Glossary

Historian of medieval art and architecture at Yale University (USA), student of Marcel Aubert and Henri Focillon; he began excavating the Basilica of Saint-Denis in 1938.

Mesopotamian god of storms. In Assyria and Babylonia, he was one of the most powerful gods in the pantheon, associated with both the life-giving and destructive properties of rain and flood. In some regions of Mesopotamia, such as Suhu, he was, in the 1st millennium, the most important god in the local pantheon. Adad is the Akkadian name of the god. He is called Addu in Amorite and Ishkur (Iškur) in Sumerian.

King of Assyria under whose reign the empire once again entered a period of expansion, which peaked under his successors Tukulti-Ninurta II, Ashurnasirpal II (Aššurnaṣirpal II) and Shalmanesar III. Among his primary achievements was the early subjugation of the Aramaean kingdoms along the River Habur.

King of Assyria who maintained the empire within the borders established by Shalmanesar III (858-824 BCE) and wielded considerable diplomatic influence over the Northern Levant. He ruled his empire with the active support of his mother Shammuramat (probably the inspiration behind the mythical Semiramis) and leading dignitaries including Shamshi-ilu (Šamši-ilu), commander in chief of the Assyrian armies.

Formal agreement sworn before the gods. In the Neo-Assyrian era, it could be a treaty agreed between the king of Assyria and his vassals or an oath taken by the people of the country. Most ades are unilateral commitments to the Assyrian king. However, some are international treaties made on an equal footing, such as the agreement entered into by Esarhaddon and Urtaku, king of Elam in 674 BCE.

Prolific British author of detective novels, she married the archaeologist Max Mallowan in 1930. She then accompanied him on his excavations, drawing on these experiences for many of her stories.

The cultivation of domesticated plant species is attested in the Levant as early as the 9^th millennium. There are two types of agriculture: dry, where there is enough rainfall to water crops, and irrigated, where crops need to be supplied with water. Dry agriculture is possible in regions receiving more than 200 mm/m³ of water per year. The driest dry-farming areas could still be supplied with water by irrigation to supplement natural rainfall.

New Year festival in 1st-millennium Mesopotamia. It took place in spring, in the month of Nisan (March/April).

Antediluvian sages sent by the gods, particularly Enki (also known as Ea), to furnish mankind with essential knowledge. The apkallu were part-man and part-fish. They left the water to educate men before returning to the sea. The leading sage was Adapa.

This term literally means “conjuror". The ashipu was an exorcist priest who purified men, animals and places. They were also able to lift curses, usually by transferring them to a body or thing other than the intended individual or building. The ashipu was also a physician. Medicine in the early 1st millennium was primarily the domain of the asû. But their prerogatives were eventually exercised by the ashipu. This is why the term is often translated as exorcist-physician.

The home city of the Assyrians on the west bank of the Tigris. Covering a modest 70 hectares, it contained several palaces and the important temple of the god Ashur.

King of Assyria during a period of relative decline in the early 8th century BCE, between the reigns of Adad-nerari III (810-783) and Tiglath-phalasar III (745-727).

One of the last Assyrian kings. He succeeded his father Ashurbanipal (Aššurbanipal) but died prematurely in 625 BCE and was replaced by his brother Sin-shar-ishkun (Sin-šar-iškun).

Last king of Assyria during a period of relative decline in the early 8th century BCE, from the reign of Adad-nerari III (810-783). His successor, Tiglath-phalasar III (745-727), mounted the throne at a time of rebellion in the capital Kalhu (present-day Nimrud).

Assyrian king who expanded his empire into the middle Euphrates and up to the river’s great loop in the Syrian region now called Bīt-Adini. This kingdom submitted to Ashurnasirpal II but was destroyed by his son Shalmaneser III. Ashurnasirpal II moved the Assyrian capital from Ashur to Kalhu (present-day Nimrud) which retained its status until the reign of Sargon II (721-705 BCE).

An Assyrian king, son of Sennacherib, who had to fight for his throne against his half-brother Arad-Mullissu. He rebuilt Babylon, destroyed by his father in 689, and was the first Assyrian king to conquer Lower Egypt.

Astrologists bore the name of the “scribe of (the astrological series) Enuma-Anu-Enlil" (tupšar Enuma-Anu-Enlil).

