Programme

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Introduction. Scientific approaches to cuneiform collections: an emerging research field

Mathilde Jean, Michela Spataro, Jonathan Taylor - Department of Scientific Research & Department of the Middle East, The British Museum, London, UK

 Session 1. Tablets as clay artefacts: provenance and technological analyses
Geoarchaeology of Mesopotamian clays: composition, provenance and archaeological use

Jaafar Jotheri - University of Al-Qadisiyah, Iraq

 Examination of the source material for clay tablets: textual, biological and chemical evidence

Chikako E. Watanabe, Akihiro Tuji, Ryo Anma and Ki-Cheol Shin - Osaka Gakuin University; National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo; Tokushima University; Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan

 Understanding the significance of organic evidence from cuneiform tablets

Caroline R. Cartwright - Department of Scientific Research, The British Museum, London, UK

Synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction: non-invasive analysis of cuneiform clay artefacts

Riccardo Cameli Manzo, Szilvia Sövegjártó and Martin Etter - Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg; Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart; Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures Excellence Cluster ‘Understanding Written Artefacts’, University of Hamburg, Germany

Tablets clay mineralogy by using sequential fractionation of the clay fraction: examples from the Louvre Museum

Jeanne Maucourt, Baptiste Dazas, Ann Bourges, Anne Bouquillon, Fabien Hubert, Anne Liegey, Laura Mimaud and Véronique Pataï - Institut de Chimie des Milieux et Matériaux de Poitiers (IC2MP), Université de Poitiers, CNRS; Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF), Palais du Louvre; Conservator, 12 rue J.-B. Potin, Vanves; Musée du Louvre, Paris, France

Applications of pXRF for Provenience Studies and Beyond

Susanne Paulus - University of Chicago, USA

Session 2. Manufacturing tablets in a wider world of clay artefacts
3D Visualization and Interactive Exploration of Encased Cuneiform Tablets with the Portable X-ray Micro-CT Scanner ENCI

Andreas Beckert, Cécile Michel, Stephan Olbrich, Christian Schroer, Andreas Schropp, Samaneh Ehteram, Philipp Paetzold, Matthias Bohn, Ralph Döhrmann, Patrik Wiljes and Katrin Zerbe - Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC), University of Hamburg; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France; Centre for X-Ray and Nano-Science (CXNS), Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY); Helmholtz Imaging, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Germany

Investigating early bureaucratic practices in Mesopotamia, 3500-2700 BCE

Amy Richardson and Roger Matthews - University or Reading, UK

Bricks as Information Carriers: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Study Ancient West Asian Bricks

Helen Gries - Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, Germany

 Analytical Studies of Clay Cuneiform Tablets from Ancient Near Eastern Archives: Science and Ethics

Yuval Goren - Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

Session 3. Science in Museums: views from major cuneiform collections
Returning Iraqi Antiquities

Hanan Hamza - Cuneiform Department, Iraq Museum, State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, Baghdad, Iraq

 Confiscated tablets: identification of looted cuneiform tablets in the Iraq Museum, Baghdad

Ali Murad - Cuneiform Department, Iraq Museum, Baghdad, Iraq

The Louvre’s collection of cuneiform tablets, from curation to research

Véronique Pataï, Grégoire Nicolet - Département des Antiquités orientales, Musée du Louvre, France

 Discussion and conclusion