Curtis John, Lloyd Seton. Fifty years of Mesopotamian discovery: the work of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq: 1932-1982

British School of Archaeology in Iraq, 1982. — 123 p.In the year 1956, the British School Of Archaeology
in Iraq celebrated its 'Silver Jubilee' . The
occasion was marked by a meeting under the
Presidency of Lord Salter, at which Sir Max
Mallowan, already for many years Director of the
School, reminded us of its foundation in 1932 as a
memorial to Gertrude Bell and recounted its
accomplishments in the years which followed. On
that occasion also it had proved possible for the
British Museum to organize an exhibition of the
School's discoveries - characteristically described
by Sir Max as a display "by which only a moron
could fail to be roused" - and indeed, after its
opening by Sir Leonard Woolley, it was seen by
more than 12 ,000 visitors. Simultaneously, for
more professional purposes, a useful handbook
under the title Twenty-Five Years of Mesopotamian
Discovery was also written and published by the
Director, from whose own excavations the majority
of the exhibits were derived.
So, in the 1980'S the work of the School proceeds
from year to year with its enquiry into the secrets of
Near Eastern antiquity, for which it was founded
fifty years ago. And today, few would fail to be
impressed by the fulfilment of that purpose, or to
see it in the collection of writings that follow. A
glance at their .titles will show that the investigations
which they record cover the whole saga of
Mesopotamian history - from the precocious
farmers and trappers of the Neolithic Age to the
(perhaps less fortunate) victims of Roman imperialism.
Indeed, the coverage of this book is so
comprehensive that it might well serve others as an
introduction to the subject with which we ourselves
are so deeply concerned.