British archaeologist and politician. Between 1845 and 1851, Layard explored the tells of Kuyunjik (Nineveh) and Nimrud (Kalhu). In 1854, he helped create the Nineveh Court at Crystal Palace in London.

Mentioned in historical sources as early as the 3^rd millennium, the capital of Hammurabi (1792-1750) reached its greatest glory under Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562). The Esagila temple complex was dedicated to the god Marduk. The largest city in Mesopotamia, it covered 976 hectares.

Tributary on the left bank of the Euphrates, approximately 100 km long.

Ballast is the name given to heavy objects loaded onto a vessel (boat, airship, etc.) for the purpose of moving its centre of gravity or increasing its mass (inertia, weight).

State on the great bend of the Euphrates, permanently vanquished by Shalmaneser III (858-824 BCE).

A large city to the southwest of Babylon. Borsippa’s chief temple was Ezida, the temple of the god Nabu, patron of writing and knowledge.

Founded in 1932 with money bequeathed by Gertrude Bell, its first director was Max Mallowan. It was renamed The British Institute for the Study of Iraq (Gertrude Bell Memorial) in 2007. It has produced the annual IRAQ review since 1934.

The Caucasus is a mountain range that marks the boundary between Europe and Asia. By extension, the term also refers to a region which straddles three present-day countries: Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. At the time of Jacques de Morgan, the region stood at the crossroads of three empires: Russia to the north, Persia to the southeast, and the Ottoman Empire to the west.

Works made in rather deep caves, on the walls, ceilings and sometimes their floors. Most of them are found in Europe and date back to the Late Palaeolithic. What is known as "rock art" – works on rocks in the open air or in small caves, as in the south of the Ile-de-France region – corresponds to a much more widespread phenomenon throughout the world, in all periods from the Late Palaeolithic onwards.

British traveller and archaeologist. A leading specialist in oriental languages and civilisations, he visited several sites in Babylon and Nineveh, and produced maps of them. On his death, his widow sold the extensive collection of Mesopotamian artefacts he acquired to the British Museum.

The companion of a god in Mesopotamian society. There are many divine couples, including Marduk and Sarpanit, Shamash and Aya, Nabu and Tashmetu and Ashur and Mullissu.

King of the Medes, allied with Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, he successfully defeated the Assyrian empire between 614 and 610 BCE.

British archaeologist. He led several excavations in northern Mesopotamia, including in Kalhu (present-day Nimrud) where he took over from Max Mallowan. He directed the excavation of the arsenal of Shalmaneser III (858-824) and the temple of Nabu.

British archaeologist and prehistorian. She studied at Cambridge. In 1925 and 1926, she took part in excavations in Gibraltar and Palestine. She led an expedition to Kurdistan in 1928. She then led the excavations on Mount Carmel in Palestine where, with Dorothea Bate, she revealed the long-term occupation of the Tabun, El Oued, Es-Skhul, Shuqba and Kebara caves in Palestine. From 1939 to 1952, she held the Chair of Archaeology at Cambridge University. She was the first woman professor at Cambridge. During the Second World War, she served as section officer in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force interpreting aerial photos for the Royal Air Force base at Medmenham.

A new city founded by Sargon II (721-705 BCE). Work began in 717 BCE. Within the acropolis stood the “palace without rival", a ziggurat and various temples, including one dedicated to Nabu, god of scribes and knowledge.

Syrian city mainly occupied in the 3rd and 2nd millennia. Some 17,000 tablets were recovered from Palace G dating from c. 2350-2250 BCE.

Elam was an ancient region on the Iranian Plateau in the southwest of the country,  bordering southern Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf. Its main town was Susa.

The major Mesopotamian astrological series. It was used to interpret celestial omens, read the sky and even potential tectonic phenomena. The title is an incipit, in other words, the opening words of a text, and means “When Anu (the sky god) and Enlil (the wind god)".

Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions engraved on non-perishable materials (stone, metal, clay, etc.). It yields information about the political, religious or socio-economic aspects of a society. Compared to archaeological sources, they represent direct testimonies of an event and gives us names, dates, locations, where artefacts and monuments sometimes remain difficult to interpret.

Esagil is the name of the sanctuary - a group of buildings, temples and chapels - dedicated to the god Marduk in Babylon. Its existence is historically attested as early as the 2^nd millennium BCE. Its name means "the temple (é) whose head (sag) is elevated (íl)".

