BISI has sponsored fieldwork in the neighbouring countries of Kuwait, Syria and Turkey.

The BISI is currently engaged in projects designed to help our Iraqi colleagues protect their sites from illicit excavations, contain and repair the damage that continues to be inflicted on their heritage and to build up their museums and conservation skills-base. See the Iraq Today page for more information.

Excavations at Tell Brak

The BISI previously sponsored fieldwork at the important archaeological site of Tell Brak, ancient Nagar, in northeast Syria, directed by Dr Augusta McMahon and Dr Joan Oates. We are delighted to report (June 2010) that Dr Augusta McMahon and the Tell Brak team have been awarded a British Academy Grant for three years' research funding for fieldwork under its BARDA scheme.

Annual reports are available to download as PDF files here:

• Tell Brak Annual Report, 2008 [332 KB PDF file]
• Tell Brak Annual Report, 2007 [376 KB PDF file]
• Tell Brak Annual Report, 2006 [306 KB PDF file]

In addition, prelimary reports on the excavations are published regularly in the BSAI/BISI journal IRAQ, with final reports published jointly with the McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research, Cambridge.

Other Research Projects

A list of research projects funded by the BSAI/BISI is given on the Grants page. There are reports on many of these projects in BSAI/BISI Newsletters, all downloadable to read as PDF files from the Newsletter page.

The maps on this page are taken from J.N. Postgate's Early Mesopotamia: Socety and Economy at the Dawn of History, London: Routledge (1994), with the kind permission of the author.