Glossary

Armenia is a country in the Caucasus under Russian domination during Jacques de Morgan’s lifetime. Its territory partly covers that of Urartu, a late Iron Age empire. Armenia was in long and close contact with the Achaemenid Persian Empire, and the short-lived empire of Alexander the Great. It was also the first country to adopt Christianity as its state religion.

In 1915, the Armenians were the victims of a genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire. The number of victims is estimated to be around one million - two thirds of the Armenian population. From 1920, Armenia became part of the USSR. It proclaimed its independence in 1991.

Assurbanipal is often seen as the last of the great Assyrian kings. Under his reign, Assyria invaded Egypt as far west as Thebes and defeated Elam to the east, destroying one of its capitals, Susa. The great royal library of Nineveh bears his name because he added a large number of works to the catalogue. From the 650s onwards, however, he faced serious challenges to his power, including the revolt of his own brother, the Babylonian king Shamash-shum-ukin (Šamaš-šum-ukin). By the end of the decade, Egypt had been lost. Assurbanipal (Aššurbanipal) was the ruler who inspired Sardanapale, a character in classical literature, a fusion of the Assyrian king and his brother Shamash-shum-ukin (Šamaš-šum-ukin).

Assyria refers to both the area dominated by Assyrian rulers and a region of upper Mesopotamia between the cities of Nineveh, Erbil and Ashur - the Assyrian triangle.

Bohemia is a historical region of Central Europe. It now forms much of the Czech Republic.

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.

Ce terme, forgé par E. d’Acy en 1878 et popularisé par G. de Mortillet en 1883, signe bien la portée universelle des premières classifications industrielles préhistoriques.

Following the Revolution of 1789, France was gripped by a power struggle in the first half of the 19^thcentury. Henri d'Artois, comte de Chambord, was the last descendant of the elder branch of the Bourbons (the younger branch was represented by Louis-Philippe I). He laid claim to the throne of France, supported by the so-called Legitimists, but never achieved his aim.

The Cretaceous Period, in geological time, began 145 million years ago and ended 66 million years ago. Dinosaurs and ammonites became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period.

Decauville, a company founded in 1875, developed a railway system with moveable tracks. This made changing routes easy. The system made it possible to remove spoil from archaeological sites more efficiently than with ordinary wheelbarrows. 

Napoleon's Egyptian campaign from 1798 to 1801, had a military goal but also a scientific one. Some 200 scientists were sent into the field to compile their natural, historical, archaeological, and technical discoveries in Egypt. Their findings were published in a monumental imperial publication, the Description de l’Égypte, of which the first edition was presented in an imposing solid mahogany cabinet

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.

Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions made on durable materials such as stone, clay or metal. This science involves dating inscriptions, placing them in their cultural context, translating them and deducing relevant information from them. 

Faiyum is a region of Egypt southwest of Cairo. It was an arid desert basin that became a lush oasis when a branch of the Nile silted up and diverted to the site. Water made it habitable for humans and the region therefore has several archaeological sites. 

Frédéric Bayern was a 19^th century specialist in the Caucasus. He started out as a teacher of modern languages, and then trained in the natural sciences, directed archaeological excavations, and helped build the momentum of museum activities in the Caucasus region. He lived abroad for many years, and was active in the scientific community of his time: he was, for example, closely associated with Ernest Chantre, and a “correspondant” or full member of the Société d’anthropologie de Lyon. 

Gaston Maspero was an archaeologist who conducted fieldwork in Saqqara, Giza, Luxor, and other sites. Director of the Service des antiquités de l’Égypte and the Bulaq archaeological museum, he also enjoyed a successful career in France, as a professor at the Collège de France and a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et des Belles Lettres 

The emergence of iron metal production had a socio-economic impact on local populations. Iron tools increased agricultural yields and weapons also became more effective. The Iron Age corresponds to the period in which all these changes took place. In the Caucasus, it spanned the 13^th to the 6^th centuries BCE. 

This celebrated geologist was also tutor to Henri d’Artois, comte de Chambord, whose claim to be the legitimate heir to the throne was supported by Jacques de Morgan's family.

Khedive is a hereditary title held by the Viceroy of Egypt.

Knossos is an archaeological site on the north coast of Crete discovered by Arthur Evans in 1978. He excavated the remains of a Minoan palace that give a glimpse of a complex social hierarchy from the end of the 3^rd millennium BCE. 

Lankaran is a region of Azerbaijan on the southwest coast of the Caspian Sea, close to the border with Iran.

Jacques de Morgan directed archaeological excavations there in the 19^th century. From 2012 to 2016, a new research programme resumed excavations in this region.

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.

a mangrove is a coastal saltmarsh ecosystem that develops along the coasts of tropical regions. Its fauna is highly varied.

This ancient people occupied part of present-day Iran. Although the first evidence of the Medes dates from around 1100 BCE, they reached their greatest extent between the 7^th and 6^th centuries BCE. 

Son of Nasseredin Shah, Mozafferedin Shah ruled Iran between 1896 and 1907. 

Relative dating is a dating method where archaeological remains, biofacts or artefacts are put into a relative sequence, from the earliest to the most recent. It is used alongside absolute dating, which consists in assigning a date or chronological range to events using physical methods.

The Service des Antiquités de l’Égypte was founded by Auguste Mariette in 1858. It was one of the rare institutions to remain under French control after the country became a British protectorate in 1882. The challenge for its directors was therefore to guarantee the smooth running of the service, which helped to strengthen French cultural and scientific influence in the region, while maintaining good diplomatic relations with the British.

The different traces of human occupation on the same site are organised into stratigraphic layers: the lowest layers are generally the oldest, and the uppermost layers are the most recent. Stratigraphy, which is the study of the organisation of these different layers, makes it possible to understand the sequence of the different events that took place on the site. 

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. 

Taphonomy is the study of all processes occurring after the burial of remains, and which help to explain the transition from its initial state to its archaeological state.

The Arabic word tell refers to an artificial mound formed by superimposed habitation layers, with each new occupation built on the ruins of the previous one. During excavations, archaeologists know that the lowest levels are the oldest and the upper levels the most recent. 

A wooden sledge fitted with cut stones used to separate wheat from chaff. 

The archaeological site of Troy is located on the hill of Hisarlik on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. In 1870, Heinrich Schliemann discovered and excavated the site, which he believed to be the mythical Troy mentioned in the poems of Homer. He discovered a number of impressive remains, the oldest of which date from the 3^rd millennium BCE. They correspond to a civilization that long predates classical Greece of historical times.

Flinders Petrie was an English archaeologist who excavated major sites both in the Near East and Egypt, including Giza, Naucratis, Aswan and Nagada.

Xavier Charmes held the position of Head of the Secretariat and Accounting Office of the Ministry of Public Education. As such, he supported Jacques de Morgan in most of his archaeological ventures.