Was the world's first museum in Ur?

Report on Sir Leonard Woolley's excavations at Ur in the 1920's, focusing on the discovery of what seems to be the world's oldest museum, dating from around 530 BC.
Artifacts from Ur's earlier history seem to have been purposefully collected by Princess Ennigaldi, daughter of Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.
The article also discusses the motives for making such a collection. Ur in this last phase of its development was, according to Woolley, obsessed by its history. The rulers of the city preferred to dwell on past glories and not look to the threatening future ...

Archaeology along the Hittite Way

Read an account of discoveries old and new in Anatolia - the heartland of the ancient Hittite Empire - and how to make the most of a visit to the sites (from the Archaeology News Network blog)

Babylonian magic bowls : new database

The University of Southhampton's Virtual Magic Bowl Archive (VMBA) is launching a new database to record Jewish and non-Jewish personal names found in Babylonian incantation bowls from the 5th to 8th centuries CE, compiled as part of a British-Israeli research project (BIRAX).

Go to the VMBA website to find out about the new project and how to contribute.

You can also look at the results of a previous project - Aramaic Magical Texts from Late Antiquiry (AMTLA)