Digitisation of historic fieldwork records: Expressions of Interest sought

The British Institute for the Study of Iraq (BISI) seeks expressions of interest from suitably qualified individuals or organisations in digitising the fieldwork records from excavations at the archaeological site of Nimrud in northern Iraq, now housed in the British Museum.

Nimrud represents the ancient Assyrian city of Kalhu, the oldest imperial capital in the world.  It was excavated by BISI’s predecessor organisation the British School of Archaeology in Iraq (BSAI) in 1949–63 and later conserved by the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage. In the spring of 2015 it was attacked by ISIS/ Da’esh, who videoed their destruction of the hugely important Northwest Palace of the 9th century BC, as well as nearby temple buildings.

In the first phase of the project the successful tenderer will digitise to highest archival standards all the documentation produced by BSAI’s archaeological work in 1949-63, now held at the British Museum (and in full collaboration with the Museum). A later phase, not included in this bid, will catalogue and document it to archival standard and publish it online, under an Open Access license. The project will enable the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage to make informed decisions about the future of this globally significant site. The project will be overseen by a Project Steering Group. BISI will be applying to external funders to support this work.

Shortlisted tenderers will inspect the archival material at the British Museum in November 2016. They will then draw up costings, timings and formats for their digitisation for submission to BISI, as well as advice on the structure of the archive and hence the metadata that will be attached. We estimate that this material comprises:

·         20-30 small format excavation notebooks

·         4 foolscap size room registers

·         c.  25-30 plans, sections and architectural drawings

·         c. 300 black and white photographs 

One tender will be selected by the Project Steering Group to be incorporated into the funding bids, which will be submitted over the course of the following months. We expect that the work itself, which will be carried out in the British Museum with their full collaboration, will begin in early 2017, depending on the success of the funding bids.

For an informal conversation about the project, please contact BISI’s Chair of Council, Eleanor Robson ([log in to unmask]).

Applications, comprising an outline of relevant experience and a short project proposal, should be emailed to BISI’s Administrator, Lauren Mulvee ([log in to unmask]).

Closing date: Monday 31 October 2016