{"id":3642,"date":"2016-08-30T17:02:44","date_gmt":"2016-08-30T17:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/?page_id=3642"},"modified":"2025-01-23T12:24:25","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T12:24:25","slug":"film-footage-of-excavations-in-iraq","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/film-footage-of-excavations-in-iraq\/","title":{"rendered":"Film Footage of Excavations in Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row full_width=&#8221;stretch_row_content_no_spaces&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1632216385731{background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}&#8221;][vc_column css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1632216340299{padding-top: 0px !important;}&#8221;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;13480&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h1 class=\"entry-title\">Film Footage of Excavations in Iraq<\/h1>\n<p>The RAS Collections hold only two reels of film. These have been digitised and are available to view.<\/p>\n<p>It is unknown when the reels of film came into the RAS Collections, though it was noted in the Minutes for 13 November 1941 to thanks Mrs Campbell-Thompson for Assyrological slides. It is possible that the films were donated at the same time or were left after a Lecture. Campbell Thompson gave &#8220;Excavations at Nineveh 1929-1930&#8243; (jointly with R. W. Hutchinson) at the Royal Asiatic Society at 4.30 pm on 25 September 1930; and another lecture\u00a0on 1 October 1931 (for the 1930-31 season).[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/6&#8243;][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;2\/3&#8221;][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-container iframe\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/efNw9Qe1XRE?start=05\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/6&#8243;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_column_text]<a href=\"http:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/2_Title-card.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3137 aligncenter\" src=\"\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/2_Title-card.png\" alt=\"2_Title card\" width=\"632\" height=\"395\" \/><\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_column_text]We are grateful to Amara Thornton and Michael McCluskey from the UCL, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.filmingantiquity.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Filming Antiquity<\/a> project for their insights into this film.<\/p>\n<p>The footage dates from the late 1920s\/early 1930s and shows excavations in Iraq at the mound of Kouyunjik, scenes in the village of Nebi Yunus, across the Khosr river from Kouyunjik within the ancient city boundaries of Nineveh, and scenes in the city of Mosul, across the river Tigris from Nineveh.\u00a0The footage (at present) has been attributed to Nineveh excavator <a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishmuseum.org\/research\/search_the_collection_database\/term_details.aspx?bioId=93633\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Reginald Campbell Thompson<\/a> (1876-1941), a British Assyriologist, epigrapher and archaeologist.<\/p>\n<p>Campbell Thompson directed four seasons at Nineveh \u2013 the initial 1927\/28 season was followed by three in succession \u2013 1929\/30, 1930\/31 and 1931\/32.\u00a0 He focused on the mound of Kouyunjik, the location of Ashurnasirpal\u2019s palace, and also sought evidence of a temple of the Assyrian goddess Ishtar, which was eventually discovered during the 1930\/31 season.\u00a0Campbell Thompson\u2019s wife, Barbara, joined him on site for all four seasons, credited in the official publications with her work on the \u201cdomestic\u201d arrangements.\u00a0 A varied cast of team members included two friends of Barbara\u2019s \u2013 Miss Isabel Shaw (1929\/30) and Miss M. Hallett (1930\/31) \u2013 as well as Richard Hutchinson (1929\/30) and Robert W. Hamilton (1930\/31) and Max Mallowan and Agatha Christie (1931\/32).\u00a0 Of the Iraqi members of the excavation, Campbell Thompson specifically credited his overseers Yakub and Abd-el-Ahad, as well as Mejid Shaiya, whom Campbell Thompson referred to as \u201cmy old henchman\u201d.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_column_text]<a href=\"http:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/7_Mosul-bridge.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3141 aligncenter\" src=\"\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/7_Mosul-bridge.png\" alt=\"7_Mosul bridge\" width=\"738\" height=\"461\" \/><\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_column_text]The film has impromptu title cards (no more formal than paper pinned up for the camera) which lead viewers through a sequence of scenes.\u00a0 Reginald Campbell Thompson was intensely interested in the customs, culture and biographies of the people who worked with him and for him on site.\u00a0Campbell Thompson\u2019s footage, if indeed he was behind the camera, offers scenes similar to other excavation films from this period and other, striking images unique to his own sense of the city of Mosul and its dynamism. Through the camera lens we see the work of the dig in the context of the local culture and geography. We see craft work, leisure activities, and what one intertitle describes as a f\u00eate complete with makeshift Ferris wheel.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_column_text]<a href=\"http:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/5_Paper-Squeeze.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3140 aligncenter\" src=\"\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/5_Paper-Squeeze.png\" alt=\"5_Paper Squeeze\" width=\"638\" height=\"399\" \/><\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_column_text]Other shots are more pedagogical and seemingly geared toward students: a scene shows the \u2018squeeze\u2019 process of transferring stone inscriptions onto paper and washing delicate pottery fragments. One interesting sequence shows off the different modes of transportation that intersect each day; crossing the screen we see a donkey drawing a carriage, a bicycle, and a motor car. This interest in different modes of transportation extends to the delicate process of \u2018sending home\u2019 items unearthed on the dig as we see workers \u2018packing antiquities\u2019 to be sent presumably to Britain.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row full_width=&#8221;stretch_row_content_no_spaces&#8221; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1632216385731{background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}&#8221;][vc_column css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1632216340299{padding-top: 0px !important;}&#8221;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;13480&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Film Footage of Excavations in Iraq The RAS Collections hold only two reels of film. These have been digitised and are available to view. It is unknown when the reels of film came into the RAS Collections, though it was noted&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-3642","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"ticketed":false,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3642"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21362,"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3642\/revisions\/21362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}