This project aims to make available, as a matter of urgency, museum-quality materials for the storage of cuneiform clay tablets.

The measure is urgently required because thousands of cuneiform tablets have been brought to the National Museum of Damascus from provincial museums since 2012 in order to save them from being plundered, especially by the so-called Islamic State. Without suitable storage, these unique early examples of human history documented in written form are at risk of very rapid decay, because of the climatic conditions and their precarious state of conservation. After several weeks of intensive planning in consultation with restorers from Damascus, suitable storage materials are therefore to be acquired and placed at the disposal of the National Museum of Damascus. The project is financed by funding from the German Foreign Office.

Project Director: Prof. Dr. Markus Hilgert
Funding / Project partner: The project is financed by funding from the German Foreign Office.