Etememanki is the name of the ziggurat of Babylon. It means “platform of the foundation of Heaven and Earth".

A river approximately 2,780 km long, flowing from Turkey to Syria and Iraq. It flows through several major cities, including Mari and Babylon. Before the river was dammed, it flooded heavily from March to May. It has two main tributaries: the Balikh and the Khabur. It joins the Tigris at Al-Qurnah, in the Shatt-al Arab, which flows into the Persian Gulf.

In archaeology, this scientific approach consists of testing hypotheses about ancient techniques by reproducing them after having analysed them. Various objectives can be achieved in this way: restitution of gestural details, assessment of their difficulty, evaluation of the time taken to carry them out, constitution of reference systems for traces of manufacture or use in order to recognise them on archaeological artefacts, etc.

Ezida is the name of many temples of Nabu, god of scribes, wisdom and knowledge. It is a Sumerian name that can be translated as “temple of truth".

British Assyriologist. This self-taught scholar is best known for his public reading of the flood story in the Gilgamesh Epic on 3 December 1872. He then led the excavations at Kalhu and Nineveh and benefited from his stay in the Middle East to buy multiple tablets from sites in southern Mesopotamia, including Sippar and Babylon.

British traveller, explorer and civil servant. Bell travelled extensively and helped create Iraq and the Museum of Iraq in Baghdad.

(or Upper Zab) is a tributary on the left bank of the Tigris, which it joins to the south of Mosul. It rises in Turkey near Lake Van and runs for roughly 400 km. Its basin spans more than 40,000 km².

A culture that spread across northern Mesopotamia in the 6th millennium.

The Hellenistic period begins, in Mesopotamia, with the conquest of Babylon by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE. The reign of Alexander and the wars between the Diadochi, his successors, is now commonly known as the Macedonian period. It precedes the Seleucid era. According to the Macedonian and Babylonian calendars, it official begins in 312-311, but in reality it dates from the recapture of Babylon by Seleucus in 305. After proclaiming himself king, Seleucus dated the start of his reign to 312-311, when he first returned to Babylonia. The Seleucid period in Babylonia ended with the conquest of the region by the king of the Parthian Empire, Mithridates I (165-131) in 141 BCE.

Archaeologist and diplomat, born in Mosul, who became a British citizen. He was assistant to A.H. Layard before directing several excavations, including at Kalhu, Babylon and Sippar, on behalf of the British Museum.

Societies deriving most of their resources from hunting — as well as fishing and the capture of small animals — and gathering. Since the quantity of resources available often varied according to the season, these societies were generally nomadic. Sometimes societies became sedentary in regions where an accumulation of available resources created an abundance all year round, or in areas where a particular resource was acquired in large quantities and then stored. Social inequalities are found in sedentary societies whereas nomadic hunter-gatherers are known for their lack of social hierarchy.

Assyrian city founded by Shalmanesar I (1263-1234) and then chosen by Ashurnasirpal II (883-859) as his capital. It covered 357 hectares and contained an Acropolis where the palace and temple were located along with a vast arsenal palace.

Assyrian city founded by Shalmanesar I (1263-1234) and then chosen by Ashurnasirpal II (883-859) as his capital. It covered 357 hectares and contained an Acropolis where the palace and temple were located along with a vast arsenal palace.

Epipalaeolithic culture named after the site of La Borie del Rey in Lot-et-Garonne, France. The range of distribution of the Laborian (around 10,000 years BP) is limited to the greater southwest region of France. Lithic assemblages with Azilian affinities are characterised by multiple lithic armatures with straight-backed points and a truncated base, corresponding to the definition of Malaurie Points. Big game hunting was dominated by aurochs, horses and stags. The Laborians developed a highly original style of geometric and figurative mobiliary art. Horses and bovines with elongated and disproportionate bodies are decorated with curved lines and chequered, striated or latticed patterning

British archaeologist. He directed excavations at the site of Ur, southern Iraq, between 1922 and 1937. He is often seen as the first “modern" archaeologist: he was personally involved in excavations, carefully recorded his discoveries and took care to conserve and study perishable materials.

Période de l’Histoire qui rassemble le Néolithique et le Chalcolithique. Elle se situe entre l’époque des chasseurs-cueilleurs nomades du Paléolithique et les sociétés à écriture de l’Antiquité.

