IOR/L/PS/10/742

This volume contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, telegrams and minutes, regarding the preservation of ruins of historical interest in Palestine and Mesopotamia [Iraq] after the First World War.

The papers notably cover the following:

• Arrangements for British specialists and archaeologists to visit various historical ruins and excavate them. In charge of the excavations are Reginald Campbell Thompson and Henry Reginald Holland Hall
• Analysis of the ruins considered for archaeological excavations, including: Ctesiphon, the Ishtar gate at Babylon, Samarra, Kill, Ukhaidir, Birs Nimrud, Mastuj and Jerablus [Jarablus]
• The Palestine Exploration Fund and Law of Antiquities in Palestine
• Involvement of the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum on the project, and some involvement from the Royal Institute of British Architects
• Expenses of the excavation, preservation and restoration of the ruins
• Open letters/petitions from Oriental Studies departments at the University of Oxford, the University of Liverpool and various French institutions, regarding effective measures to protect the antiquities and monuments in Mesopotamia and Palestine
• Discussions between the British Museum and the British Government around the removal of historical objects from their place of origin
• Complaints from the French Government regarding French archaeologists who have been compelled under existing regulations to discontinue their research in Syria and Palestine
• Granting of concessions for excavation in Mesopotamia to British, French and United States representatives
• Reference to and discussion of German excavations before and after the First World War, and the possibility of some of the objects found being taken to the British Museum
• Transfer of the archaeological settlement at Carchemish, near Jerablus, to French administration
• Establishment of regulation for the control of archaeological research using the recommendations of the Archaeological Joint Committee.

Also included in the volume are the following documents:

• Memorandum entitled ‘Archaeology in the Near and Middle East’, by Sir Frederic George Kenyon, Director of the British Museum (ff 255-258)
• Recommendations of the Archaeological Joint Committee in London and the International Committee in Paris (ff 216-217)
• ‘Preliminary Report on British Museum Excavation in Southern Babylonia, Feb-May 1919’ (ff 194-205)
• ‘Memorandum of Sites for Excavations in Mesopotamia to which various nations have prior rights, or which can be appropriately granted to them, or to others if they waive them’ (listed as ‘British’, ‘French’, and ‘Americans’) (ff 179-181)
• A copy of notes on French excavations in Mesopotamia during 1910-12, compiled from Baghdad Residency diaries, dated 25 July 1919 and signed by Lieutenant-Colonel Arnold Talbot Wilson, Acting Civil Commissioner in Mesopotamia (ff 172-174)
• Handwritten notes by Thomas Edward Lawrence, following his examination of antiquities excavated in Mesopotamia by Reginald Campbell Thompson and Henry Reginald Holland Hall, dated 11 December 1919 (ff 137-140)
• ‘Memorandum Regarding Archaeological Research in Iraq’ (f 105)
• ‘Summary List of Objects in the German House at Quweiresh, Babylon; January 1919’ (ff 98-101)
• ‘Law of Antiquities for Palestine’ by the Archaeological Joint Committee (ff 14-19)
• ‘Memorandum by the Archaeological Joint Committee on the Antiquities Ordinances for Palestine’ (ff 7-12).

The principal correspondents are: General Officer Commanding in Chief, Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force; British Museum; Sir Frederic George Kenyon; Directorate of Military Intelligence; Lieutenant-Colonel Arnold Talbot Wilson, Acting Civil Commissioner in Mesopotamia; Foreign Office; Thomas Edward Lawrence; French Embassy in London.