Successful Applicants
Successful Applicants in 2019–2020
Iskandar Bcheiry, Independent Researcher – Cataloging Syriac Manuscripts in the Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago
Moritz Jansen, Univerity of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology – The Archaeometallurgical Investigation of Early Gold Artifacts from Mesopotamia in the Collection of the Oriental Institute
Eva Miller, University College London – Between Academics and Artists: Executing the Oriental Institute Sculptures and the Making of ‘Oriental’ Places
Arthur Stefanski, University of Toronto – Archival Materials from the Akkadian Period at Khafajah: Investigation the relationship between early state formation and changes at the urban level within the core of the Akkadian empire
Mudit Trivedi, University of Chicago – The Glass bracelets of Quseir al-Qadim and Fustat: New Questions of Typology, Technology, and Chemistry
Bart Vanthuyne, KU Leuven – Contextualising the Finds from Quibell’s Ballas Excavations in Egypt
Alice Williams, Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL – The Tell el Amarna House Model and its Historical and Museological Context
Successful Applicants in 2018–2019
Marie-Laure Chambrade, Université Lumière Lyon 2 – Waterscapes of Ancient Persia from the Bird's-eye view of the Friend of Iran
This project includes the study of Persepolis archives as a means of understanding water management and hydraulic landscapes during the Achaemenid period. Chambrade is investigating these hydraulic landscapes in the framework of the larger French-German research program PARADISE—Achaemenid residences and their ‘paradises’: Landscape archaeology between Persia and the Caucasus.
Serenella Mancini, Sapienza University of Rome – The Pottery from Istakhr in the Oriental Institute Museum: Archaeometrical Analysis and Comparison to the Pottery from Istakhr Excavated by the Italian-Iranian Archaeological Mission
This project looks at the Islamic pottery from Istakhr in the Oriental Instititute collection in order to better understand the significance of the city of Istakhr in the Early Isamic period in its Iranian context. Findings from this research will be included in Mancini's PhD dissertation, which aims to reconstruct the dynamics of local production and importation of ware in Istakhr, thus defining the historical, social, and economic role of the city in a broader chronological and geographical context.
Albert Planelles, Universidad de Alcalá – The Epistolary Genre in the Cuneiform Archives from Nuzi (North Iraq, 15th–14th centuries BC): Formulary, Uses, and Historical Implications in the Kingdom Administration
This project focuses on letters from the ancient site of Nuzi (modern Yorgan Tepe, Iraq), written on clay tablets, in cuneiform script, and in a very particular dialect of Akkadian language. The goal of the project is to produce an extensive revision of this textual genre in Nuzi that stems from a direct study and analysis of the tablets, including those held in the Oriental Institute collection.
Successful Applicants in 2017–2018
Lindsay Allen, King's College London – Contextualising the Architectural Stone Fragments of the Persepolis Finds Division
This project includes the study of the stone architectural sculpture from Persepolis acquired by the Oriental Institute through the Oriental Institute's Persian Expedition in Iran (1931–1939) and the associated archival material from the excavations at Persepolis. This material will assist Dr. Allen in her creation of a catalogue of object biographies of Persepolitan fragments held in museums outside of Iran.
Aaron de Souza, Macquarie University – Out of Africa: Connecting the nomadic peoples of Egypt and Nubia
This project will study the Pan-Grave material culture from sites excavated by the Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition and associated archival documents in order to understand the interactions between Pan-Grave culture and its Egyptian and Nubian contemporaries.
Serenella Mancini, Sapienza University of Rome – The Pottery from Istakhr in the Oriental Institute Museum: Analysis and Comparison to the Pottery from Istakhr excavated by the Italian-Iranian Archaeological Mission
This project will look at the Islamic pottery from Istakhr in the Oriental Instititute collection in order to better understand the significance of the city of Istakhr in the Early Isamic period in its Iranian context.
Astrid Nunn, University of Würzburg; Barbara Jändl, Archäologische Staatssammlung in Munich; Heinrich Piening, Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung – Coloring History: Conversations on Race and Egyptology in the Early Twentieth Century”
This project includes the study of the polychromy of the Diyala region stone statues in the Oriental Institute collection, looking at the technical, social, and experiential aspects of this material group. The results will be combined with those obtained from materials held in collections of the Vorderasiatisches Museum of Berline, the British Museum of London, and the Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire in Brussels.