Region bordering the eastern coast of the Mediterranean.

The Library of Ashurbanipal (668-630/627 BCE) was composed of several collections that formed the reference collection of the kings of Assyria in Nineveh in the 7th century BCE. It is difficult to say exactly how many tablets have been discovered in this library. They number roughly 15,000 to date. Inventories of wax-covered wooden tablets, better known as wax tablets, suggest clay was not the only material used to write literary and learned texts. None have survived. The library at Nineveh is attributed to Ashurbanipal, although his father Esarhaddon had already worked a lot on it.Ashurbanipal considerably added to its collections, as shown by the letters he sent into Babylonia requesting tablets. The library was abandoned after the destruction of Nineveh in 612. However, some tablets did find their way to Uruk.

Kingdom of Lihyân, whose capital was Dadan (al-Khuraybah), near AlUla, from the fourth to the second century BC.

The Federation of Malaysia is a Southeast Asian country to the south of Thailand. Its capital is Kuala Lumpur. On the sea route between India and China, the country rapidly became an important trading centre.

During the 18^th and 19^th centuries, the region gradually came under British rule. Its economic growth was partly due to the production of tin and rubber. Refusing to allow their subjects to be employed by the British, the Malay sultans imported labour from India and China, which explains the ethic diversity of its inhabitants.

British archaeologist. Assistant to Leonard Woolley in Ur, he went on to direct several excavations in northern Mesopotamia. His deep test excavation in Nineveh (1931) and his excavations in Arpachiyeh laid the foundations of our knowledge of protohistoric Mesopotamia. In 1930, he married the novelist Agatha Christie. 

The Medes were an ancient Iranian people organised into chieftaincies and then a united kingdom. The Median capital was Ecbatana. In the 7^thcentury BCE, the Median king Cyaxares allied with the Babylonians against the Assyrians. He took part in the conquest of Assyria, taking Ashur, Kalhu (modern Nimrud), Nineveh, and Arbela (modern Erbil).

Conventional subdivision of Prehistory. In some regions, such as Europe, it includes the last hunter-gatherer societies from 12,000 years ago – the beginning of a great natural warming of the climate – to the appearance of the first agro-pastoral societies (in France around 7,500 years ago).

This chronological evolutive phase of the Magdalenian cultures developed during the Ancient Dryas (13,500/15,500 BCE). In terms of equipment, it is characterised by the major development, even abundance, of bone tools, including spear-throwers, perforated batons, half-round rods, needles, spear points and so on. The unprecedented use of deer bone and antlers was accompanied by the development of mobiliary art in a variety of media. Known for the realism of its figurative representations (particularly animals), the art of engraving, sculpture and sculpture in the round reached its peak in this period. Rock art in rock shelters or caves also developed to its greatest extent since the Aurignacian, particularly in southwest France, the Pyrenees and on the Cantabrian coast. There were growing regional differences despite permanent and repeated contact between regional groups.

The Minaean kingdom (also called Ma'in) was one of the main kingdoms of South Arabia (now Yemen) and South-West Arabia in the first millennium BC.

Mullissu was the consort of Ashur, god of the city of the same name. Ashur was identified with the chief god Enlil in the 18th century BCE, whose consort Ninlil became Mullissu, the consort of Ashur. Although the two names sound different, Mullissu comes from Mulliltu, the Assyrian pronunciation of Ninlil.

Nomads of Arab origin who became caravan traders and engaged, since the end of the fourth century B.C, in the trade of myrrh, incense, and other aromatics which were transported from present-day Yemen. The Nabataean kingdom lasted until 106 AD., when it was annexed by Emperor Trajan and became the Roman province of Arabia.

Nabopolassar was the first king of the Neo-Babylonian empire and father of Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562). He liberated Babylonia from Assyrian rule and conquered the middle Euphrates and then, with help from his ally Cyaxares, king of the Medes, he set about conquering Assyria, which fell between 614 and 610 BCE. Nabopolassar then took up arms in the Levant against the Saite of the 26th Dynasty of Egypt, who had come to the aid of Assyria. He renovated Babylon and bequeathed to his son an empire roughly equivalent to the Assyrian empire.

