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Russian archeologists return to Iraq after 35 years

The RAS’ Institute of Archeology is planning to perform the first stage of field studies by a joint Russian-Iraqi expedition on April 5-11

MOSCOW, April 4. /TASS/. Russia's archeological mission is set to return to Iraq 35 years later after it was forced to leave due to political issues and a prolonged period of instability in the country. Specialists from the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Institutes of Archeology and Oriental Manuscripts will perform field studies in two Iraqi provinces in southern Mesopotamia April 5-11, Russian Academy of Sciences Senior Research Scientist Shakhmardan Amirov, PhD in History, told TASS on Thursday.

The RAS’ Institute of Archeology is planning to perform the first stage of field studies by a joint Russian-Iraqi expedition April 5-11. The expedition is gearing up to research a town of the Old Babylonian period situated in the Dhi Qar Governorate, 30 km away to the West of Ur (one of the oldest Sumerian city-states in Mesopotamia that existed from around 4,000 BC to 500 BC - TASS). Apart from that we plan to study Ubaid monuments in the Maysan Governorate on the east bank of the Tigris river not far from the Iranian border," Amirov said.

Alexey Yanovsky-Dyakonov, a RAS Oriental Manuscripts Institute Research Scientist, and Vasily Novikov, an archeologist specializing in aerial imagery will join the expedition alongside Amirov.

A Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Archeology Institute expedition headed by RAS Corresponding Fellow Rauf Munchaev was working in Mesopotamia (in modern Syria and Iraq) from 1969 to 2010. The collection of findings made by this expedition enriched the museums of Baghdad and Mosul, while its results are acknowledged all over the world. However, due to the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) Soviet scientists were forced to leave Iraq and continue their studies solely in Syria.

In 2016, the RAS Institute of Oriental Manuscripts organized an international conference attended by Iraqi Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Abdulameer al-Hamdani. One of the key results of the meeting was the opportunity to resurrect the Russian studies in the Southern Mesopotamia. The joint Russian-Iraqi expedition will study the UNESCO World Heritage monuments of early civilizations in southern Iraq.

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