Online Resources about Kish

It is currently impossible to identify the exact location of all cuneiform tablets and other artefacts from Kish since the early nineteenth century. Most excavations at Kish were poorly documented or not documented at all. Archaeologists and dealers gave or sold their finds to many different individuals and institutions far and wide across the world, where their original provenances were often forgotten or never recorded. Not every museum has publicly available records or online databases. Therefore this list of resources is certainly incomplete and we welcome news of artefacts from Kish in other collections.

[/kish/images/kish-cunei-distrib-large.jpg]

Map of the current global distribution of cuneiform tablets from Kish, based on data in the Kish corpus. Turkey and the UK have by far the largest numbers, as most of the inscribed finds from the de Genouillac and OFME excavations, were deposited in museums in Istanbul and Oxford, respectively. The collections in north America and Europe mostly represent purchases through the antiquities market in the early 20th century, while the 150 Kish tablets in the Iraq Museum were all returned from Oxford in the 1980s.

Cuneiform tablets from Kish in online databases

Our own Kish corpus, in collaboration with the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative, aims to be the most accurate and comprehensive listing of tablets from Kish.

In addition, there are catalogues and editions of smaller numbers of tablets from Kish on the following cuneiform text databases:

  • Archibab [https://archibab.fr/textes?sited=Kiš&trloo=false&dmin=2020&dmax=0&o=ref,id&page=1&size=25&count=433] — Old Babylonian period only
  • Database of Neo-Sumerian Texts (BDTNS) [http://bdtns.cesga.es/principal.php?numMuseo=&numBDTS=&numCDLI=&procedencia=Kiš&sello=TODOS&fechaPub=&datacion=&abreviatura=&autor=&propietario=&tipoobjeto=TODOS&tipotexto=TODOS&lexema_sello=&tipoperiodo=TODOS&tipolenguaje=TODOS&orden=bdts_uriii_ediciones.abreviatura] — Ur III period only
  • The electronic Babylonian Library [https://www.ebl.lmu.de/library/search/?site=Kiš%20]

Archaeological artefacts from Kish in online museum collections databases

In the Middle East:

Finds from de Genouillac's PGP  excavations at Kish are housed in the Eski Şark Eserleri Müzesi [https://www.turkishmuseums.com/museum/detail/2071-istanbul-the-museum-of-ancient-oriental-works/2071/4] (Ancient Orient Museum) of the Istanbul Archseological Museums in Istanbul, Turkey. This museum does not have a publicly accessible online collections database.

The Iraq Museum [https://www.theiraqmuseum.com/], Baghdad houses half of the OFME's uninscribed archaeological finds, plus around 150 fragments of cuneiform tablets from Kish, returned from the Ashmolean Museum in the 1980s. This museum does not have a publicly accessible online collections database.

In Europe:

  • Musée du Louvre [https://collections.louvre.fr/en/recherche?advanced=1&placeStr%5B0%5D=Kish], Paris, France — material bought by Henri de Genouillac PGP  during his excavations at Kish

In addition, the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative records cuneiform tablets from Kish, or likely to be from Kish, in the following European collections. These museums either do not have a publicly accessible collections database or do not include material from Kish in them.

In the United Kingdom:

  • Ashmolean Museum [https://www.ashmolean.org/collections-online#/search/advanced-search/Main%20collection/%257B%2522Main%2520collection%2522%253A%257B%2522_nested.geographicalProvenance.placeSearch%2522%253A%2522Kish%252C%2520Iraq%2522%257D%257D/%257B%2522catalogue%2522%253A%257B%2522geographicalProvenance.place%2522%253A%255B%2522Asia%2520%253E%2520Iraq%2520%253E%2520Babil%2520Governorate%2520%253E%2520Kish%2520%253E%2520Tell%2520Uhaimir%2522%252C%2522Asia%2520%253E%2520Iraq%2520%253E%2520Babil%2520Governorate%2520%253E%2520Kish%2522%252C%2522Asia%2520%253E%2520Iraq%2520%253E%2520Babil%2520Governorate%2520%253E%2520Kish%2520%253E%2520Tell%2520Ingharra%2522%255D%257D%257D/1/16/_score/desc/catalogue], University of Oxford — cuneiform tablets and a wide range of other finds from the Oxford-Field Museum Expedition (OFME) to Kish, 1923-33
  • British Museum [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?place=Kish+(historic)&view=grid&sort=object_name__asc&page=1], London — a few cuneiform tablets from informal excavations
  • Institute of Archaeology, University College London [https://archcat.museums.ucl.ac.uk/search.aspx]: a few small finds donated by the OFME
  • John Rylands Library [https://luna.manchester.ac.uk/luna/servlet/s/1008c5], University of Manchester, Manchester — cuneiform tablets from informal excavations
  • Manchester Museum [https://museumcollections.manchester.ac.uk/collections/?s=Kish&view=grid], Manchester
  • Natural History Museum, London: human remains from the OFME, not currently in the palaeolontology database
  • National Museums of Scotland [https://www.nms.ac.uk/search-our-collections?description=Kish], Edinburgh — cuneiform tablets from informal excavations
  • Pitt Rivers Museum [https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/search/simple-search/%2522Oxford%2520expedition%2520to%2520Kish%2522/%257B%257D/1/12/_score/desc/catalogue], University of Oxford — flints and other artefacts from the OFME
  • Victoria and Albert Museum [https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?page=1&page_size=50&q=Kish], London — Islamic-era pottery found at Kish by Gerald Reitlinger, attached to the OFME

In Canada and the United States of America:

  • Field Museum [https://collections-anthropology.fieldmuseum.org/list?search_fulltext=Kish], Chicago, IL — a wide range of artefacts from the OFME, including human remains; see also the Field Museum Objects Database on this website
  • Insitute for the Study of Ancient Cultures [https://isac-idb.uchicago.edu/results.php?qb%5Boperator%5D%5Bc3%5D=&qb%5Bdataset%5D%5Bc3%5D=MC&qb%5Bfield%5D%5Bc3%5D=SrchPlace&qb%5Bterm%5D%5Bc3%5D=Kish], University of Chicago, IL — a small number of cuneiform tablets and other artefacts
  • Metropolitan Museum of Art [https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search?q=Kish&geolocation=Kish], New York, NY — a small number of tablets
  • Penn Museum [https://www.penn.museum/collections/accessionlot.php?irn=1044], Philadelphia, PA — tablets and other artefacts donated by the OFME
  • Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology [https://portal.hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu/?per_page=20&q=Kish&search_field=text], University of California Berkeley, CA
  • Royal Ontario Museum [https://collections.rom.on.ca/advancedsearch/Objects/geodisplay%3AKish/images?page=1], Toronto, Canada

In addition, the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative records cuneiform tablets from Kish, or likely to be from Kish, in many north American collections, the most significant of which are:

But these museums and libraries either do not have a publicly accessible collections database or do not include material from Kish in them.

20 Oct 2025

Eleanor Robson

Eleanor Robson, 'Online Resources about Kish', The Forgotten City of Kish • مدينة كيش المنسية, The Kish Project, 2025 [http://oracc.org/Resources/]

 
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CC BY-SA The Nahrein Network's Kish Project, 2021-25
http://oracc.org/Resources/