Mesopotamian god of scribes, wisdom and writing. He is called Nebo in the Bible. He is considered to be the son of Marduk, the patron deity of Babylon and, like his father, may have been represented by a dragon, the mushhushshu (mušhuššu). His temples are often called Ezida, "the temple of truth".

Assyrian city occupied as early as the 8^th millennium BCE. Sennacherib (704-681) made it his capital and extensively rebuilt the city. Nineveh has two tells, Kouyunjik, the original site, and Nebi Yunus, on which Esarhaddon (680-669) built an arsenal.

One of the chief gods of war whose great shrine was in the city of Nippur.

Signs sent by deities as messages to mankind. They are generally seen as spontaneous omens, where the gods take the initiative to communicate rather than waiting for humans to appeal to them. There are different types of omen. They might be celestial phenomena, such as stars, planets or part of the veiled moon’s crescent, for example, everyday events, such as an animal behaving in an unusual way, or “monstrous" births, and the like. Omen were interpreted by divinatory priests, astrologists and exorcists. The latter were also responsible, when necessary, for preventing divine wrath from falling on its chosen target.

A Prehistoric period, which, in Europe, is divided into the Lower Palaeolithic (780,000–250,000 BP), Middle Palaeolithic (250,000-35,000 BP) and Upper Palaeolithic (35,000–9,500 BP).

Photogrammetry is a method of surveying an object, a structure or even an entire site in three dimensions. After an initial phase of acquiring a large number of photographs (large coverage area), a second phase consists of analysing and processing these images using software that will reconstruct the volume using algorithms. Combined with measurements, photogrammetry makes it possible to obtain images to scale in two or three dimensions. Based on the principle of paralaxis and stereoscopy, this method is particularly useful for digitising objects or archaeological sites. Thanks to developments in this field, it is now possible to produce 3D reconstructions of remains in record time, so that researchers can return to them, work on them, take measurements and so on.

This technique is being developed in all disciplines, from cave art to urban archaeology and the study of excavated objects. It is also opening up new fields of study, such as deep-sea submarine deposits, where photogrammetry is tending to replace manual drawings.

Period of geologic time spanning the end of the Tertiary and the beginning of the Quaternary, between 5.2 million and 0.9 million years ago.

The term “patron deity" refers to the chief deity, a god or goddess, of a city (from the Latin patronus or protector). In Mesopotamia, the city was believed to belong to the patron deity who lived there and protected it. When it was taken by force, the deity was thought to have turned against it. The victor took away the cult statue of the patron deity and all others in the city, removing divine protection from the city for many years. This practice was not confined to Mesopotamia; it has also been found in Rome, for example.

All documents routinely produced by a society besides literary and learned texts and official inscriptions. This category includes administrative texts (inventories and promissory notes), legal texts (such as contracts), letters, drafts, etc.

The Battle of Qarqar, a city in the Orontes Valley, was fought in 853 BCE between the Assyrian army led by Shalmaneser III (859-824) and a coalition of Levantine kingdoms (Hama, Damascus, Israel, and several Phoenician cities) aided by Egyptian soldiers and an Arab contingent. The battle was not the great victory the Assyrian king claimed it to be. It was, at best, indecisive.

Period of geologic time beginning approximately 2.58 million years ago. 

Pen used to press cuneiform signs into fresh clay.

British Assyriologist and archaeologist. He worked in Iran, Turkey, Sudan, Egypt and Mesopotamia where he led the excavations at Kouyunjik (Nineveh) in 1904-1905 and 1927-1932, among other sites. Here, he discovered the temple of Nabu and Ishtar.

Sargon II, whose name means “legitimate king",  reigned over a large part of the Near East between 721 and 705 BCE. His reign, which is well documented, coincides with a period of rapid political and economic expansion in Assyria. Warrior king par excellence, he pursued an expansionist policy, leading more than ten victorious military campaigns across the Near East. He was also a great builder, founding a new royal capital: Dur-Sharrukin.

Sennacherib was an Assyrian king with three major enemies: the Kingdom of Kush in the Levant, the Elamites, and Babylonians; the latter two kingdoms were allies. His reign was dominated by the challenge to Assyrian dominance over Babylonia, which he countered by leading several offences in the south. Exasperated by a string of Babylonian revolts, he destroyed the city in 689 BCE by drowning it, he said, under the waters of the Euphrates. After his murder, his son Esarhaddon waged war against his brother Arad-Mullissu to secure his hold on the throne.

