I worked primarily in the Ishtar Temple at Nimrud this past season (Spring 2023) and filmed a walkthrough at the end of each week. I combined weeks 2 and 3 into this intro tour and saved the final week for part 2.
This is part two, end of week four of our rather short season. We typically dig for 6-8 weeks, but in this season we were still establishing our base camp and there were only four of us supervising. We are planning a much bigger season in October where we will have many more specialists, including conservators and artists to help care for and document the artifacts and buildings.
We have done much of the initial clean-up work and begun to learn a great deal about previously unexcavated areas. These areas will tie our maps together and help us understand the overall layout of the citadel mound. A team is currently working on cleaning the major debris from the Northwest Palace and that work will continue. It was the most completely reconstructed building prior to the ISIS takeover, and the one that was most heavily targeted by ISIS.
In this video, I give a final walkthrough of the double gateway we've cleared this season and talk a bit more about its placement between the Ishtar and Ninurta temples. We've still got much work to do, but we've learned a lot already and we'll learn still more in the next season.
00:00 intro
00:56 temples overview
02:43 gateway from Ninurta
04:40 gate chamber
06:16 Isthar courtyard
06:39 wrap-up and outro
Thanks again for all these videos. Enjoy the "off"-season.
I'm grateful for your work in this platform, I suppose it would usually be months between the site work and time of publication. What a time to be alive.
Absolutely wonderful and personable insight into this beautifully fascinating site! A little bit as if one were right there in the flesh.
I love the inserted corrections made to the video, it really shows the work in progress and the dynamic discussions probably going on during the work.
As someone with a disability that unfortunately prevents me from doing this kind of work, I'm eternally grateful to Brad for bringing us along with him on his digs. I have an extensive collection of books on assyriology for a layman. But words, maps, and photos are obviously somewhat less immersive than being able to see these sites from ground (or, as it were, *below* ground) level. One day I would like to visit Iraq and see some of these cities for myself, but until then I'm glad someone like Dr. Hafford was able to give us a taste of what it's really like in the field. If the good doctor could do me a personal solid and finally locate Agade, that would be really, really cool... just saying... pretty please! XD
Me too, for years I wanted to visit these areas ❤
Man are those insects flying all through the shot. That must take some getting used to. Thanks for the videos.
Really enjoy your reports! Thank you.
It is unique to get such accessible and timely public updates on a very special excavation from the supervisor himself no less.
Thank you for the content. It’s a shame how unexplored all of this is. Nimrud should be an international popular tourist site just as the Egyptian pyramids are.
Thank you
Thanks for taking us around and the insights
I do not understand people who allow their politics to drive them to destroy their heritage and history -- for all of us and posterity as well. It's baffling. Thanks as always for these reports. Your videos of your work are a treasure and deserve a lot more appreciation and views.
It has more to do with religious fanaticism in this case. History is unfortunately full of examples of destroyed art and culture "in the name of God".
I very much enjoyed the series and want to thank you for making it! Hoping you make more like it.
❤❤
How cool!
Every time I ear "Ishtar" I have serious Conan the barbarian vibes, throwback to my 13's....
I can’t wait for your next dig season! I thoroughly enjoy all of your content
Hi Dr. Haford(apologies if I have the name wrong) This is the first video of yours that I have seen. I've been following Milo over on the Miniminuteman channel. After watching your response to his video about the Baghdad battery I took his recommendation to come to your channel and see more of your content. Thank you for everything you do
Have you ever found something and felt bad for the person who lost it?
Yes, definitely. I always wonder about how something got to its final position, and in several cases it has been apparent that someone just lost something while it was still a useful and interesting object. In these cases I'm particularly struck by how that person must have felt to have lost their item. For example, working at a Bronze Age site in Syria we found a collection of beads that were in a tight group, the remains of what had been two necklaces in a small bag. This bag must have been dropped in a journey near the end of this site's occupation and I'm sure the owner was distraught when they discovered they had dropped it, but they were unable to find it again.
Hi, have you found any remains of what could have been de ceilings of those chambers? If there was a ceiling how does the light get in to read the writings? I have so much doubts about the ceiling and its load bearing structure...
Yes, we have found evidence of collapsed ceilings. They were made of wooden beams, reed mats, clay and bitumen. It makes a strong roof especially over a short span. There was a large central courtyard that was open to the sky in most buildings. This allowed light in through doors, and there were narrow open windows near the roof for additional light. They also had oil lamps when needed. If you had to read tablets, you could do it in the courtyard in daylight. Reading the wall reliefs wasn't that necessary. The writing on them was repetitive, basically saying how great the king was. It was a kind of propaganda and most people probably already knew what it said.
@@artifactuallyspeaking Thank you so much, now I can imagine the space so much better.
Hello,i was looking for some in formation on the internet and watched your videos accidently, honestly i haven't found my answer My relatives found some ancient artifacts but nothing is clear for us Can u look at that video and say your opinion about it? The video is almost 2 minutes
Hello. I have a probably out of the blue question and I hope you may know an answer or a hint for me. I need it for a story I'm trying to write. There is the Greek word "Ichor" for "blood of the gods". I'm now wondering if there is word for "flesh of the gods". I tried to find something on the internet, but all I get are just bible verses, magic mushrooms and Egyptian gold. I can not believe that human cultures haven't come up with a specific word for "god meat" in over 10.000 years of existence, but I can't find anything remotely useful.
I'm afraid I don't know of an ancient word or phrase for flesh of the gods. Although I've studied cuneiform, I am not a specialist in it and that I think would be a relatively specialist area. If I run into such a word, I'll be sure to come back and put a reply here again.