Best Assyriology
Sir Leonard Woolley was a British archaeologist known chiefly for directing excavations at the ancient Sumerian city of Ur in present-day Iraq during the 1920s and 1930s. Work in the Royal Cemetery uncovered richly furnished burials containing jewelry, musical instruments, weapons, and objects such...
Austen Henry Layard (1817–1894) was a British traveller, archaeologist, and diplomat who excavated the Neo-Assyrian sites of Nimrud and Nineveh between 1845 and 1851. Working with Hormuzd Rassam, he uncovered the palaces of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud and Sennacherib at Nineveh, sending the famous la...
Robert Koldewey was a German architect and archaeologist best known for directing the excavations of the ancient city of Babylon in Iraq from 1899 to 1917. Trained in architecture and classical archaeology, he applied rigorous, methodical techniques to uncover the city's structural remains. His most...
Sir Max Mallowan was a prominent British archaeologist whose career focused on the ancient Near East during the mid-20th century. He directed extensive excavations at the Assyrian capital of Nimrud in Iraq between 1949 and 1963, uncovering significant ivory carvings and royal artifacts. He also led...
Hormuzd Rassam was an Ottoman Assyrian archaeologist and diplomat from Mosul who conducted major nineteenth century excavations for the British Museum. Working at sites including Nineveh, Nimrud, and Babylon, he recovered important cuneiform tablets, Assyrian reliefs, and the Cyrus Cylinder, found a...