King of Assyria during a period of relative decline in the early 8th century BCE, between the reigns of Adad-nerari III (810-783) and Tiglath-phalasar III (745-727).

Šamaš means “sun" in Akkadian; in Sumerian he is known as Utu. The sun god, he also had other functions, such the god of justice (he appears at the top of the Law Code of King Hammurabi), travellers and divination. His temples, which bear the name E.babbar or "shining temple", are found at Larsa and Sippar, among other sites.

Son of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon, most probably the elder brother of Ashurbanipal (Aššurbanipal) and king of Babylon. Esarhaddon divided his empire between Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria, and Shamash-shum-ukin, king of Babylon. Shamash-shum-ukin remained under the diplomatic and military authority of his brother, however. For fifteen years, Shamash-shum-ukin reigned like any other Babylonian king, obeying its codes and fulfilling his duties. Shamash-shum-ukin eventually led a revolt at the end of 652 BCE. After a string of victories, the Babylonians were besieged in their city for two years. It fell in the summer of 648. Shamash-shum-ukin died in his burning palace. The legendary king of Assyria Sardanapalus is probably an amalgamation of him and his brother.

Queen of Assyria, mother of Adad-nerari III (810-783). Her name appears several times in inscriptions alongside her son, and she played an important role in political life, passing into posterity as Semiramis in classical sources.

Assyrian king, son and successor of Shalmaneser III (858-824). The early years of his reign were not easy. Some regions of his empire, such as Hindanu in the middle Euphrates, revolted, and the end of his father’s reign had been rocked by rebellions among Assyrian dignitaries and the country’s cities and provinces. He was forced to seek the support of king Marduk-zakir-shumi (Marduk-zakir-šumi) I (854-819) of Babylon.

Shamshi-ilu was an influential Assyrian court dignitary and turtanu or commander in chief. He was awarded the title by Adad-nerari III (810-783) around 800 and retained it under his three successors, Shalmaneser IV (782-773), Ashur-dan (Aššur-dan) III (772-755) and Ashur-nirari (Aššur-nerari) III (754-745). Shamshi-ilu led many campaigns with and without the king. He fought mainly against the kingdom of Urartu which, until the 8th campaign of Sargon II (721-705), was Assyria’s main enemy in the 8th century. Shamshi-ilu commemorated his victories on the Syro-Hittite style lions found in Til-Barsip (present-day Tell-Ahmar). With Nergal-eresh (also known as Palil-eresh), he was one of the most active and independent dignitaries of the first half of the 8th century.

He proclaimed himself king of Assyria on the death of his brother Ashur-etel-ilani and allied himself with Nabopolassar (future king of Babylon) against the chief eunuch Sin-shumu-lishir who had seized power in Assyria. After defeating him, he reigned over Assyria until the fall of Nineveh in 612.

Along with drawing, photographing and plaster casting, copying by squeezes is one of the methods, still used by epigraphists, to achieve an accurate reproduction of an inscription incised in stone, metal, wood or clay. The squeezes reproduce in negative and in the exact dimensions the original inscription. Resistant and easily transportable, they represent faithful copies of the inscription and are often better protected than the original inscriptions.

Stone basins are rarely found in the eastern Mediterranean region: ten or so examples have been unearthed from the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age in Cyprus and at least three examples from the Iron Age in Palestine. The only known corpus in the northern Levant was found in the city of Ugarit. They constitute a valuable record for the study of intercultural contacts in the eastern Mediterranean in the Late Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

Susa is located in the southwest of present-day Iran. It has been occupied since 4200 BCE, and remains from the site provide important evidence  for the history and way of life of its population up to the Islamic period. In the 19^th century, the site was excavated by William Loftus, and then by Marcel and Jane Dieulafoy, before the arrival of Jacques de Morgan. 

