From House, Palace, and Temple: Artifacts from Nuzi at Harvard

"In the winter of 1925–26, Edward Chiera of the University of Pennsylvania, on behalf of the Iraqi Department of Antiquities and the Baghdad School of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), began excavating near Yorghan Tepe, an archaeological site in Iraq rumored to be the findspot of some inscribed clay tablets that had recently appeared on the antiquities market. In this initial campaign, Chiera and his team recovered thousands of tablets and a wealth of additional artifacts dating from the mid-15th to the 14th century BC and pertaining to Hurrian society. Translation of the tablets from their original Babylonian, which also preserved traces of the Hurrian language, revealed that Chiera had discovered the ancient city of Nuzi.Harvard University became involved in subsequent campaigns to explore the ancient mound. The collection of objects from the archaeological expeditions to Nuzi that are housed in the Harvard Art Museum/Arthur M. Sackler Museum’s Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art and Numismatics preserves some of the history and rare art of the region. Many of the pieces in the collection have never been published, and few have been on display for extended periods of time. We welcome you to view these artifacts and to explore the history of the 1927–31 expeditions to Nuzi."