The Excavations at Nimrud (Kalḫu), 1962

Abstract

The twelfth season of excavations at Nimrud lasted from March 2nd to May 16th, 1962. The expedition was generously supported by contributions from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the British Museum, Les Musees Royales d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels, the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, the City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. My thanks are once again due to all my colleagues on the staff. Mr. Jeffery Orchard, Secretary of the School in Baghdad, was Assistant Director and catalogued the ivories and other finds. Both in the field-work and in the cleaning of the ivories we were fortunate in having the assistance of Mrs. Olwen Brogan, F.S.A., a field archaeologist of very wide experience, and of Mrs. Prudence Harper, of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Mr. Peter Hulin, of Oxford University, was the epigraphist, Mr. Nicholas Kindersley took charge of the photography and of the pottery, Mr. Terence Mitchell acted as registrar, and Mr. Julian Reade gave valuable help with the ivories and also undertook the reconstruction of a large panel of glazed bricks which was one of the major finds of the season. The laborious work of cleaning and conserving the ivories was in the hands of Miss Ann Searight and Miss Stephanie Page. All members of the staff shared in the supervision of the excavations and helped most willingly with tasks other than their own. Sayid Selim al-Jelili was once again the representative of the Directorate General of Antiquities and a most valuable member of the expedition. This year we encountered many unforeseen problems, and we owe an especial debt of gratitude for their unfailing help to the Director General of Antiquities, Sayid Taha Baqir, the Inspector General of Excavations, Sayid Fuad Safar, and to members of their staff, in particular Sayid Akram Shukri, Director of the Iraq Museum Laboratory, Sayid Ali Nakshabandi and Sayid Isa Toma who worked with us at Nimrud. We must also express our thanks to the Iraq Petroleum Company, who most generously lent us valuable equipment for the lifting of the throne base of Shalmaneser III and its transport to Baghdad, and to Mr. Robert Ayton who took charge of the operation. Among visitors to Nimrud during the course of the season we were particularly glad to welcome Miss Margaret Munn Rankin, a member of the Council, and Dr. Donald Harden, a member of the Executive Committee of the School.