Born in Mung, Charente-Maritime, France, on 19 July 1900. After earning her baccalaureate at the age of 17, she studied literature in England and submitted a thesis in 1931 on “the influence of Diderot’s biological ideas on his literary oeuvre". In 1932, she met the Abbé Breuil and helped him classify the prehistoric art collections of the Muséum d’histoire naturelle in Bordeaux. She then specialised in prehistory. He invited her and Dorothy Garrod to study caves in Palestine. She also met Germaine (Minne) Henri-Martin and took part in the excavations at Quina (Charente), and then at Fontéchevade. After visiting La Marche cave in Lussac-les-Châteaux with Abbé Breuil, she resumed her research on the Roc-aux-Sorciers site in 1946 in partnership with Garrod. They discovered the rock sculptures together. Following the death of Garrod in 1968, Saint-Mathurin continued to analyse the findings of their excavations. In the late 1960s, Saint-Mathurin was appointed project manager at the Musée d’archéologie nationale. In 1976, she donated a selection of sculpted, engraved and painted blocks from the collapsed ceiling of the deposit to the museum. The blocks have remained in the museum’s collection to this day. She died in 28 August 1991 and bequeathed the deposit to the French State and her complete collection and archives to the Musée d’Archéologie nationale.

Mesopotamian goddess, consort of Nabu, god of writing and knowledge.

Turkish archaeological site, mainly occupied in the 3^rd millennium and early 1^st millennium. One of its kings, Suppiluliuma, resisted attacks by Shalmaneser III (858-824), but the city was later integrated into the Assyrian empire.

Period of geologic time lasting from approximately 66 million  to 2.58 million years ago.

The Tigris is approximately 1,900 km long and rises in Turkey. It ran through the ancient Assyrian capitals of Ashur, Nimrud and Nineveh. It has three major tributaries: the Great Zab, the Little Zab and the Diyala. It joins the Euphrates at Al-Qurnah, in the Shatt-al Arab, which flows into the Persian Gulf.

One of the greatest Assyrian kings. He led military campaigns against the Hittites and the Babylonians, capturing King Kashtiliashu IV, who was deported to Assyria. He had a new city built to the north of Ashur, Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta.

Assyrian king who continued the expansionist policy of his predecessor Adad-nerari II. He incorporated the Habur triangle and the river valley into the resurgent Assyrian empire and fought campaigns up to the border with Babylonia and along the middle Euphrates.

The Upper Magdalenian, the last Magdalenian period, developed during the Bölling and the first part of the Alleröd (13,000/11,000), interrupted by a short cold period. In France and Spain, this period succeeds stratigraphically the Middle Magdalenian period and is characterised by the use of flint weapons and special tools or hard animal materials, such as parrot beak burins, short scrapers, Laugerie-Basse points, harpoons and the like. Lithic tools become increasingly small with an abundance of blades, short flakes and microliths towards the end of the Magdalenian period. The diversification of flint armatures attests to a transformation in hunting methods and an adaptation to new game emerging as a result of climate and palaeoenvironmental changes at the end of the Late Glacial. The systems of artistic representation reveal cultural continuity with the Middle Magdalenian and symbolic innovations such as schematic female figurines and the widespread use of highly structured geometric and abstract motifs on objects made from hard animal materials.

A city in Lower Mesopotamia, identified with the modern site of Tell Muqqayar, 20 km from the Euphrates. Occupied from the 5^th millennium, Ur was one of the largest Sumerian towns in the mid-3^rd millennium, as attested by its celebrated “royal tombs". It was briefly the capital of a powerful empire (known as Ur III) at the end of the 3rd millennium. Residence of Sin/Nanna, the moon god, the city had a holy quarter devoted to the deity, with a ziggurat - extremely well conserved - and a large number of buildings. Despite losing its political dominance, Ur continued to be one of the leading cities of southern Mesopotamia in the 2nd and 1st millennia. The Tell Muqqayar site, identified as early as the mid-19^th century, was one of the main sites excavated between 1919 and 1934 by British archaeologists. Fieldwork resumed in 2015.

German architect, archaeologist and conservator. After training on an excavation in Babylon, he directed the study of Ashur, the first Assyrian capital, between 1903 and 1914. From 1928 to 1951, he was director of Near Eastern Antiquities at Berlin Museum.

British geologist, naturalist and archaeologist. He led excavations in southern Iraq, at Ur and Uruk, in Susa, and in Assyria, at Nineveh and Nimrud.

Stepped pyramidal tower characteristic of Mesopotamian religious architecture of the 2^nd and 1^st millennia BCE. On its summit was a small shrine which was also used to observe the stars and probably as an intermediary space between the gods and man.

Region of Oman, on the border between Oman and Yemen.