Successful Applicants in 2016–2017
Kathryn Bandy, University of Chicago – The Stela of the Chief Lector Priest of Edfu, Ibi, at the Oriental Institute
This project involves a study of the stela belonging to the chief lector priest of Edfu, Ibi, beginning with a close examination of its formal qualities, workmanship, and owner's family, followed by a consideration of the stela within its cultural context. The publication of the stela will not only shed further light on Ibi, his family, and ancient Edfu, but also the broader corpus of early 18th Dynasty provincial stelae, including those of ancient Edfu.
Rachael Dann, University of Copenhagen – Original Materials from the OINE Excavations at X-Group pierod Qustul & Ballana
This project involves the study of the original archival materials from the Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition's excavations at Qustul and Ballana, with a focus on the private, non-royal burials. This research on unpublished documents of the collection will benefit our understanding of social life in Lower Nubia in the X-Group period.
Magnus Widell, University of Liverpool – Oriental Institute Ur III Tablet Project
This project proposes to edit and publish the unpublished Ur III tablets in the Oriental Institute. Ur III tablets record the daily activities of high- and low level bureaucrats and administrators, and as few other ancient texts are capable of doing, they illuminate the social history and society, and are therefore of major importance for our understanding of Mesopotamia’s earliest history.
Moujan Matin, University of Oxford – The Origins of Tin Glazed Pottery: A Technological Examination of 8th-10th Century Ceramics from Islamic Lands
This project will involve a study of archaeological materials in the Oriental Institute Museum, namely ceramic sherd material from the sites of Rayy and Istakhr (Iran), and Aqaba (Jordan), with a view to carrying out future scientific analysis to explain technological developments and transfer of materials through their chemical characteristics.
Yael Rotem, Tel Aviv University – Nahal Tabor Cemetery in the Central Jordan Valley during the Early Bronze Age I-II: Burial Customs and Death Rituals at the Transition to Urban life
This project involves the study of materials from the Oriental Institute excavations of the Nahal Tabor Cemetery in the Jordan Valley. The project includes the preparation of this material for publication. This study of objects and archival materials will build upon the researcher’s analysis of ceramics and stratigraphy from the Oriental Institute’s excavations at Tel Yaqush, Israel.
Tasha Vorderstrasse, University of Chicago – Material Culture from Medieval Anatolia in the Oriental Institute Museum
This project examines medieval material culture from the archaeological site of Alishar Hüyük, Turkey, which was excavated by the Oriental Institute in the 1920s and 1930s. The project involves the preparation of this material for publication. This will place the objects within a broader archaeological and historical context of medieval Anatolia, particularly for the 12th-13th centuries.
Successful Applicants in 2014–2015
Jamie Novotny, University of Pennsylvania – Sources for Ashurbanipal in the Oriental Institute
This study contributes to the final publication of prism fragments of Assurbanipal in the Oriental Institute collections, as part of the Royal Inscriptions of the Assyrian Period project at the University of Pennsylvania.
Eric Cline, George Washington University – An archaeological history of Megiddo
This project involves the study of Oriental Institute archives, and the selection of photographic archives and object images for a book in preparation about the history of excavations at Megiddo, including the Oriental Institute’s Expedition in the 1920s and 1930s.
Katharina Streit, Hebrew University of Jerusalem – Black burnished ware: a shared trait of the northern and southern Levant in the 6th Millennium BCE
This project seeks to compare prehistoric ceramic sherds from Tell Kurdu and Judaidah (Amuq Plains) at the Oriental Institute with similar material from excavations in Israel (Ein al-Jerba). Visual analysis will be compared with p-XRF analysis to test the variability of similar ceramic types between the northern and southern Levant.
Elon Heymans, Tel Aviv University – Two Iron Age silver hoards from Megiddo
This project involves the detailed study of an Iron Age silver hoard from Megiddo in the Oriental Institute’s collections. To date there has been no full typological study of the elements and multiple fragments of ingots and jewelry that make up the hoard.
