American Archaeological Excavations in Iraq 1925-1939 A Historical study

Abstract

The land of Iraq is distinguished in the past as it was the beginning of human civilization well-known worldwide for its cultural and valuable achievements and had its wide cultural relations and influences with various civilizations and states of the ancient world. On this basis, the interest in the antiquities of those ancient Iraqi civilizations has been great. The interest has been grown and intensified in parallel with the growth of motives and goals of many Arab and foreign travelers and researchers who visited Iraq. They made clear in their writings something about the antiquities of this country, which were mentioned in holy books such as the Glorious Qur’an or the Old Testament. Some of those who visited Iraq, especially foreigners, worked to reproduce and draw some of the visible artifacts and return them to their countries to form the incentive and motive that paves the way for many travelers and researchers to visit Iraq and search its land for those antiquities.

      As a result, the beginning of the nineteenth century witnessed a remarkable activity in the search for Iraqi antiquities through many means, as the American, French, and British archaeological missions competed in particular in the digging and excavation of archaeological sites and the smuggling of the precious Iraqi discoveries to American and European museums.