Almost all international fieldwork in Iraq is currently limited to the Kurdish regions. The Ur Region Archaeological Project is one of the few exceptions, and is exploring an Old Babylonian settlement in the Nasiriyah area, between the ancient cities of Ur and Larsa. The talk will describe the results of two seasons of excavation at Tell Khaiber, which is dominated by a large public building of an unprecedented form and a probable specialist administrative function. Mention will also be made of the present state of archaeology in southern Iraq, and the practicalities of working there today.

Dr. Jane Moon is Co-Director of the Ur Region Archaeology Project, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Manchester. She worked for ten years for the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, on excavations in many regions of the country, before co-founding and co-directing the Saar Project in Bahrain during the nineties. She has recently emerged from exile in the non-archaeological world to return to Iraq, with the aim of re-kindling interest in the land of Sumer and Babylonia and encouraging a new generation of scholars and practitioners to engage with it.

Co-sponsored by The Departments of Near Eastern Studies and Anthropology, The Kelsey Museum, and the Museum of Anthropology